Our Guarantee

The Dog Training Profession

Dog training is an unregulated industry. Anyone can call themselves a trainer, with no requirement for education or certification, and no professional oversight or standards. Because of the lack of regulation, many outdated methods still proliferate in the dog training profession and are commonly used by those without a formal education in evidence-based behavioral science.

Fortunately, there are many professional animal trainers who have chosen to call upon the many decades of behavioral science and provide excellent training and behavior modification services to their clients. To remain in good standing with the multiple certifications I have achieved, these organizations hold me accountable to the highest standards of training and client care and require me to complete many hours of continuing education annually. I am also a Professional Canine Trainer-Accredited through the Pet Professional Accreditation Board (PPAB) which requires a knowledge and skill assessment but also holds me accountable to a set of ethics and guiding principles. PPAB offers the only accreditation certification for professionals who believe there is no place for shock, choke, prong, fear, or intimidation in canine training and behavior practices.

I am an educated, certified professional dog trainer with a commitment to excellence, client care, force-free and positive reinforcement training methods. I hold all of our group class instructors accountable to this same standard of care for our clients.

So…WHY Reward-Based Training?

Staying abreast of the latest science, we use only reward-based training. We want to see you enjoy the best possible results. We also want those results to feel good for you and your dog while building the bond between you. Fortunately, science allows us to achieve all of these goals. Through science, we have come to understand that fear and pain inhibit learning and slow the training process. We’ve also come to understand that fear and pain can increase aggressive behavior and even cause it where it did not exist before.

Humane reward-based training, on the other hand, avoids these unwanted and unintended behavioral side effects. Rather than your dog learning to do (or not to do) something in order to avoid punishment for making the wrong choice, reward-based training motivates your dog to prefer the right choice—putting you and your dog on the same page.

We are committed to force-free, reward-based training because we believe it is critical to do no harm in our attempt to do good. So, there are no choke, prong, or shock collars, corrections, or physical manipulation in our training.

In short, if we can achieve the behavior we want without inducing stress for you or your dog, why would we train any other way?

Our Guarantee To You

Within the serious professional dog training community, it is considered unethical to guarantee specific training outcomes. In fact, leading professional associations (the Pet Professional Guild and the Association for Professional Dog Trainers) and the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers—forbid doing so. And there’s a good reason for that. Dogs are, after all, sentient beings who make independent decisions. How can anyone guarantee the behavior of another living organism?

While it is considered professionally unethical to guarantee training results, what Building Bonds does guarantee is:

• You will work with a highly credentialed instructor motivated to help you reach realistic and attainable goals.
• We will use only the most humane, modern, and reward-based training methods to reach those goals.
• Training with us will be a fun and positive experience for both you and your dog.
• You will see progress and positive change in your dog.
• We will strive to make all of our services as respectful of your precious time and resources as possible.
• We will always treat you and your family with the same respect and compassion we give to your dog.

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