Sit! Stay! Walk nicely on the leash! This is the lesson for you if your dog is behaviorally stable but needs to learn some manners. We will do basic obedience, house and leash manners, greetings, address potty training and barking concerns, and provide enrichment activities tailored to your dog's interests, age, and energy level for you and your dog to to on a regular basis to keep their brains working.
For your anxious, reactive, or shy pups! These sessions are designed to build confidence and skills to manage and alleviate stressors for your particular dog. Whatever your dog struggles with behaviorally, we will work together to create a training and management plan that will help your dog learn to cope with triggers we can't eliminate. Whether your dog is fearful, aggressive, frustrated, or anxious, we can work on it together. Common issues that I see are confinement anxiety, barrier frustration, leash reactivity, separation anxiety, resource guarding, and fear of specific locations or objects (particularly city streets!)
Separation anxiety is a complex issue, but it is possible to make progress. Our separation anxiety program uses custom protocols designed for your dog to be exposed systematically to varying and short periods of time alone, staying below their stress threshold. The first step is a virtual meeting to discuss separation anxiety as a whole and your dog's experience of it. This is followed by eight weeks of our monthly training program and weekly virtual meetings focused on your dog's separation anxiety.
This takes the place of obedience training or behavior modification lessons utilizing video conferencing in place of an in person lesson. This option is particularly useful for clients who have very fearful or aggressive pups and want to work on skills to make in person visits possible, clients who are concerned about illness, and clients who are outside of Springtail's service area but would still like to have our help with their pup! It can help to see what your dog's behaviors are without a stranger in their space, but does compromise some of the in person training experience. The Springtail pups will be on call for demonstrations as possible to help with visual learning! Please have a working internet connection and device for these meetings.
This program is offered with both virtual and in person options. I will meet with you to help guide you to the right dog. The first step is to identify your goals for your dog, choose potential breeds or qualities you wish your dog to possess, and identify a specific breed if you are seeking a purebred dog. The next step is picking out rescues or breeders you might be interested in working with. At this point I will either encourage you through a breeder's matching process with a puppy or help you select a dog from a rescue that is likely to fit your needs-- helping you to keep on track with your goals and assess a dog's suitability for your home. Although sold in one hour increments, you may wish to have more than one meeting throughout this process including both virtual and in-person meetings. This plan is particularly useful for those who are looking to get a new dog and feel that having a relationship with a trainer may improve their likelihood of being approved by a rescue or breeder.
Expecting? Hoping to be soon? Pup having trouble adjusting to being a big sibling? Our new baby program is focused on prepping and acclimating your fur baby (or babies!) to your human one. This can include skills like walking with a stroller, sound desensitization, cues to give you space, doorway behaviors, and polite greetings (particularly useful if you have friends and family coming to meet your new little one!), even fetching a diaper bag to include your dog in baby care, among other topics that may be specific to your dog. Big Sibling Bootcamp is a package of five of these lessons that can be spread out before and after the new arrival and includes six months of Training Plan Membership.
This membership includes a custom training plan utilizing Google Docs with a weekly plan for training goals and five days (Monday-Friday) of feedback from Emily on your notes from that day's training. Membership also enables you to schedule 15 and 30 minute virtual check ins to discuss questions and changes to the plan and has a $10/month credit toward our other services (credits do not roll over month to month).
Please note that in-person lessons are available Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday in Philadelphia and Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday in Bucks County. Virtual Lessons, including Separation Anxiety and New Dog Matchmaking, are available Monday-Saturday regardless of location.