Ask Gina

Questions:

What age should I start to train my puppy?
Can a dog be too old to train?
What areas do you cover for in-home training?
Do you offer board and train services?
Do you work with dogs that have fear aggression?
I have a dog I adopted from a rescue, do you have experience working with the special needs of a rescued dog?
Given the extreme negativity towards Pit Bulls, I have found that some trainers are opposed to having them in class. Would this be a problem for you?
Do you work with smaller dogs?
What type of problems do you deal with?
What type of commands do you teach?
We have a dog from a cruelty situation, but she is extremely friendly with people. However, she is dog aggressive and we are concerned that we can't take her to a regular obedience class.
Do you feed your dogs Flint River Ranch?

Answers:

What age should I start to train my puppy?
As soon as you get a puppy you should start training. Many people think they have to wait until their puppy is 6 months old. This can’t be farther from the truth. There are many things you can teach a puppy like to go potty on command, sit, come, wait at doors, to stop mouthing on you and so on.

Can a dog be too old to train?
No! Dogs can always learn. If they have behaviors they have been doing for most of their life and you want to modify the behaviors, then it will take time because they have mastered the current one.

What areas do you cover for in-home training?
Livingston County and the immediate surrounding areas.

Do you offer board and train services?
Not at the moment due to limited space in our home.

Do you work with dogs that have fear aggression?
Yes! I have worked many fear aggressors.

I have a dog I adopted from a rescue, do you have experience working with the special needs of a rescued dog?
Yes I do. In fact dogs who have been rescued are a passion of mine.

Given the extreme negativity towards Pit Bulls, I have found that some trainers are opposed to having them in class. Would this be a problem for you?
No, I work all breeds.

Do you work with smaller dogs?
Yes I work all size dogs.

What type of problems do you deal with?
I deal with many behavior problems. Below is a list of some of the behaviors I work with.

• Potty Training
• Mouthing/Biting
• Not Listening
• Jumping on people/furniture/beds/counters
• Chewing
• Pulling while on a leash
• Escaping out doors
• Stealing
• Shyness
• Fear of anything
• Too much energy
• Dog Aggression
• People Aggression
• Excessive Barking

What type of commands do you teach?

• Sit
• Down
• Sit Stay
• Down Stay
• Come
• Heel on a leash
• Wait at doors
• Stand
• Stand Stay
• Bed/Place
• Potty on command
• Polite Greetings
• Distraction Work
• Fetch (for the dogs who like this)
• Tricks
• Plus others
  
  *Note: I teach hand signals and voice both.

We have a dog from a cruelty situation, but she is extremely friendly with people. However, she is dog aggressive and we are concerned that we can't take her to a regular obedience class.
You are correct about not being able to take her to a group class. In-home behavior training is what you would need. I do work dog aggressors and have had good results.

Do you feed your dogs Flint River Ranch?
Absolutely! I have attended seminars on dog nutrition and done quite a bit of reading on the subject. Flint River Ranch is fantastic. I love that it is made out of humane grade food. It was the one food that actually put weight on my Border Collie. It also made it so I didn’t have to give Rocky a Fish Oil tab for his coat and skin anymore. Another big perk is less waste to clean up.