Command Central

Rome wasn’t built in a day, as the saying goes. And the bad news is your dog, or cat, won’t be trained in a day, either. But with a little help and consistent effort, you can have a pet that you’re proud to show off, or just take out in public. Take it from the experts.

Puppy/New Pet Training

Robin Carneal

Former training director, Richmond Dog Obedience Club

Pets: Australian shepherds Jake, Gabby, Striker, Polly, Blossom and Sunny

Robin Carneal first went to the Richmond Dog Obedience Club more than a decade ago, seeking Canine Good Citizen training and designation for her dog Jake.

Jake passed his test, and Carneal became involved in the all-volunteer club, serving as a training director from 2014 to 2018.

Now, her time is spent at her two jobs — as an office manager and as a customer service representative for private flights at an area airport, where Gabby is the main attraction for repeat passengers who know she’ll be at the gate, ready to greet them. 

Training Method and Philosophy:

Carneal prefers a positive training approach, incorporating strategies from Canadian trainer Denise Fenzi and Susan Garrett’s Top Dog program. Fenzi emphasizes teaching dogs how to think rather than simply responding to commands. Garrett highlights the benefits of teaching a dog through play.

Carneal says it’s critical to teach puppies how to focus and develop impulse control.

“Puppies have to learn who their owners are,” she says. “If they don’t, the owner is just a person at the other end of that lead.”

Training Misconceptions:  

“When you’re working with your puppy, you need to be working as a team,” she says. “Everybody thinks that in eight weeks, their puppy is going to be perfect. You’ll be lucky if you get a down, sit and a stand in eight weeks.”

Training Mistakes:

• Failing to give a puppy time to acclimate to the training area,no matter what the space is. “Think about a kitchen and how many distractions are there,” Carneal says. “A puppy needs time to sniff things out, look things over. And you’ve got to do the same thing in every room, and outside the house.”
• Failing to socialize the puppy. “We teach the owner how to read their puppy’s body language as well as other dogs’. This is part of being a responsible owner.”
• Failing to break down a task into smaller parts. “When you’re teaching a puppy to sit, you have to help him learn to sit; you can’t just push his bottom down.”

Best Training Tip: 

“Acknowledge when your puppy looks at you. Get up from the couch, if you’re watching TV, and go over and praise that focus on you. That teaches the puppy that you care.”

What would you enjoy most if you were a dog?

“Being able to lay around and sleep all day.”

What would your pet say you need to be trained in?

“Following directions — especially when herding stock.”

Cat Training

Janet Velenovsky

Owner, Kaizen Pet Training & Behavior

Pets: Golden Retriever Piper, Border Collies Oscar and Image, terrier-spaniel Keiko; and cats Nisse, Puck, Betsey (above) and Callista

Janet Velenovsky was first introduced to the concept of “kaizen” — which means “continuous improvement” in Japanese — while working in an office that was undergoing an assessment of its policies and procedures.

Drawn to the positive outcomes she saw with the approach, Velenovsky decided to incorporate kaizen into her personal life as well.

“It became my motto, my byword; it left me the ability to look at the whole picture,” she says.

Now, she also applies the strategy as she works with owners to train their dogs and cats.

Training Method and Philosophy:

Velenovsky says kaizen, when used in animal training, encourages trainers and owners alike to continuously examine what they are doing in the process, making adjustments as they go along.

“It’s about taking one small step at a time,” she says. “It’s like the proverbial onion, where you peel the layers and see what that brings you over time.”

She likes to use a marker/reward training system, in which desired behavior is rewarded through a click or sound made by the owner, which is quickly followed by a treat.

“The click for the cat becomes the communication currency,” she says. “It’s a fantastic way to communicate.”

Training Misconceptions:

• Cats are stubborn or mean. “Cats were not bred for group activity and interaction like dogs were. Really, cats have the same range of personality that dogs have, but some cats aren’t socialized terribly well,” she says.
• Cats refuse to interact. “Cats need to be motivated. They don’t typically ask for individual things the ways dogs do. They are very self-regulating, which appeals to people, until they want their cat to be more social.”

Training Mistakes:

“The cat needs to understand the behavior that you’re looking for and the consequence of doing it,” Velenovsky says. There’s a difference between training and behavior problems. Scratching furniture is a natural, normal behavior, but it’s often being done in a way that’s not working for the human. A lot of what I do is problem-solving.”

Best Training Tip:

“Touch command. Because cats often touch noses, I like to teach them to touch a finger. That can shape an animal toward the behavior you want.”

What would you enjoy most if you were a cat?

“Having a chauffeur, trainer, social scheduler!”

What would your pet say you need to be trained in?

“Consistency! Creating a regular schedule.”

Problem Pet Training

Kasey Herrera

Owner, 2 Speak Dog

Pets: Italian Mastiffs Luci, Gemma, Legend (above) and Milo; rescue dogs Tink, Bean and Jojo

Kasey Herrera’s background in human psychology, which she used in her previous career as a jury consultant, is still useful.

With a history of owning and working with large dogs — think Great Danes and Mastiffs — Herrera spends one day a week visiting a local prison, working with offenders as they train dogs through the Pixie’s Pen Pals program, an initiative of the FETCH a Cure Foundation, on whose board Herrera serves.

“These are dogs that need extra help, ones that aren’t likely to be adopted,” she says, noting that in the last two years, every dog that went through the Pen Pals program was eventually adopted, a much better outcome than if they had remained at a shelter.

Training Method and Philosophy:

Herrera emphasizes the need for a dog to be in a state of calm for training to work. “Dogs respond first to scent, energy and body language,” she says. “I don’t scare the dogs into submission. I want the dogs to be calm.

“You want to gain respect through trust, not obedience through fear.”

Training Misconceptions:

“That I’m going to train your dog. You’re coming to my class for me to train you to go home and train your dog. If there’s a private lesson, it’s about me identifying the problems, and then I’ll teach you how to work with the problem. It’s also about you learning how to bring yourself back to calm. Dogs can ‘read’ a person.”

Training Mistakes:

• Reinforcing fear. “If a dog is fearful of something, we can accidentally reinforce that fear. We want to get our dogs to a calmer state.”
• Insecure dominance. “We want people to be confident, because dogs are attracted to calm, confident energy. They want to follow that.”
• Mistaking fear for aggression. 

“If a human isn’t taking care of the scary situation — another dog walking by or a trash bag blowing by — the dog thinks it’s up to him to take care of it. Then the dog tends to look aggressive, but it’s not really aggression; it’s fear.”

Best Training Tip:

“Stay balanced. The best way to get back to balance is to take a breath. It brings oxygen to your brain and slows your heart. The dog will feel that. Even if you’re faking it, it calms you.”

What would you enjoy most if you were a dog?

“Sleeping!”

What would your pet say you need to be trained in?

“Impulse control.”

Agility and Rally Training

Cindy Briggs

Owner, All Dog Adventures

Pets: Golden Retrievers Jody, Journey and Kismet (above)

Cindy Briggs opened All Dog Playskool, one of the area’s first dog day cares, in 1996, and offered seminars to pet owners looking for guidance.

A decade ago, acknowledging the business’s expansion into obedience, rally and agility training, Briggs changed its name to All Dog Adventures.

With the mindset that “work is play, and play is work,” Briggs says she wants people to see that playing games with dogs builds relationships and teaches the dogs desired behaviors.

“We make it fun,” she says.

Training Method and Philosophy:

“We are positive and motivational with dogs and people,” Briggs says. “We train both ends of the leash. A class is one hour a week. If I can train the human, that lasts a lifetime.”

Different dogs require different approaches, Briggs says, noting that she once had as a client an 83-year-old woman who needed to manage a Rottweiler.

“We use whatever method the dog needs and what people are comfortable with,” she says.

Training Misconceptions:

“Most people think one session of six or eight weeks will train their dog. But it’s a lifelong journey to train, and it takes 24 hours a day,” Briggs says. “We want you to see what fun you can have with your dog beyond training. We teach impulse control through tricks and showing what else is available.”

Training Mistakes:

“Lack of consistency. Inconsistency confuses dogs, and then people get mad. That pushes the dog away. It’s all about the food, fun and freedom. All that can be reinforcing.

“People want to do the sexy stuff before they lay the foundation. You have to build the relationship between the person and the dog. If you can get eye contact with a dog, then we have a 90 percent success rate with the next command.”

Best Training Tip:

“Every dog needs a recall — how to focus on the owner and come when called. It gives the dog the freedom to go for a hike, be a therapy dog, participate in Read 2 Rover [a program that brings dogs to children for reading practice]. If you have that kind of recall, then so many more avenues are open to you and the dog in the relationship.”

What would you enjoy most if you were a dog?

“Learning new games!”

What would your pet say you need to be trained in?

“Better communication; to tell her exactly what I want.”