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Written on April 2, 2020

COVID-19 Update


We understand there may be personal and professional challenges you are faced with given the impact of COVID-19, and we are with you during this uncertain time. Specialty Dog Training™ is taking precautions to protect our clients and our team members who are continuing to care for our training dogs. We have created new internal protocols that have escalated our cleaning and sanitization procedures, staff have been reminded to stay home if they are ill or potentially exposed, and we have worked with management to ensure staff are practicing social distancing during animal care, training, and at all times at our facility. We are grateful that the current information and evidence suggests that dogs are not being infected with COVID-19.

Our team will keep you informed about challenges impacting our training program but it is important for you to know that we are still here for you! We are enrolling canine clients in our bootcamp programs with check-ins tentatively starting early May (dates subject to change) while more urgent cases that require professional intervention immediately are being considered case-by-case for earlier check-in. Currently all private lessons (both in home and on-site) are temporarily postponed in line with the “safer at home” order, however, we are accepting enrollments for future start dates as well as offering phone, text, and email support to those who enroll now for lessons and camps. We are also enrolling service dog candidates, taking applications for pre-trained dogs, and offering emotional support dog and therapy dog programs.

Specialty Dog Training™ is offering a special promotion that is larger than any promotional offer we have ever release to-date.

Specialty Dog Training™ will continue to provide discounted space, staffing and services to our charity partner, Shelter to Soldier. Shelter to Soldier is a CA 501c3 nonprofit organization that adopts dogs from local shelters and trains them to become psychiatric service dogs for post-9/11 combat veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress (PTS), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and other injuries associated with traumatic service experiences (www.sheltertosoldier.org). The mission at Shelter to Soldier is critical for local veterans and shelter dogs in need and we will continue to support the program, as we have since its inception in 2012, to our fullest extent.

To learn more about Specialty Dog Training, read about our success stories and testimonials, visit www.specialtydogtraining.com, check out our Yelp page by searching “Specialty Dog Training” and Google “Specialty Dog Training” to read the many 5-star reviews about our service, training and care shared by our clients.

Enjoy this training tip until next time:

Name recognition and focus – it is so important for your dog to love their name, respond to it consistently, and focus on you instead of the millions of distractions around them. By having strong name recognition, you’ll be able to get your dog’s attention and they will respond better and follow commands better when they are tuned-in and focused on you. There are many ways to build focus and name recognition, but we will leave a couple of tips here and then you can check back in for a future special on this topic that will go into more detail.

When your dog has her back turned to you, call her name. As she turns to look at you, “mark” the behavior with a “good girl” (good boy for the male pups out there). The “good girl” (marker) should be in a happy, higher pitch tone. After the marker, follow up with a treat, toy or petting (whichever is higher value to your dog). Repeat this exercise 5-10 times a day and do this for 2 weeks. Be consistent, making sure you mark with “good girl” every time she turns to look at you and then a secondary reward (treat, toy or affection). This will increase the likelihood of your dog responding to her name, enjoying her name and understanding that it is a really rewarding process to do so.

We will be releasing special content and further details about “markers”, rewards and measuring value of rewards, plus going into more detail on this topic. This training tip is a great place to start!

Thank you for your support and don’t miss out on these huge savings! Contact us today!