Professional Trainers Program Fall 2012

Congratulations to the graduates of the Fall 2012 Professional Trainers Program!



Enjoy,

Ben

Sharon Toews - Graduate PTP Spring 2012

Sharon Toews, graduate of PTP Spring 2012 sent us an update, check out what she did to make her first puppy training job a success. Way to go Sharon!

Enjoy, Ben


Hi Nancy and Ben,

I have really been enjoying training dogs of all sizes - yes I finally did get the hang of working with a small dog. (You may remember how totally lost I was on the first free training day when I got a Yorkie mix, after only working with Scout and the big dogs in our class.) Soon after getting home my first puppy training opportunity was a 9 week old Havanese. I was very excited because I had done my class presentation project on the Havanese but had never even met one!

I didn't know where to start so I re-watched your puppy training video and couldn't sleep that night with doubts whirling in my head. However, you guys really do know your stuff and I should have trusted your encouragement when you said: "Remember you have more to offer your clients because there is no other method out there that compares to ours....".

Well, this little Havanese puppy responded exactly like your Border Collie did - "sit" to "stay" to "sit" to "down"... fortunately she was really food motivated! I can't even begin to describe my excitement! The owner was flabbergasted and sputtered, "Isn't that too much for her to learn?" I managed to hide my own incredulity and replied, "Well look at her! She's doing it all and I'm not even touching her."

Over the next 4-5 weeks I praised her for her puppy's progress and reassured her of being a good owner. The puppy is well on her way to being a dream dog but she still hires me for walking consultations and advice. I finally told her she no longer needs me because she has done a great job raising her pup. She admitted she just likes having me around for reassurance. Score one for holding my tongue!





Sharon Toews

"Toews Training Paws"

Graduate Update - PTP Fall 2010

Anthea is a graduate from Fall 2010 PTP, check out what she has been up to!

Enjoy,
Ben

Rollover!

Breeanne and Nai from PTP Fall 2012 - Great Tricks!

Enjoy,
Ben

A Great Day to Hit The Trails

Another gorgeous fall day at Thetis Lake

Enjoy,
Ben

Fun Friday!

It was a gorgeous November morning, perfect for Fun Friday! Check out the Fall 2012 PTP Crew at sunny Elk Lake this morning.

Enjoy,
Ben

Jillian and Abby - The Weave

Check out PTP student Jillian and her dog Abby working on a wicked weave. Looking good Jill!

Enjoy!
Ben

Selling Your Service

Hi all,

Anyone in the dog walking business? Thought this email I received from Heather Barron was interesting. Bottom line: How you can sell your service when there are cheaper options available to your clients.

Enjoy!

Hi Ben,

Thought you'd be interested in taking a look at what I did to convince a client that my 1 hour walks are better than somebody else's 4 hour hikes for the same price. It worked!

Well she's definitely cheaper! We tend to go for quality over quantity so she would either be walked by herself or with 1 or maybe 2 other dogs at the most, and the duration is one hour. When you take out a huge pack of dogs and one of them gets hurt it doesn't leave you with many options so it isn't the safest arrangement unless there are multiple people walking the group of dogs. Since we're trainers (not just dog walkers) we make sure our clients dogs are behaving appropriately and following their leash etiquette rules while getting socialization and exercise. Our leash policy is that the dogs are either on leash the entire time, in a completely fenced in environment or they are allowed off leash if they have done advanced off leash obedience training through us in the recent past....so she would be on leash or in a 100% contained area.
Here's a quick little list of a few things that may be noteworthy for your situation:

-if a dog is used to having a certain amount of exercise and all of a sudden it doubles or triples overnight you run the risk of injury to the joints, pads of the feet and muscles
-we don't leave dogs together unattended for any period of time, not even in the vehicle
-we have emergency prevention and preparedness policies and procedures in place
-we are certified, licensed and insured
-all my staff is formally trained in canine body language and certified in DogSafe canine first aid

I'm sure this other person that does the 4 hour hikes is great, hopefully this gives you a couple of questions to ask her about that you may not have thought of yet. Alternatively, we have a 4-hour daycare option and an 8-hour daycare option ...both include outdoor exercise and socialization, there's more info on the website if you have time to read up on it.

Keep us posted about what you think is going to be best for you and your dog!

Professional Dog Trainers Program Reviews - Week 1

We are now one week into this fall's Professional Dog Trainers Program!  I got some quick thoughts from students yesterday and will be posting them over the next few days.

Enjoy!

Ben Kersen

Another Testimonial

To Who It May Concern

    I own a 2 ½ year old Rottweiler. I went through obedience training with three other trainers. Even with all this time and money spent on training, the dog was still totally out of control. He would jump up on people and was aggressive toward other dogs. It was to the point where I would only walk the dog early in the morning or late at night when no one was around. This was no fun for me or the dog. I was at my wits end. It was try another trainer or do something more drastic. Then I read an article on Ben Kersen and the Wonderdogs. I decided to give him a try.

After talking to Ben he said it would take about ten sessions to fix the problems.  We started working on the dogs problems of jumping on people and his aggression towards other dogs. Within two sessions the dog was no longer jumping on people. Ben would bring his dogs out so we could fix aggression problems.  Ben told me how to correct the dog when he showed aggression, then he would work his dog around mine until mine was no longer aggressive. Within a few short sessions the dogs were playing together. We also worked on basic obedience. Ben helped me get rid of bad habits I had when doing obedience work with the dog. In the end Ben’s method of training worked where all others didn’t.

You can save yourself a lot of time, money, frustration my going to Ben to have your dog trained. I know I would have done it in the first place. I went from not being able to take the dog around people or other dogs to being able to take him anywhere. This method of training gave me back a piece of mind and saved the dog’s life.

John Boehler

Victoria. B.C

June 2012 Group Session Feedback

Smile!  Got some good feedback on our Group Session we held in June we thought we would share.

Our summer class is now running and our next intake begins September 7th.  Visit our website for more info: www.wonderdogs.ca.

WHAT DID YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT THE PROGRAM?

"The intensity!" 

"The bonding with my dog"

"The one on one time with the trainers"

"The consistency of the approach"

"The fast pace of the class"

"The concentrated work and expertise from staff"

WHAT DID YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOUR TRAINER?

"Personable; you cared about my dog and the progress of all the dogs"

"Clear and decisive information" 

"The amount of attention we were given in a large group"

"Clear instructions and energy"

"Obviously know your subject well"