Pawsitive Purpose Dog Training and Behavior
Helping Dogs and Humans Find Purpose Together
With over 17 years of experience, we specialize in helping you and your dog turn into the team you’ve always wanted to be. Whether you are struggling with embarrassing, scary or frustrating aggressive behaviors or looking to gain independence with the help of a service dog, we can help you get on the right track with support every step of the way.
Our goal is to empower you and your dog to be the best you can be. Every dog has a purpose in our lives - with unparalleled training, guidance and support, we know you have what it takes to have a peaceful home a dog with behavior you are proud to show off to your family and friends.
Our Approach:
No two dogs or families are the same and changing behavior can be hard to do on your own! When working with Pawsitive Purpose, we are part of your team. We utilize humane, positive reinforcement training and individualized programming that suits your dog and your life for long lasting results that build the relationship between you and your dog - no matter what behaviors we are working to train or modify. Every program is accompanied with extra support between sessions and long after your program is over to ensure your long-term success.
Our Specialties:
Service Dogs: With an intimate understanding of the role a service dog can play in your life - from the additional independence to the feelings of safety and predictability, our service dog programs are designed to help you live more confidently and independently. From picking a puppy, task training and public access work, we ensure that you and your dog become the stable team needed to thrive in any environment.
Aggression: Aggressive behaviors can be scary, confusing, even embarrassing if your dog has a meltdown in public or struggles at the vet. As parents of dogs struggling with aggression, we can feel hurt, confused or betrayed that our dog is doing these things that we do not understand. Living like this for a prolonged period can negatively impact your relationship with your dog-but there is hope!
Using effective and humane positive reinforcement methods, we can help you and your dog live a more peaceful life together.
We look forward to being on your team and empowering you to have the canine companion you’ve always wanted.
Benefits of Using Positive Reinforcement
What is Poisitive Reinforcement?
Positive Reinforcement is a training method that uses a reward (treats, praise, toys, anything the dog finds rewarding) to increase desired behaviors. When we reward behaviors we like, we are more likely to see that behavior again in the future. Positive reinforcement training has a lot of unique benefits:
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Teaches your dog what you want them to do in place of the undesirable or unsafe behavior
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Can help you change emotions around stimuli that are scary, arousing or frustrating
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Builds and maintains trust between human and dog
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Adds predictability for the dog to increase speed of learning
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Helps build confidence for both dogs and humans
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Highly effective for long term training results
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Fun and easy - even the kids can help!
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Allows dogs to have a sense of choice and agency in their life while maintaining their good behavior
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Reduces fear, aggression and anxiety
Using predictable positive reinforcement training is one of the most powerful tools you can use to change your dog’s behavior for predictable and effective long term results.
I began my dog training career when I decided to get my son, who has autism, a
service dog to help him. I started my journey training a yellow lab named Kaylee.
She taught me a lot - like how much I needed someone else to help me learn how
to train dogs! LOL 😂
I found a trainer who would help me train her to help my son. During the training
process with Kaylee, I realized how much dogs and children with autism have in
common.
Here are just a few of the similarities I noticed:
1) Dogs do not use verbal language. Some children with autism are also non-verbal.
(My son is verbal, but I also worked with some children who were non-verbal)
2) Dogs, like children with autism, see things in black and white.(Either I can, or I can't. There is no maybe or sometimes)
3) Dogs and children with autism have a hard time generalizing skills to new locations.
4) Neither dogs nor children with autism will socialize themselves. They both need our help to make friends and learn how to interact with their world.
5) When teaching dogs and children with autism, there has to be consistency and lots of repetitions.
6) Behavior is communication in both dogs and children with autism.
Once I realized these things, it was very easy for me to begin understanding how dogs learn and how to work with them to help both the dog and the human. And there I was, ready to enter the world of being a dog trainer!
After training for more than 17 years, I still continue to learn more about working with dogs and people to help both live together harmoniously. There is always something new to learn! I love working with dogs and other species to gain the knowledge and understanding I need to be successful at helping them and their humans.
Tracey Hagan, CPDT-KA, FDM, CSAT, FFCP
Highly recommend!
"Tracey is great to work with! She is patient (with dog and owner) and my reactive dog really responded well with her. I have seen so much improvement in my dog becoming less fearful and more disciplined. Her experience and knowledge helped explain reactions my dog was having and develop tailored and creative suggestions for improvement. I highly recommend!" - Melissa P.