• What does the perfect dog look like for you and your lifestyle?
• What are your goals for your relationship with your dog(s)
• How would you like to have a second chance to make everything right with your current dog, or get it right from the beginning with a new puppy or even a newly adopted older dog? And by everything we mean all of the baggage and unwanted behaviors erased.
• How would you like the most incredible bond with your dog (s) that you don’t have to give them a single command, they trust you so much as their safe zone that they just stay with you?
• Wouldn’t it be nice to take your dog for a walk without an incident, or worried all of the time about your dog?
• Does your dog show aggression to other dogs or people?
• Is your dog overly friendly that you have problems controlling him or getting them to be calm?
• Does your dog run out of the door every time you open it?
• Does he/she greet guests by jumping on them or demanding attention?
• Is your dog destructive in your house? (destroying your belongings, counter surfing, getting into trash, terrorizing your cats or other pets?)
• Does your dog have more rights than your family members?
• Is your dog holding you hostage from having guests over or entertaining?
• *Has your dog crossed the line and bitten a person or viciously attacked another animal?

THE CLEAN SLATE

We developed the Clean Slate program to help owners get a new lease on their relationship with their beloved dogs as well as create the perfect foundation for new pets that you bring into your household.

After your dog goes through one of our many training programs (Board and Train), we then reintroduce you as brand-new owners, he/she’s a brand-new dog. Your dog will self-submit to your very presence. It is important for your dog to see you differently upon meeting again. If you were reunited in the same mindset as when you dropped your dog off, the dog would still see you as his/her equal or in most cases less than equal and the training would not hold. This is why most of our clients have already been through some kind of training program (s) before that did not work. Rest assured; WE are your last stop! Dogs DO NOT listen because they are trained. They listen because the law is upheld! We are not training your dogs for us; we are training them for you!

We have a responsibility to make sure we also train you so you can do your job of upholding the law so your dog has something to obey. If you are willing to follow the rules and guidelines, you will enjoy your dog for his/her lifetime! Within your training, we teach you how to implement YOUR household rules and we help you achieve your goals until you say you don’t need us anymore.

Ask about our interactive ROCKSTAR package where you come and participate while your dog is with us (usually after a 2-3-week period). We have tremendous success with this particular package as you and the dog have a far less stressful transition when they go back home because we turn you into master handlers!!!

In our program, you will never yell NO to your dog again! You will never get mad at him/her, you are always positive, never involved in any negative!

You will only have to tell your dog something once, and you will have off leash control! There are basic and advanced packages to choose from.

We teach them AND you how to communicate in a way they understand with clarity and fairness, black and white

Again, we make YOU always POSITIVE and the safe zone, which in turn creates a forever bond, for the first time your dog will NEED you and therefore TRUST that everything you say will keep them safe!

Our training philosophy is very simple, it is based on how ALL animals learn, through trial and error of behaviors!

In the wild, your dog would have to depend on his/her instincts to survive. As pet owners, we unknowingly take that away from them by doing everything for them for free. Ask yourself, “what does my dog have to do to survive?” That’s right! Nothing! We feed them, water them, groom and take care of them, we take them out, we give them all of the toys and treats and make sure they are comfortable at every moment. It’s normal for us to do that, as humans we love to nurture and take care of others, especially animals. It’s in our DNA!

For dogs this is not normal. This is where the imbalance and baggage come into play in most households. It is really as simple as miscommunication between you and your pet!

This is the root of ALL unwanted behavior!

When we do everything for them, it takes away their thought process. In turn, this creates dogs who only react without thought. When was the last time you reacted to something out of anger, panic or jumped the gun without thinking about it first? Do you think you would’ve done it differently had you really thought about it first? For a dog, the scenario may be lashing out at another dog or animal aggressively, or being so excited that he/she can’t contain themselves, pulling you on the leash etc. In worst cases, crossing the line and biting someone out of fear or aggression.

Our obedience program takes care of most of these unwanted behaviors automatically. We teach dogs to THINK first and be held accountable for their OWN behavior, and to react second. (NO THOUGHT = REACTIVITY). They actually LEARN how to problem solve and make good choices!

Obedience is not about control; it is about FREEDOM!

Why do we have so much freedom within our human society? It is because we have rules, laws and boundaries that we MUST abide by, otherwise there are consequences!

Once we teach your dog to be accountable for their own behaviors, they EARN freedom within your rules, laws and boundaries which is the most beautiful picture.

Your dog will be self-connected to you without even giving him/her a command!

That’s right! Imagine taking your dog anywhere off leash and he/she stays with you, all by themselves!

It is our job to teach or dogs how to live in OUR society. They have no clue how to do that without us. Dogs only know how to be dogs. Unfortunatley raw dog behavior does not fit into human society. However, most people accept this and allow their dogs to get away with some of the most undesirable behaviors! Ask yourself this. If another human acted like an unruly dog, jumped on you when they said hi, scratched you, even put their mouth on you barked (screamed) in your face. Would you accept that? Or call the police? Because most people see dogs as furry people, they make excuses which is sad for the dogs who end up in shelters or put down, because they were never taught how to act like good solid citizens. Things that are cute when they are puppies usually manifest in the unwanted behaviors mentioned above. More than half of the dogs we train come from shelters (some returned 3-4 times). We have reformed many, many dogs who were on death row but lucky enough to find a person smart enough to get proper training with us. And countless others who were surrendered for various reasons.

The ONLY way an animal (any animal) truly learns is through TRIAL AND ERROR of BEHAVIOR.

We highlight this statement because it is so important for pet owners to understand, that your dog does not understand human language. Can they learn words? Sure! However, A learned behavior has feeling to it, it either brings them pleasure, OR discomfort. It IS that simple. How does that fit into clear and fair training?

BALANCED TRAINING

This is the most effective training for animals. Balanced training consists of clear and fair guidance. You must show the dog what is expected and then test (proof) them often. You must teach them what is right and what is wrong. Once a dog is clear with a behavior, then it is fair to discipline for disobedience. You will never correct the dog per se, you will only correct behaviors. Learning takes place by doing something wrong. Then we show them how to do it right! Since dogs learn by feeling, it is easy to be very black and white with them within the training process. If a feeling brings them pleasure, they will continue a behavior. If a feeling brings them discomfort, they will discontinue a behavior. This works on both sides of training. When they follow a command (LAW) that brings them pleasure, because they get rewarded either by following the law and nothing uncomfortable happens, sometimes they get verbal praise or as a bonus, a treat. If they disobey a command (LAW) there will be a consequence or a negative feeling from disobeying the law itself. It is on them to decide. You are just an innocent bystander; you do not get involved with the consequence with any negative verbal action. Another scenario might only involve an unwanted behavior such as counter surfing. This brings your dog extreme pleasure! You, not so much. You slaved over that Thanksgiving turkey! If that happened and the counter corrected him and made it unpleasurable, the dog would never jump on the counter again! Once again… you never yelled NO to him, he experienced all by himself why he shouldn’t counter surf. By yelling at your dog, you are only interrupting the path of learning why a behavior is wrong. You are making yourself the negative therefore, the dog blames you, NOT the behavior. The only thing he just learned was. If you are in the room, don’t go near the counter. If you are not there, it is fair game! This is why you are still yelling at your dogs over and over. The dog needs to see the BEHAVIOR as the problem not you! We teach you how to teach your dog how to act in YOUR house under YOUR rules. Your dog has to actually be taught how to greet people at the door, or any other scenario you can think of. We set up all of these scenarios for you so when the training is done, your dog just blends into your family without having to tell him/her anything!

By giving the dog the CORRECT information, they learn within 2-3 repetitions of an exercise. Dogs are EXTREMLEY bright animals when you understand how they think and learn!

The dog must be taught to be held accountable for his/her actions just like we are in our society. With balanced training, the end goal is freedom for your dog! Every dog is a candidate for balanced training!

There is never any force involved in our training program, they self-submit from within once they realize we are not involved in any negative consequences.

Here at Applied Canine Concepts, we pride ourselves in our very balanced and unique training program that goes beyond the average to the next level! Our World Championship level trainers Gina and Fabian have a wealth of knowledge in training animals in general, Our successful training methods have been developed over the last 35 years by Fabian himself who is an animal psychologist and has an innate ability to know what any dog is thinking and rehabilitate what most would call unsalvageable dogs. Our training methods are simple and clear, and resonate with the way dogs think and learn which is BLACK and WHITE. Once the dog is trained, we then transfer the power over to you and then we stay with you as needed and guide you to the level of relationship that you desire with your dog (s).

There are other different methods of “training” which you have heard of and if you are contacting us, most likely your dog has already walked through a training program like these. They sound great because they are mostly designed to make humans feel good, unfortunately they are nor reliable methods for most dogs and owners living active lifestyles. The most popular methodologies which we will cover the first is usually believe it or not the least successful and we will tell you why.

POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT ONLY- This method is unfortunately the one that sounds the best but usually the most damaging and extremely misleading. You imagine your furry friend and you forming an everlasting bond because everything is so nice and fun… Until something of higher value in the form of a distraction comes along and then your bubble is burst. The simple fact is there is No such thing as Positive only training. Like all things in life everything has a balance, a counterpart to exist. Positive does not exist without negative and vice a

versa. It would be like saying Up doesn’t have a Down, in/out, backward/forward, light/dark etc.

Most of our most troubled dogs who come through our training program have already been through 1 or more of these types of training programs.

REWARD BASED TRAINING- This is a method most popular in the sport dog or trick training world where a dog has a paying gig. Food or toys are used to “lure” a dog into a certain position, or to perform a wanted behavior Meaning, for example, the owner wishes to compete with his or her dog and therefore the dog will perform to receive something valuable to them. Many training companies employ these methods because it looks as though the dogs are learning quickly and having a great time doing it. The problem here, is #1 this is not a reliable form of teaching, because even though most dogs will submit to receive something, like position themselves into a sit or down because they know a treat is coming, it usually does not hold up in times of high distractions. #2, most people do not have the time to keep up with the training or do not wish to carry treats around with them every time their dog needs to go out. We like to reserve this training for teaching tricks and wanted behaviors. Most companies who are reward based trainers also use e-collars in their training process to pair unwanted as well as wanted behaviors to a command. We are not saying this does not work, however for the average pet owner with a life outside of dogs, it is very difficult to remain successful because the dogs also become dependent on the device as well as getting “paid”.

E-COLLARS- E-collars are probably one of the most misunderstood tools in the trade. With that being said, it is just a TOOL. It must be used correctly so your dog does not depend on a device around his neck to make a decision to follow the law or not! They are not used to train dogs; they are reinforcements to back up a command or to stop an unwanted behavior. Remember when we said dogs learn through trial and error of behavior? Think about that story of a young child who touched the hot stove. He had to learn for himself that this is not a pleasurable thing to do. That FEELING stays with him for the rest of his life which is a natural response to keep us safe! THIS IS EXACLY HOW ANIMALS LEARN!!!

If you need a name for it, it is called SINGLE EVENT LEARNING- The formation of associations between elements or occurrences after only one exposure to them.

In dogs, it is a survival mechanism. In the wild, animals that have no fear of that which could cause them bodily harm, would not likely survive very long.

“THE WAY”

With each client and individual dog, we evolve in the way we transfer the information to you so that you have a clear understanding of how to communicate with your dog and we are passionate about making you successful!

As EVERY dog is an individual, there is NO cookie cutter program or system that fits every character of dog.

We have developed a system we like to call “The Way” This is not “our” way of training or the method “YOU” may have in your mind, but simply THE WAY each particular dog needs to be trained.

Not every individual character responds the same way to training. We must take 3 things into consideration.

CHARACTER, TEMPERAMENT AND GENETICS!!!

These 3 elements are the heart and soul of each dog and each individual is as different as you and me. Every dog thinks and learns differently and this is why it is so important to train the dog in front of you, not from trends or my way or the highway attitude.

Here are 2 examples of types of dogs we often get in for training. Some dogs have confidence by nature. They have never met a stranger, when they go somewhere new, they own it. Super social, no fear. Wouldn’t it be great if every dog was like this? They accept training extremely well with little stress, even if they have matured into bad and unwanted behaviors. Water off a duck’s back! It has nothing to do how well they were socialized as a puppy; they are just GENETICALLY sound.

Then there’s the fearful, skittish wall flower dogs. Generally, very shy may or may not be comfortable with all family members or people in general. Depending on temperament this dog may also display fear aggression. This dog is going to take extra time trusting us before we can start his training. We will have to structure his training completely different. This dog’s character is fueled 9 times out of 10 by his genetics. It’s not his fault, usually his past history doesn’t matter he would’ve ended up like this no matter what. In this case good training is his salvation. Obedience training will overthrow his fears because he must be obedient to the laws. Now he knows laws keep him safe, therefore fear has no value. In simple terms, the obedience training will overthrow past fears!

It is so important for owners to understand that in training we must find

THE WAY that works for each individual dog. One tool that may work for dog A might not work for dog B. At the end of the day the end result will look the same. A happy dog who has freedom because they have learned to hold themselves accountable to the rules laws and boundaries you have set for them.

If you have reservations about using certain reinforcement tools, it may be THE only thing your dog responds to in the correct way, or not, it is up to us to find out what works for each dog.

The most important thing to realize is that these tools, specifically the prong collar and e-collar are a means to an end. They are not actually used in our teaching phase of training. They are for the owners to use as reinforcement in the transition phase so they can enforce the new laws. Rules and boundaries. Remember, your dog just went through a major transition. The older your dog is, the more stressful it can be to give up their hooligan lifestyle! We put the foundation on for you, but it is up to you to follow through and form the new habits which takes some time. We stay with you every step of the way as long as you come for the required lessons. They have to get used to their “New Skin” and you have to get used to treating them like dogs for a while.

Once you have developed that trust in your dog that they DEPEND on, which is your GUARANTEE that your word is law and also that they can trust that your word will keep them safe. Those reinforcement tools come off eventually. We take the power of your voice, give it so much meaning that they link a feeling to it

which then becomes a memory in their brain, which means, when you give a command out of your mouth, THEY NOW OWN IT AND ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR IT!

This is next level training!

We invite you for a free evaluation at our facility in Palm City, FL

FAQs

I feed and play with my dog and give him toys why doesn’t he listen?

True bonding comes from a dog “needing” and “trusting” you. When they get everything for free, and have been given the same rights as everyone in the house, they do not need you and most likely they do not fully trust you. We have 3 rules for dogs. You must first treat them like dogs. They act like a dog, they think like a dog. When they are a good dog, they become your pet. A good pet follows rules and boundaries, they do not own anything, they do not have the same rights as family members yet. When they become a good pet, they make good family members. Family membership must be earned! Most people give their dogs family membership right off the bat, family members have rights. This is a recipe for disaster. A dog that thinks he owns things can develop food/toy aggression, they are usually rude, annoying and enjoy behaviors like counter surfing etc. these individuals typically are a nuisance and not very fun to be around. This dog would benefit greatly from training!

My dog digs up the yard, barks at other dogs and people and pulls on a leash

He is a dog doing dog behaviors. He requires training because he is not aware that these behaviors are wrong or unwanted. Our obedience training will make those behaviors go away automatically.

My dog runs to the door and jumps on people when they come to visit

He is a dog doing dog behaviors. He requires training because he is not aware that these behaviors are wrong or unwanted. Our obedience training will make those behaviors go away automatically. We will teach you how to teach your dog how to greet people appropriately

My dog runs out of any door when it opens, and I’m afraid he will get hit by a car

He is a dog doing dog behaviors. He requires training because he is not aware that these behaviors are wrong or unwanted. Our obedience training will make those behaviors go away automatically. He must learn to never go in front of you out of a doorway as well as to never cross a threshold without permission.

My dog is afraid of his own shadow. It is impossible to take him anywhere.

Obedience training will overthrow his fears because he will hold himself accountable for being on a command. Once he realizes there is nothing to be afraid of, the fear has no value anymore.

My dog hates other dogs and is aggressive. I want him to play with other dogs.

Some dogs don’t like other dogs, it’s ok. However, they must learn to ignore other dogs and not react to them. They don’t need other dogs, they need you.

How many Hours of direct 1-1 and/or group training will my dog get? We get them out for their initial training session in the AM but as they go out several times a day they are always working on obedience. Once they go through the initial training, they work around other dogs daily

If in group, how specifically will my dog be kept safe? They are never allowed in a group lose. They are working around other dogs also training and under control. Unlike a doggy day care situation Is there surveillance of the facility All dogs are under surveillance that we check constantly We do everything possible to prevent injuries, illness etc Do you have a security alarm system for the facility in case of fire or flooding to alert first responders and themselves? And what would be the procedure for evacuation? Fire alarms yes. All dogs have leashes and collars on kennels Fire Dept has our evacuation procedure What is documentation like? We video when we can and send to u What should I bring for my dog?

Bring food for your dog packaged in ziplock bags up for each meal for the time they will be here. Please do not bring bowls, beds or any other items that could get lost. We are limited on space.

Does my dog get to play with other dogs?

No, however they work around and with other dogs in obedience to learn how to behave with other dogs.

Can I visit my dog while it is in training?

No, this would negate the Clean Slate process. If you participate in our Rockstar package, you will come at a certain point in their training for lessons while the dog is still with us.