Training Services

You won’t see any prices or packages on our website.

Why you ask?  Because each and every dog and each dog owner is different.  We customize based on what your dog and you actually need or want, not just do a 1 size fits all approach.  We want to meet your dog and work with him or her and then go over some ideas not just dump them into a group class regardless of your needs or problems.

Dog Training should be looked at the same as piano lessons.  When someone calls a piano teacher and says, “How much does it cost to play piano?” The answer is it depends… What do you want to play, How quickly to you want to play it, What experience do you have playing music, Are you musically challenged or maybe already play 5 instruments????

You get the idea.  Different people learn at different speeds and so do dogs.  If everyone who wanted to learn piano just got thrown into a group piano class for 6 weeks at the local music store and they were expected to be able to play good with minimal 1 on 1 time with the instructor most people would laugh and say that that’s unrealistic!!! But in the dog world this totally excepted and even normal…

If you are looking to play the piano we can’t help!  But if you are looking for solid dog training obedience training and you live in the Tulsa area (Tulsa, Broken Arrow, Owasso, Jenks) we can help!

Positive Reinforcement vs. Negative Reinforcement:

Let me say all types of dog training can work. Dogs are smart!  People have been training dogs for a long, long time to do different things.  But just like everything else in the world, there are good and bad methods, fast and slow methods, efficient and not efficient methods.

Most dog trainers in Oklahoma are teaching some sort of either positive or negative reinforcement (i.e. either do good and get rewarded or do bad and get punished).   In this section we will go over problems with pure positive or pure negative reinforcement and then finally go over our Tip Top Method of training and why we get better results than other obedience trainers.

Problems with positive reinforcement (only treat training):

1. If the dog is paid for good behavior and it stops getting paid (treats) then the good behavior normally stops as well. (If your boss stopped paying you then your enthusiasm for work would pry go down and you would probably stop working)
2. If a higher reward than your treat comes by (rabbit, squirrel, neighbor dog) your dog will always go for whatever is the highest reward for its dog brain. (your dog will always take a $10 over a $5 bill)
3. Timing is crucial – typical positive reinforcement only trainers will limit only one dog handler per class. When it comes to reward based training if you tell your dog sit and then pause 5 seconds and then reward the dog then you actually just rewarded your dog for staying, not sitting….  Or if you said “Come” and your dog comes and then you fumbled with your treats and the dog sits and you then pay with food you just rewarded your dog for sitting, not the actual come on command.  Most food rewards need to be delivered to the dog in under 2 seconds of the dog performing the behavior, this is hard.
4. Different respect for different people – depending on how different family members pay the dog with food depends on how the dog responds to them. If mom pays excellent (lots of treats) and dad pays stingy (very few treats) then the dog listens to mom and doesn’t as much to dad because one owner is a better paying boss than the other.
5. Some dogs are not very food motivated
6. Some owners don’t like paying the dog, but want the dog to listen because they said so!
7. When training Yorkies, Poodles, Shitzus or other small dogs they can get full on treats really fast!
8. While treat training can work good indoors it seldom works outdoors in heavy distraction.
9. If the dogs aren’t interested in treats or food then what happens is treat trainers will recommend “fasting” the dog for a day or two. So basically if the dog wont train well with food you have to make it really hungry and starve it so that it will work for food…. This is not very positive!! This is actually why the whales at sea world jump!! If they don’t jump then they don’t eat!!

Obviously training dogs with positive reinforcement works and lots of people do it, but these are the disadvantages.

Problems with negative reinforcement (pinch or prong collars):

1. Depends on people’s personality – some styles (such as prong or pinch collar training) can work for people that have no problem being harsh with the dog but don’t work for gentler dog handlers or for children.

Example – if you have a 85 lb Doberman and you are using a prong/pinch collar then the man of the family may be able to work the dog but the 14 year old girl will not be able to muscle the dog around or generate the same fear/respect as a grown man would.

2. Can ruin the dogs attitude – if a trainer is really harshly correcting the dog (such as using a pinch collar and giving a big leash jerk) then it can really dampen the dogs attitude and make them not like training or not like the trainer.

When using negative reinforcement (like a pinch collar)if the dog doesn’t listen or is distracted they get harder and harder chokes on the collar and more pressure on their neck and throat until they listen! OUCH!

3. Using negatives can make aggressive dogs more aggressive.

Example – If you have an aggressive Pitbull and every time he lunges for a dog you give him a big jerk on a pinch collar a lot of really aggressive dogs will see that “correction” coming from you (since you are at the other end of the leash!) and will come up that leash and REDIRECT their aggression to you!  This is very common with aggressive dogs and pinch collars.

4. Pinch, prong, and choke collars kill dogs every year from blunt force trauma to the throat!

5. It is very hard to transfer from a prong or pinch collar (which requires a leash) to off leash obedience training.

Obviously training dogs with negative reinforcement can work and lots of people do it (although normally it is seen more with the protection type breeds Rottweilers, Dobermans, German Shepherds) but these are the disadvantages.

We take our dogs to the lake, to the park, to friends and family member’s houses and we want to be able to help you do the same!! Obedience, off-leash obedience, and manners is our main focus.  All of our dog trainers are dog lovers first and foremost.  We train dogs because we love them!  In our dog training classes we provide structure and boundaries and show you how to teach your dog to listen.  Our goal – dogs that listen each and every time they are told to do something.

Through our unique method of training we will strive to teach your dog to listen every single time mommy and daddy speaks! We want 100% obedience.  Not make your dog a robot, but teach them that they have to respect you and do what you say.

Why We Don’t Use Shock Collars!

Some people don’t get good results with traditional training methods (such as the methods above) when teaching their dog to stop jumping or not run away and so turn to shock collars.  But shock collars are not good either!!!!

What is a shock collar?  A shock collar is basically an electric fence around a dog’s neck with a button that sends a lightning bolt to the dog! OUCH!!  If you see the training collars at most local pet stores their remotes go 1-8 (1 being low and 8 being super ouch!) and normally have a low and high button.  These are basically just used as an electronic newspaper.

Originally shock collars were created 30 years ago as a punishment tool stop dogs from chasing cattle or to keep hunting dogs from running away.  The original collars were brutal and painful.

Most “training collars” that you see at pet stores today are this variety, they are not very variable (say that 10x fast!) and are normally adapted from an underground fence collar and then the company puts a remote to the underground fence collar.  If you have ever felt an underground fence collar it is strong!! SUPER strong, they can work but OUCH!  Basically, most training collars on the market are some version of an underground fence collar with a remote that goes from 1-8 on it and a few buttons such as tone or vibrate.

Problems with shock collars:

1. Most are too hot or too powerful to do anything but use it as a negative reinforcement (electronic newspaper)
2. Not variable enough, if you work the dog too high on the collar you will ruin the dog’s attitude. When the remote only goes from 1-8 the difference in the stimulation between 1 and 2 is normally a 15-20% increase.  That means if the dog can just barely feel it and you need to turn it up that you cannot just make a small incremental change but if you need more attention from your dog you have to tap 20% harder.
3. Most people train with them incorrectly and this is unfair to the dog.
4. If used incorrectly can make aggressive dogs more aggressive.

Training with shock collars can work and lots of hunting dog trainers in Oklahoma train with them but there are also a lot of bad stories out there of people being too rough with them and using them too high and being unfair to the dog.  While they can be effective these are the disadvantages.

Most dog trainers in the Oklahoma area are using a method that relies on generating fear (dog says – dads cruel if I don’t listen) or respect (dog says – when I do good then good things happen!) or both.   The problem with this is in that fear and respect can be hard to transfer.

If you have seen the dog whisperer on tv, Cesar Millan, he is a very good trainer and while he has a very unique method that gets good results he often has a very hard time transferring what he does to the owner of the dog!

How we train dogs:

We teach attention.  Attention is not using fear or respect to train with, but teaching the dog using a conditioned response.  We teach dogs to pay attention with our unique Tip Top Method of dog training that uses the leash and a training collar and verbal commands to generate a conditioned response to every time your owner speaks you have to pay attention.  In our method we do not reward dogs for listening and we do not punish them for not listening.  Instead we teach them exactly what is expected of them and teach them that they are required to do it each and every time we give the command!

Your first lesson with us is only $1.00!!  So call us today 1-833-484-7867 and let us show you what made us the top ranked dog trainer in the state of Oklahoma and what led to us getting the best of Tulsa for years and years in a row!!