Elena B. Miskowiec

Elena has had a lifelong passion for animals. She began training dogs at a young age with her family Beagles but was limited by the age of her dogs and her lack of formal training. She decided to pursue a relationship with another dog, Stella the Pembroke Welsh Corgi. Stella became the dog that started the joy for training in Elena. Since Stella, Elena has worked with hundreds of dogs of every breed type, age, and personality. Her training philosophy centers around the belief that both the human and canine should thoroughly enjoy the training process. Elena uses positive methods combined with creative problem solving and brain storming to keep dogs interested and frustration levels down. One of the things Elena prides herself on most is being able to communicate how to get a behavior from a dog, why we are working on the specific behavior, and creating a plan to maintain high levels of training for the dog.

Training Philosophy

Elena uses positive reinforcement training with a goal of minimizing fear and force in how we interact with our dogs. Due to her wide variety of training experiences, Elena has many tools available in her toolbox. Each dog demands a slightly different approach and being flexible is one of the most important parts of dog training. Food is used heavily in positive reinforcement training but Elena will encourage you to find other ways of rewarding your dog. Elena’s goal is to minimize stress, confusion, and frustration for both the dog and the handler in her training. She strictly follows the Certification Council of Professional Dog Trainer’s Humane Hierarchy Flowchart and will consider many different approaches and factors in her training. Elena closely follows research on how dogs learn and updates her techniques accordingly. She reviews the newest research on training, dog psychology, and dog physiology weekly to keep up to date with new information that could be helpful for her clients. She also attends multiple dog shows a year with her own dogs with a goal to improve her own handling and proving her training techniques.

Services

Elena offers private, at home training designed to give you more bang for your buck. She will work on your individual needs and create a plan that will work for you and your dog. Even if you only have five minutes a day to work with your dog, Elena will give you advice, tips, and hands on practice for you and your dog. If you are interested in working outside your home and yard, Elena is happy to accommodate this as well.
Puppy training is highly encouraged but all puppies must have their first round of vaccines finished for their own safety. Elena can help you with potty training, puppy mouthing, basic training every dog should know, and will help you through the puppy and adolescent stages.
All dogs must be up to date on their rabies, distemper, and parvo vaccines. Dogs should be on a nonretracable leash when working and use proper equipment. Elena can advise on equipment suitable for your dog.

Behavior Modification

Does your dog bark and lunge at other dogs when you walk down the street? Or does your dog destroy the house and show anxiety when you leave? Elena can help you resolve many behavior problems you may have with your dog. Behavior modification requires a complex look at your dog’s background, training history, current lifestyle, stress triggers, and more. Elena will help dissect where the biggest problem areas are for you and your dog and come up with a plan to help them. Many times traditional training is not what these dogs need so individualized plans are crucial. Elena may choose to have you work with a Veterinarian to prescribe your dog appropriate medication to help the training.
Please be sure to mention if your dog has a bite history before meeting with Elena so appropriate safety measures can be taken.
Elena is a referral trainer for Dr. Jokela, one of only 80 Board Certified Veterinary Behaviorists in the world. She has worked with dogs suffering from

• Leash Reactivity
• Resource Guarding
• Fear Aggression
• Separation Anxiety
• Generalized Anxiety

Work starts with an initial consultation where Elena will dive deeper with you to get a full account of what is going on with your dog. She will then create a plan for you to implement and a guide for future sessions. This work is often slow going and methodical but has proven results. Each plan will have an element of management, training, and some therapy to help your dog.

Service Dog Training

One of Elena’s passions is helping disabled people train a dog to help them function better in everyday life. She is happy to work with you on your specific disability to create an individualized plan for you and your dog. Don’t have a dog yet but want to train a Service dog? No problem! Elena has experience picking out dogs specifically for clients to work as Service dogs. Service dog training is very extensive and Elena will help you with everything from the basic sit, stay, come, to advanced tasks that can be performed in public with high distractions. Elena will educate you on proper equipment, laws and rights of Service dogs, and proper etiquette for teams in public.
Not all dogs are suitable for Service dog work, especially public access, but many can make it with correct training. Elena will consult with you on whether your dog is a candidate. She will guide you through the process from beginning training or selecting a dog, problem solving how your dog can help you best, to giving a Public Access test that shows your dog is ready for work in the general public. Training begins at home and quickly progresses to pet friendly venues. When the team is reliably performing disability mitigating tasks in these venues training can move to non-pet friendly places. Service dogs are allowed in anywhere the general public can go so flexibility is easy for clients wanting work in a specific location or with specific distractions. Elena is happy to help clients with specific needs that may require a little more creativity in the training process. Tasks can and will be adapted to the individual dog and handler. Service dogs can be trained tasks to help mitigate disabling symptoms of mobility impairment diseases, seizures, anxiety, diabetes, hearing impairment, and more!
Elena can also help you through the process of making your dog an Emotional Support Animal (ESA). ESA’s require no special training but give you some comfort from minor psychological issues such as minor depression or anxiety. Elena will talk you through what is required to qualify for an ESA and what rights you would have legally. While they require no special training Elena will help you with basic training to create a pet that is easy to live with. Dogs can be taught minor tasks to help you with everyday tasks as well!

Advanced and Trick Training

Want to take your dog off leash to a park or bring them to that new outdoor café? Elena can help you achieve your advanced training goals. Whether you are specifically looking for off leash skills or being able to take your dog into a hospital, advanced training will be catered to your needs. Advanced training often requires traveling to places outside of your dog’s comfort zone and may also involve Elena’s personal dogs. To elevate your dog’s performance to the next level Elena will help you find the ultimate reward for your dog which can be used to get really great efforts in training. Proofing is a very important step in the advanced training process and this will be broken down into steps so that you and your dog can accomplish and progress quickly.
Advanced handling techniques will also be covered in this level of training if desired. Learn how to control your dog with a simple hand gesture or a quick word. Skills such as retrieving, distance work, and competition level exercises can also be taught.
At this point in training fun things like tricks can also be incorporated into the lessons. Tricks can be a great way of focusing your dog in stressful or exciting environments. Many tricks can also be useful in everyday life such as teaching a dog to wipe their paws or take off your socks!

Other Training

Elena offers some extra training for her clients. She can help you train a Therapy dog, to complete the Canine Good Citizen test, and can help you train all sorts of different tricks to impress your friends and do something fun with your dog. Elena is also a Canine Life And Social Skills (C.L.A.S.S) evaluator and instructor through the Association of Professional Dog Trainers. The C.L.A.S.S. program offers three levels that can be achieved for your dog as part of their basic through advanced training.

Certifications

CPDT-KA CTDI CCFT FP-MT APDT C.L.A.S.S. Evaluator and Instructor CGC Evaluator

Specializations

Obedience training, puppy training, agility training, behavior modification, service dog training, therapy dog training, trick training

Training Methods

Positive reinforcement training

Customer Reviews

Mandy O.: I would not hesitate to hire her again, and we will most likely have her back to help with more difficult training after we have mastered our current work with our dog.
Mary N.: Elena shows up on time, never rushes us and answers all of our questions. [Our dog] has a lot of issues and she is showing us how to work with him.. It is a slow process but Elena is encouraging and dedicated. I highly recommend Elena and look forward to working with her more.
Joan V.: I would highly recommend using this service if you would like help training your dog. The trainer is awesome and made the experience fun for both our puppy and us. We learned so much and feel like it was just what we needed to get us off to a good start.
Judith K.: We have had quick and promising results in just a few weeks. Elena teaches us humans clearly and patiently. And she is very knowledgeable. Our dog calms down immediately in her presence and enjoys her training. We are very pleased and grateful to have found Elena and for her generous reasonable pricing.
Sarah B.: Elena has helped build my confidence as a pet owner by helping me understand the differing behaviors of both my dogs. Both my dogs are rescue animals and have different ways their prior traumas and anxiety present. Elena has given me many tips and tools to help reduce anxiety and identify what each dog needs to feel safe.
Elena offers an animal behaviorist perspective and truly gets what motivates each individual dog. She easily picks up on why a dog is acting the way it does and she uses POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT to change behavior. Her approach is well researched and educational.
Evann B.: Elena was extremely helpful and knowledgeable. She gave me several tips and tricks to work on with my dogs. I have learned a variety of ways to show positive reinforcement. I can already see a difference in their behaviors. Highly recommended!
Beverly L.: Always positive and very helpful
Elizabeth I.: Elena is an absolute professional. Her varied experience with different training methods as well as her biology degree make her, in my opinion, the perfect well rounded dog trainer. Elena is concerned with all aspects of your dogs emotional and physical health and with all those tools in her tool box she is a fantastic resource. My dog really enjoys working with Elena and doesn’t try and run and hide when she comes over! The ultimate sign of a dog trainer who intuitively cares about your dog, and your dog knows it.
Carol J.: You gave us confidence every step of the way. You spent a lot of time with us counseling before our dog purchase; during and after. You answered every question, spent time with us as a family, gave our daughter a lot of options for further training and special courses. You are extremely easy to work with, kind and enthusiastic and generous in spirit and time.
Mandy O.: Elena is great to work with. She is responsive to messages and promptly returns our phone call. She came to our home and was able to give us helpful tips to help our entire family work with our dog to get him over some insecurity issues. He started responding to the training right away.
Bill K.: Elena is focused on you and your dog and is always very accommodating.
Carrie W.: Elena is wonderful! She is very knowledgeable and patient! She has already helped so much… in just one session.
Scott T.: You have been very helpful in a lot of ways, but I would categorize how you helped us in three ways-
1. Education. My wife and I never had a puppy before and while we read a few books/articles- we probably did as much if not more research on puppies then our daughter- it did not prepare properly on what to expect, the whys (puppy brain), and how to train. I remember our first session very clearly and after that session the training became much easier.
2. Emotional Support through some of the training. About two months in- my wife was very frazzled and thought she wasn’t doing things properly, Luna was not listening as well as she thought she should- and you met with Laura to calm her down and reassure her this was normal and helped provide additional guidance.
3. Training Tips. Your classes and advice has helped us (Luna was always great) be better dog parents and the classes just increased the bond between Luna and us.