Jenny Ruth Yasi
Jenny grew up on a small farm, milking goats, riding horses, caring for meat rabbits, keeping a wide variety of small to large pets (especially birds!), and graduated from Vermont College of Norwich University in 1998 with a self-designed major in Behavior Science. Jenny LOVES behavior science, and has traveled to study with chicken, monkey, horse and marine mammal trainers, as well as with world renowned dog trainers. She has especially followed Leslie McDevitt (Control Unleashed programs) and Susan Garrett's Recallers, H360, Agility Nation, Puppy nation programs, and Sylvia Trkman have had profound impacts on Jenny's animal training style, which is centered on the power of choice, and removing 'adversarial' components to the human/dog partnership.
Locally, Leslie Whitney from Happy Tails was Jenny's first dog training teacher, and introduced Jenny to Karen Pryor clicker training. Jenny got tired of buying clickers and so she started clicking with her tongue, and now sometimes if she dreams of a dog, she might 'click' the dog in her sleep!
Jenny approaches behavior and training as a science as well as an art, weaving operant and classical conditioning into the way we arrange our environments. Control of the environment (Jenny is also an organic gardener, with a special love of flowers and natural medicine) helps shape default behaviors as dogs respond to environmental cues, aka 'context cues,' and learn to think independently and do what works best.
Jenny has had 8 dogs of her own over her adult life, Sampson, Lady, Lassie, Dandelion, Tigerlily, Charlie, Honey Bee, M'Ocean, two or three dogs at a time, and besides Susan Garrett and Leslie McDevitt, Jenny has sponged from some of the greatest animal trainers in the world: Chicken Camp with Terry Ryan, ClickerExpo, Freestyle workshops and seminars with Carolyn Scott, Atilla Suzukalek, Mary Ray. Jenny especially loves training 'freestyle' (dog tricks to music), and she provided pet assisted therapy to in the pediatric psychiatric unit of Spring Harbor Hospital for a few years with her barbet, Tigerlily.
At one time, Jenny had a career as a singer/songwriter/storyteller, and she loves to combine music with animal training. She is also hard of hearing now (but don't blame the drummer, blame genetics!) and has trained four of her dogs to perform hearing alerts, and she also has trained SAR alerts! Jenny loves to continue her education and regularly attends seminars, workshops, and competes in rally, agility, trick dog and other events to challenge and test her growth as a trainer!
After raising her family on an island off the coast of Maine, Jenny and her husband moved to Freeport in 2015. In 2016-2017 they sailed 2800 miles with two dogs aboard Magus, from Maine through the Bahamas. Along the way, Jenny visited over a dozen schools with her reassuring animal training and humane education program 'How to make big problems smaller!'

Training Philosophy
Jenny is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA) and Fear Free Certified Professional (FFCP Trainer), a Certified Control Unleashed Instructor (CCUI), and a Certified Trick Dog Instructor (CTDI). She sits on the Ethics and Legislative Committees of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers.
Jenny approaches behavior and training as a science as well as an art, weaving operant and classical conditioning into the way we arrange our environments. Control of the environment (Jenny is also an organic gardener, with a special love of flowers and natural medicine) helps shape default behaviors as dogs respond to environmental cues, aka 'context cues,' and learn to think independently and do what works best.
She believes in using positive reinforcement methods and avoiding punishment. She emphasizes the importance of building a strong bond between the dog and handler, and creating a positive and rewarding learning experience for both.

Services
Whole Dog Camp offers a variety of services, including:

• Private Training: Jenny gives you and your dog her undivided attention and helps you evaluate and plan a training strategy which will bring out the best in your dog. Purchase two sessions and get your third session for free. Traveling through Freeport? Do your third follow-up session via zoom! Dogs must appear healthy and be fully vaccinated, including leptospirosis and kennel cough.
• Group Classes: Group classes most Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, 8 am for puppies younger than 6 months, 9 am for friendly or shy 'beginner' dogs of any age 10 am for rambunctious dogs, including dogs who may need space and privacy to train. 11:30 advanced and experienced dogs Purchase allows you to drop into any 3 sessions June, July or August. Message me when you are coming so I can prepare your training station. Dogs must be up-to-date with standard veterinary care plus leptospirosis, lyme and bordetella vaccines
• Training Focus on Safer Leash Walking: 3 private/3 group sessions
  When a dog drags you places, that's dangerous for you AND your dog! Members of our 'loose leash walkers' group each get three private sessions ( booked to suit your schedule at the beginning of the month), and 3 group classes cooperatively scheduled for approximately the last week of the month, and an online video lesson package. If you are a WDC member, this class session will be discounted by training level, plus you're invited to attend as many WDC field trip practice meetups and romp as often as you want! See our levels program for training level and member discount information.
• Gold Memberships: Our Premium Annual Memberships include almost anytime drop-in and play, learn to earn training levels program, a dip ticket for 10 group class sessions, free field trip meetups and discounted private and group classes, daycare and boarding. Please see 'training levels' in the menu for more information regarding discounts. To keep life simple and be fair to all, memberships, classes and any other payments are NON-REFUNDABLE. 2nd dog is 50% off
• Additional dog membership(s): Got more than one dog in your family? Your additional dog(s) are 50% off the cost of your first dog, both for annual memberships and for group or private lessons.
• Private Zoom sessions OR Drop in and play!: Got a dog training question? Don't want to spend a fortune? No matter where you are located, I can help! Let's talk about it! 30 minutes private zoom session, or 1 hour drop in and play, including 15 minute in-person quickie consult. You'd be surprised how much can be accomplished in 15 minutes! For drop in, your pup must be and appear healthy and you must have a veterinary receipt that shows your dog recieves regular, standard veterinary care and vaccination record. No shock, prong, choke or aversive training methods allowed on our grounds.
• Saturday morning classes: Single session is $30, or 6 sessions for $150 Saturday morning 9 am puppy class, 10:00 am CGC/Introduction to Control Unleashed, 11:30 Control Unleashed Advanced All dogs must show up to fo date standard veterinary care. If your dog is currently usinjg prong/choke/sliplead/e-collar or if your dog could drag you or is reactive towards other people or dogs, you should join the 'loose leash walking' program described above. Member Dip tickets discounted by training level. See Training Levels Page for details
• FETCH!: Retrieving is a super fun and useful activity for dogs, and now the AKC has a certificate of achievement for that! Join us Wednesday evenings 6 pm and grow your dog's retrieving games! Drop in and try just one session for $30 or get 6 sessions for $150 (members, subtract your 'level' discount). Dogs must show proof of up-to-date veterinary care, including leptospirosis and bordatella vaccine
• Introduction to Control Unleashed: 4 weeks, 4 training games that will transform your life with your dog. Jenny is a Certified Control Unleashed Instructor who learned these games directly from the designer of this revolutionary, effective and fun program, Leslie McDevitt. Blended with some Susan Garrett exercises, these games provide a road map for preventing and healing reactivity, leash pulling, high distractability and they will help you improve your communication with your dog quicker than you expect! Saturday mornings 11:30 am in S. Freeport
• Board and Daycare: Yes, we sometimes offer (very limited) specialized board and daycare.

Certifications
Jenny Ruth Yasi, BFA, CPDT-KA, FFCP, CTDI is certified through the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers, and she is also a Fear-Free Certified Professional animal trainer. She's certified as a Trick Dog Instructor through Do More With Your Dogs, an AKC CGC evaluator, member candidate of International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants and Control Unleashed Instructor Training. Jenny is a member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers.

Specializations
Jenny enjoys training 'practical' dog behaviors, such as skijoring, retrieve and deliver, find, alert, and backyard games that don't take a whole lot of training equipment, and that offer fun exercise, and practice of useful skills.

Training Methods
Jenny uses positive reinforcement methods and avoids punishment. She emphasizes the importance of building a strong bond between the dog and handler, and creating a positive and rewarding learning experience for both. She uses a variety of training methods, including clicker training, shaping, and games-based training. She is also a certified Control Unleashed Instructor, which means she is trained in using games to help dogs overcome reactivity, leash pulling, and other common behavior problems.

Customer Reviews
E. ADAMS: Jenny has been a tremendous help, teaching us how to effectively and humanely deal with our very large, slightly skittish 3 year-old standard poodle. In a few short months of participating in dog camp we have virtually eliminated lunging on the leash, made crate time a happy experience, and improved socialization skills. And that's just the dog!
Rebecca and Max: Thank you for the best week in the wonderful state of Maine! Everyday we learned something new with Reece. We have tried to soak up every nugget of knowledge you have imparted on us for dog training. We can't wait to continue training and hope to show you what we've learned! This was the best place to become engaged!
Joe and Jess: I think we have found our dog's (Pacha) natural habitat. He came to life like we've never seen as he galloped around the fields at Whole Dog Camp. Your gardens were goals for us, thank you for giving us free access to all the amazing herbs and vegetables. We had a wonderful stay!
Karen, Rick and Bitsy: Adopting an 'old' rescue dog during the pandemic was a decision we were beginning to question. I have renewed faith that Bitsy can be a member of our family. Jenny we kind of feel Bitsy has a god mother in your and all the suggestions you had will help us move forward with her... take care and thank you!
Linda and Ray: We loved our stay and watching our Annie come few steps on becoming her full joyful self! You have restored hope and optimism that our Puerto Rican sato can bond and move forward... we'll be back for more training and discussion!
Keven, Carol, Josie: Our little city girl had so much fun running on your farm. She has never had so much room to run in her young life! We had lunch at two dog-friendly restaurants, both places brought water bowls for Sera. We explored the local 'secret' beach and Sera had a great time playing with Bingo!
Keven, Carol, Josie: Thanks as always for a wonderful time, and for all the expert advice w/Josie. We promise to practice with her faithfully! One tip to share: Cook's on Baily's Island was the same great lobster we remember and observing all Covid19 guidelines.
Kara: Max and I had a great time on the farm. I learned a lot about Max! We'll come again soon to show you all we've worked on! He enjoyed the big crate; I think he asked for a crate at home (^; ... exactly what we were looking for in a weekend getaway!
Leah, Anthony, Julie and Tigrou: Dog camp was SO fun! We learned a lot and had such a lovely vacation. We can't wait to return... Thank you!

Social Media Links
https://www.facebook.com/wholedogcamp
https://www.youtube.com/user/yasijenny

Media Appearances
Jenny and her husband sailed to the Bahamas and back with 2 dogs aboard. Along the way, they visited many elementary schools where Jenny would play her guitar and have the dogs do some tricks and explain how a little bit about the amazing field of behavior science.
She called her program 'How Animal Trainers Make Big Problems Littler,' and she got her husband to participate. It was a wonderful adventure, and her husband just published a story about the trip on one of their favorite little sailing magazines. They put Jenny and her dogs on the cover!