Amy is committed to providing doggy parents with the most current, effective, scientific-based positive reinforcement and force free training techniques.
Certified by the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers, Amy graduated with honors from CATCH’s Canine Trainer Academy. She avidly pursues ongoing, continuing education and professional development. She has participated in intensive workshops at St Hubert’s Animal Welfare Animal Center, training shelter dogs in basic manners, studying their body language, and solving various behavioral cases including fear, reactivity, over-arousal, frustration, and aggression. Amy also volunteers for the Animal Care Centers of NY, training foster dogs. She attends several seminars and workshops throughout the year and keeps current on industry literature.
Training Philosophy
Doggone Special’s mission is to teach people how to better understand and communicate with their dogs using our humane, force-free dog training method so they can live in harmony and lead happier lives together.
We believe to better prepare and train dogs to live with us, we need to have more empathy for them. Our dogs have been brought into our homes and the human world often with our expectation that they should know our rules and etiquette. We may get annoyed or angry when they behave in ways that we don’t like such as barking, jumping, chewing, mouthing, or digging. It’s important to recognize that these are very natural and normal dog behaviors. From their perspective, they aren’t doing something “wrong” or being “bad”, they are just being DOGS! With this in mind, punishing or reprimanding our dogs really isn’t fair, especially when they don’t speak our language and can’t understand why we don’t like certain behaviors they do. This is why we adhere to positive reinforcement dog training and behavior modification. With positive reinforcement, we can get polite, well behaved dogs without resorting to punishment or coercion.
Services
Amy will help your dog assimilate to your household by customizing a training and behavioral modification program that fits in with your lifestyle and meets your dog’s needs. In conjunction with training, she will guide you through a holistic plan to address your dog’s physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being. Amy takes a compassionate and empathetic approach with her clients and their dogs because she cares a lot about them and their success. She always strives to make training engaging and fun.
- Bonnie L. | Manhattan
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New Puppies & Rescues
Introduce new puppies and rescues to the home and prevent unwanted behaviors.
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Basic Manners
Teach puppies and dogs of all ages to become more polite members of your family.
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Nuisance Behaviors
Stop those behaviors dogs love to do but we deem as inappropriate or a nuisance.
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Challenging Behaviors
Help for challenging behaviors related to emotions such as fear, anxiety, and frustration.
Certifications
Certified by the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers
Specializations
Positive reinforcement and force free training techniques, basic manners, nuisance behaviors, challenging behaviors related to emotions such as fear, anxiety, and frustration.
Training Methods
Positive reinforcement training, behavior modification
Customer Reviews
Amy will help your dog assimilate to your household by customizing a training and behavioral modification program that fits in with your lifestyle and meets your dog’s needs. In conjunction with training, she will guide you through a holistic plan to address your dog’s physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being. Amy takes a compassionate and empathetic approach with her clients and their dogs because she cares a lot about them and their success. She always strives to make training engaging and fun.
- Bonnie L. | Manhattan
