Best Dog Trainer in Corpus Christi

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Corpus Christi Dog Training Experts

ANY Dog, ANY Age, ANY Problem

Welcome to Sit Means Sit Dog Training in Corpus Christi, Texas! Our mission is to provide training programs that result in a happy, confident, and obedient dog as well as a happy, confident, and satisfied owner. With industry-leading results that allow you to achieve the maximum results in a minimal amount of time. Gain control of your dog both on and off the leash while still allowing your pet to “act like a dog”!

CALL NOW TO SCHEDULE YOUR PERSONAL EVALUATION AND DEMONSTRATION!     

 361-236-5748

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About Sit Means Sit Dog Training

Dog Training Programs

Any Dog Any Age Any Problem

Private Training

Private Lessons

Whether you are bringing home your first puppy, looking to teach your dog basic obedience manners, or more advanced obedience, we have an obedience dog training program for you.
Private training is a great way for you to get some hands-on experience training your dog while still utilizing the expertise of one of our trainers! Your dog will love the private attention of the trainer and your support.
This program is done one-on-one with the client. We break the program up into individual lessons at our facility that are scheduled scheduled 1-2 weeks apart so you and your dog can practice, implement, and grow together.

Why choose our private training option?

  • To get personally involved in your dog’s training progress
  • To learn alongside your dog and continue their education at home

Group classes are also included with our Private Lesson Training programs in order to provide further support and practice for the dog and owner.

Ready to explore one-on-one training for you and your pup? Contact us today!

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Doggie Bootcamp

Day and Train

If you’re in need of a little kick start to your dog’s training, or maybe your dog needs a little extra direction, our Day Training program would be a great fit! Drop your dog off at our Sit Means Sit Training Facility in the morning, and not only will your dog receive Individualized attention from our expert trainers, but you will also receive a private lesson each afternoon when you pick up!
Group classes are also included with our Day Training programs in order to provide further support and practice for the dog and owner.

Do you need help with:
• Good manners
• Come when called
• Leash pulling
• Control aggression
• Jumping
• Basic and advanced obedience

• Car manners
• Chewing
• Boundary training
• Digging
• Nuisance barking
• Separation Anxiety

Ready to explore training for you and your pup? Contact us today!

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Puppy Training

Puppy Management

It’s hard to develop a deep friendship or bond with your dog when he’s chewing up your furniture, soiling your carpets, jumping uncontrollably, or nipping at your friends and kids! Our proven training methodology puts you in charge so you can move beyond bad behavior and begin to more thoroughly enjoy your relationship with your dog.

Start your new pup off on the right paw! Contact us for a free consultation.

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Group Classes

**Available for existing clients only

As you work on one of our Sit Means Sit Training Programs, your trainer will release you so you can have access to our Group Training Classes! Our Group Training Classes are held weekly at our Sit Means Sit facility or a community park and serve as an ongoing refresher to your dog’s training. Whether you are looking to keep your training skills fresh, work with your dog around distractions, or learn some cool new tricks, our group classes will be there to help and take you to the next level.

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AKC Canine Good Citizen

The Canine Good Citizen (CGC) certification is a two-part course offered by the American Kennel Club and is awarded to any dog that is able to master ten basic skills exhibiting good manners both in and out of the home. As an official CGC Evaluator, we will test you on your ability to master these skills and award you the certification on behalf of the AKC.

We offer this as a 6 week course to learn and work on these skills.  Then the testing will be on the last day. We provide the paperwork for you to turn into AKC.

Some benefits of the AKC Canine Good Citizen certification are:

  • Serves as a prerequisite for many therapy dog certifications
  • Potential discount on your homeowner’s insurance policies
  • Appealing to rental communities when applying to become a resident   

 

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FAQs

Get answers to some of our most commonly asked questions:

Each of our training programs is custom tailored to the specific situation. There are a number of factors that we evaluate prior to building a training package for you such as your dog’s age, temperament, previous training, as well as the desired goals of the owner. What will work for one dog and owner, won’t necessarily fit well with another. Because of these factors, we offer a free demonstration & consultation as an opportunity to meet with your family as well as your dog to gain insight into the unique circumstances that affect your dog’s training. During the demonstration we will evaluate the factors and develop a training plan for your dog and family. From the training plan we will be able to give you an accurate idea of cost to accomplish your goals. There is no cost or obligation associated with the free demonstration.

Sit Means Sit uses a variety of training methods and tools to achieve the goals of the customer and their dog.

The Sit Means Sit mission:

Revolutionizing the quality of life with happy, obedient, and confident dogs.

With this mission in-mind, we customize our training approach to meet with our customer's personality as well as what will result in the best possible training experience for both dog and owner. As you view our portfolio of dog training videos, we hope that you will pay close attention to the attitude of all the dogs trained by Sit Means Sit. We pride ourselves on being able to maintain a happy and relaxed attitude in our dogs.

Sit Means Sit specializes in a diversified approach to dog training. We use an attention-based dog training system developed by Founder and CEO, Fred Hassen. This approach utilizes a variety of training tools to enable our trainers to gain the dog’s attention even in distracting situations. One of the tools that we use often in our training program is our customized Sit Means Sit Collar (remote electronic dog training collar). The reason we choose to utilize technology in our training is obvious when you understand the advantages that technology allows us.

Firstly, Sit Means Sit firmly believes in safe dog training. The technology we employ is 100% safe for dogs and humans. The Sit Means Sit Collar uses state of the art digital technology to control the output from the collar to prevent it from harming your dog. The technology that is utilized in the construction of our collar is similar technology to “electronic muscle stimulators” and “TENS” units. You may be familiar with the use of these devices in the medical field (they are very common in the Chiropractic and Physical Therapy fields) or perhaps you’ve seen devices advertised on TV as “electronic muscle massagers”. These devices essentially use low-level, adjustable electronic stimulation to creating muscle contractions. In the medical field, they are used as tools to help alleviate pain, promote blood circulation and encourage healing.

In the dog training field, specifically Sit Means Sit, remote dog training collars are used as a tool to provide a remote controlled cue. The cue is designed to neither cause pain nor to disrupt the dog’s emotional state, but rather to function as an adjustable “tap”. The approach used by Sit Means Sit trainers is to treat the “tap” from the collar as a cue for the dog to pay attention. This is no different than tapping a person on the shoulder to gain their attention. The goal of tapping them on the shoulder is not to hurt them or cause emotional distress, but rather to let them know that you want to communicate something to them.

The “tap” delivered from the Sit Means Sit Collar is a highly adjustable sensation that can be set to levels that are often imperceptible to people. Obviously this adjustability is necessary because some dogs are sensitive, while others are quite tough. There is no way to determine what levels your dog will respond to until you begin to train them with a collar. Another reason why the collars are so adjustable is because distractions from the environment are never consistent. Relate this to training with a treat. How many times will that treat work perfectly indoors, but fails to maintain your dog’s attention when a cat is running by. Sit Means Sit has found that dogs can be taught to pay attention around extreme distractions very effectively.

During the fundamental Sit Means Sit training, the dogs and handlers are taught how to condition their dog to the collar in a constructive and positive manner. By adjusting the level of the collar appropriately for the dog and the situation, as well as linking the tap from the collar with an item of high value, we can effectively teach the dog that the “tap” from the collar is related to something of value. This approach to fundamentals allows for a smooth transition into distraction training and off leash control through attention to command.

You can relate the advantages that a Sit Means Sit Collar can provide you in dog training with the advantages that a state-of-the-art smartphone provides you. Cell phones these days are no longer just phones, but mini-computers with built-in cameras, internet access and applications. These tools enhance our communication with others, allow for a diversified means of gathering and sharing information as well it’s just flat out cool what can be done with them, provided you have the knowledge. You can still choose to use you old-fashioned wall-mount telephone in your kitchen if you like, but now you’re restricted to the the length of the cord, and it’s not exactly easy to send photos to your in-laws using that wall-mount phone. Effectively limiting what you can do while you’re talking on the phone. There’s nothing wrong with doing things that way, it’s just limiting. This same relationship can also be said of using a leash to train your dog. It’s just limiting. With a smartphone you can do it all from the convenience of wherever you want.

Building on the premise of safety, the use of a remote controlled cue allows for greater freedom of communication, and in turn more efficient training through the enhancement of near-instantaneous timing. Being able to re-direct your dog’s energy or attention while he is at a distance from you greatly enhances the reliability you can achieve in a short period of time. It's also allows for you to communicate with your dog without confrontation from yelling. Also, the uniqueness of the Sit Means Sit approach stands head and shoulders above other technology-based dog training systems because of our ability to establish a neutral communication system allowing for unprecedented problem solving abilities, and through our enhanced communication skills a truly politically correct training approach. We invite you to view our training first-hand by contacting us for a free demonstration with a local trainer.

Training with a remote dog training collar like the Sit Means Sit dog training collar is really no different than training your dog with a leash or with treats. Reinforcement in any form is a required and necessary part of your dog’s life. Even after they are trained, it will still be necessary to maintain your rules and boundaries. This is really no different than we encounter with people learning to drive a car. Obtaining your driver’s license only shows that you understand the rules of the road, and have demonstrated your ability to operate a car safely. It does not guarantee that you will stop at every stop sign, and drive the speed limit all the time. Obviously there are a lot of factors that change as you drive, and some drivers are more honest than others. The bottom line however is that there are police officers responsible for maintaining the law and enforcing the rules that we have agreed to.

When looking at dog training from this standpoint, it easy to see how reinforcement of rules will be inevitable at some point. Every dog is different though, and some dogs require more or less reinforcement than others.

The good news is that proper and thorough training will result in your dog being more reliable even without training equipment or training ‘aids’ as we call them. Training your dog to be reliable without a Sit Means Sit dog training collar on is a matter of transferring attention through conditioning. There are three broad phases of training that you will encounter as you train your dog. Sticking with the your training and reinforcing your rules consistently over a long enough period of time will get your dog as reliable as they can be. The phases of training are as follows:

Phase 1: The Teaching/Control Phase ~ 6-12+ weeks

During phase one, the goal is to achieve control over your dog, teach them the rules, boundaries and desired behaviors you want. It also the time to teach the dog to pay attention and perform these commands around distractions. This phase lasts between 6-12 weeks on average, however in certain situations it may take longer to gain the reliability needed before moving on to phase two. Once your dog is capable of performing commands quickly and reliably around a variety of distractions with minimal problem solving required, then your dog and you are ready to move on to phase two.

Phase 2: The Reinforcement Phase ~ 6-12+ weeks

During phase two, the goal is to begin phasing out your training aid (remote dog training collar). In phase one, we use the dog training collar on a regular basis to regain attention and maintain our rules. Now in phase two we begin to reduce our dependence on the dog training collar and introduce consistency via variable reinforcement. You may or may not need your dog training collar, but we want to teach the dog that you are still in control even if the perception of the dog is that you are not. This phase will last between 6 – 12 weeks on average, and will require you to stick with phase two for longer than average. It’s also not uncommon as dogs mature and age to have to revert back into phase one training again for several weeks depending on how your dog’s performance and behavior is. When your dog is capable of performing commands without the need for reinforcement for approximately 6 weeks, then your dog is very likely to be reliable without their training aid present. We are ultimately looking to have your dog learn how to filter our distractions entirely. When this is achieved, your dog is much less likely to act out in an unwanted manner because of distractions.

Phase 3: The Maintenance Phase ~ Ongoing

The third and final phase of training a dog is the maintenance phase. During this phase, you will likely be using your dog training collar or other dog training aid very little as your dog is capable of ignoring distraction. The catch however is that they are still capable of distraction (they are not robots). A smart trainer recognizes this and is ready to maintain their rules, commands and boundaries at anytime. It is not uncommon to have a dog who sense the lack of maintenance and begins to revert back in their behavior. The benefit of having done your dog training properly to begin with is that regression is easily minimized and dealt with by simply jumping back into training for a short time to remind the dog of the expectations.

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Trainers & Staff

Professional trainers. Attentive friendly staff.

Wes WirickOwner / Head Trainer

I have been working with my own dogs most of my life and decided to make a career out of teaching people to train their dogs.
Professionally, I have been a trainer since 2007. Since making the transition to being a full time certified trainer…and now a business owner of Sit Means Sit, I have had the great pleasure of helping hundreds of pet owners to have dogs that they can be proud of and provide a longer and happier life for their pets.

I am a family man with a wife, that is by my side, and 4 wonderful children.  I strive to teach and help others to have the life that they want with their pups.  We not only train the dogs, but we specialize in training people to train their dogs. So If you need help managing your dog’s behavioral problems or simply need help in developing the dog that you have always wanted, come see a qualified Sit Means Sit Trainer in your Portland / Corpus Christi, Texas area!

Casey WirickOwner / General Manager

My name is Casey Wirick, and yes, I am married to the Head Trainer, Wes Wirick. We have been happily married since 1997. We have four beautiful children that are growing up so fast; Kayla, Tierra, Austin, and Joshua. We moved to Portland, Texas in 2013 from Temple, Texas where I was working as a Director of a Childcare Facility. I had been working in childcare for 14 years before I started working as the Office Manager for Sit Means Sit.

I  had switched from teaching children to dogs, and lets say I had less talking back.  I am still teaching just in a different way, and I love it.  Since moving here my passion and love for dogs has grown exponentially. At the end of 2015 I took on the obedience training of our daughter Kayla’s dog that she had rescued, Daisy. Since I started working with her I have truly learned what it is to have a great companion, and friend with Daisy. As my obedience training continues to constantly grow, I decided with Daisy’s temperament and eagerness to love people that she would make a great Therapy Dog. So, Daisy and I went through training with the Go Team Therapy Dogs in April of 2016 and we have been a certified Therapy Dog Team since.  I love being able to share her love with students, teachers, doctors, nurses, lawyers, judges, parole officers, detainees, firemen & women, police officers, the elderly, and family and friends.  It gives us an opportunity to help our community which we love.  I really enjoy seeing the faces of the adults and children light up when we walk in. It makes me feel so joyful. My life as a Wife, Mother, and Volunteer bring such great opportunities in life.  These opportunities I carry over in my Business to help it grow and as a Sit Means Sit family.  It is those opportunities you must grab onto and run with it.

Bree VillarrealOffice Manager

Hi! My name is Bree! I was born and raised here in Portland Texas.  My love for animals started at a very young age. I was lucky enough to grow up with all types: dogs, cats, fishes, turtles, pigs, chickens, and even a hedgehog.

I currently have three dogs: a black lab named Daze, a chihuahua mix named Oliver, and a catahoula named Rey, as well as three cats. Growing up I  never imagined I’d get the opportunity to get to work around animals, especially my favorite, dogs. In April 2021, I applied to Sit Means Sit Corpus Christi and got a response shortly to go in for an interview, a week later I got the job for Office Manager! I’ve been working in an office environment since I was 16 years old and have taken my knowledge and experience to help assist our clients! I have learned so much about the company and dog training and can’t wait to further my knowledge! I love working for Sit Means Sit Corpus Christi!

Mike and Lisa McArtherTrainer & Office Assistant

Hello, we are Mike and Lisa McArthur. We have been married for 35 years, have three grown children, a grandson, and one dog (Izzy).

We raised our children, many pets, and had successful careers in Albuquerque, NM. In 2016 we retired, sold everything, moved into our RV and started traveling full time. In 2018 we spent the winter here and fell in love with the Coastal Bend. In the winter of 2019 we came back to Portland and have been here ever since.

So how did we become part of the Sit Means Sit family? In the spring of 2019 our children decided that we needed a puppy! We told them we weren’t sure if we should hug them or choke them! Before we came to Portland we had taken Izzy for training at a “big box store”. We knew we wanted more! We found Sit Means Sit when we came back to the coast and became clients right away.

One day Mike asked Wes if they needed any help. They hired him as a kennel tech with a plan for him to become a trainer. Lisa joined the Sit Means Sit family a year later to help in the office.

We are blessed to be part of the Sit Means Sit family and wouldn’t change a thing.

Service Areas

We proudly serve the following areas in Corpus Christi.

Counties

  • Nueces
  • San Patricio
  • Aransas

Cities

  • Corpus Christi
  • Robstown
  • Portland
  • Aransas Pass
  • Ingleside
  • Taft
  • Sinton
  • Odem
  • Port Aransas
  • Rockport

Zip Codes

  • 78362
  • 78370
  • 78373
  • 78374
  • 78336
  • 78387
  • 78382
  • 78390
  • 78380
  • 78401
  • 78402
  • 78404
  • 78405
  • 78406
  • 78407
  • 78408
  • 78409
  • 78410
  • 78411
  • 78412
  • 78413
  • 78414
  • 78415
  • 78416
  • 78417
  • 78418
  • 78419

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Sit Means Sit has 157 locations across the US and Canada.

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Dog Training Videos

Check out a few videos to see our dog trainers at work!

Heel Up and Down The Stairs

Gambit – One Year Old Havanese

Sit Means Sit Commercial

5 Star Reviews

We love customers and their dogs. They love us.

Agustin & Manguita

This past June when I took Manguita for her free evaluation at Sit Means Sit Dog Training in Portland I knew I found the right place for her training. Every member of the staff I have dealt with there, Wes, Danielle, Monique, Mike and Laura, everybody is very knowledgeable, attentive with a real good interpersonal…

Cheryl & Jim C.

Cheryl and I want to thank Wes and his staff for the continued encouragement and invaluable help with training our German Shepherd Puppy, Max. Max is gentle with children and people but not so much with other dogs. Your evaluation of Max was spot on. The subsequent training and information provided by you on “Dog…

Wanda P.

I got Leo from the Gulf South Humane Society in Corpus Christi two years ago. He is very smart, and loves to learn, but had not been taught how to greet other dogs properly. Other Obedience trainers just said he was an aggressive dog who shouldn’t be around other dogs. Leo is a well mannered…

Bill D.

After hearing so many great things about Wes and Sit Means Sit we decided to send both our 2 year old MinPin and our 8 month old Boxer to Wes. Let me tell you that the MinPin is awesome, yet a bit skittish and very obstinate. The Boxer is amazing and so loveable too, but…