How much does your training cost?
Our training programs vary considerably from dog to dog and depending on your training goals. They vary both in the structure and layout of our programs as well as in the cost and duration of the training. 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 and 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.
What type of training methods do you use?
The unique Sit Means Sit training model uses Attention-Based Training to modify behaviors and teach dogs new skills and proper manners. This approach to training allows our Sit Means Sit Seattle trainers to use a variety of attention based modalities such as leashes, flat collars, food, toys, and naturally our patented Sit Means Sit Collar. Just as in sports and academics, no one is ever punished into excellence. We teach with a healthy level of clear guidance, direction, and enthusiastic praise. Through repetition and proper progression, excellence and proficiency are then achieved. We are best known for our off leash results around distractions, both on and off the owner’s property. We address many different areas of training, some of which are listed below:
Housebreaking, Barking, Aggression, Basic Obedience, Leash pulling, Jumping, Chewing, Advanced Obedience
Our training is safe, free of confrontation, conflict and confusion. There is no yelling or punishment in our training progressions. The collar (as is with all other training modalities), does not train a specific skill such as “sit” or “down”. We as the trainers train the skill. The collar simply acts as a neutral attention aid, and once we have the dogs attention, we begin shaping a skill by guiding and directing the dog. As you view our portfolio of dog training videos and pictures, we hope that you will pay close attention to the attitude of all the dogs trained by Sit Means Sit. We direct our focus on generating and maintaining a happy and relaxed attitude in all of our dogs. This is why we are committed to showcasing our training via the Internet in order to share our training options.
What type of training programs do you offer?
Sit Means Sit Seattle offers different types of dog training models with a variety of programs within each model. Each program is tweaked to the specific needs of your dog, your family, and your circumstances.
We offer:
- Immersion / Day Train Programs
- Private Lessons
- Group Classes
- Puppy Training / Housebreaking
Your success is insured with our results oriented year round support, including lifetime phone consulting, and reinforcement visits as needed. This means, we truly are, the trainers for the lifetime of your dog.
Can you help with Housebreaking my dog?
Sit Means Sit Seattle can help with every aspect of your dog’s training including healthy puppy containment, management, and housebreaking / potty training. We train dogs of every age (including teaching those old dogs some new tricks), small dogs as well as big dogs. You can contact us today to set up a free demonstration and consultation with your dog. Our Housebreaking program offers ground level guidance and protocols for those individuals who are either bringing a puppy home for the first time, or simply need a little extra assistance in getting started with their young pup or rescue dog.
What is the Sit Means Sit Collar?
The Sit Means Sit collar is a micro stim modality, that is very similar to those micro stim units used in the medical and athletic fields. These micro stim units essentially use low-level, adjustable electronic stimulation to create a muscle contraction. In the medical field, they are used as aids to help alleviate pain, promote blood circulation and induce healing. For our SMS collar, an adjustable micro stim signal is manually sent from a remote, that translates into a “tap” delivered to the Sit Means Sit Collar. This tap starts at such a low level, that they are often imperceptive to people. This signal from the Sit Means Sit collar is also adjustable in the same way that your voice is, and is completely controlled by you, the handler.
Sit Means Sit uses an attention-based dog training model developed by Founder and CEO, Fred Hassen. This approach utilizes a variety of training modalities that enable our trainers to gain the dog’s attention, even in some of the most distracting environments. The Sit Means Sit Collar allows us to use this medical technology in a way that is counter intuitive to the old school “correction /compulsion” approach. The “tap” is the corner stone of teaching attention both in close and long distant proximity, as well as distracting environments. Our ability to generate consistent quality levels of attention, allows us to induce a steeper learning curve for the dog than any other training model.
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 get their attention. The goal of tapping them on the shoulder is not to surprise or intimidate them, but rather to let them know that you want to communicate something to them. Adjustability in the tap levels is necessary because, while some dogs are “in tune,” so to speak, others can be less so. There is no way to determine what levels your dog will respond to, until we begin to interact and teach them with our collar. The versatility of the collar’s long range capacity, the weather and water proof tolerances, and micro stim levels, allow a “training affect” to move into areas of high distraction and new environments. The integration of our collar will also significantly shorten the time period spent training, simply because a major challenge in teaching has always been about gaining and maintaining the dog’s attention.
You can read more about Sit Means Sit’s approach to training here.
Does this training work for small dogs?
Absolutely! Small dogs and large dogs learn by the same basic principles of attention, through a motivated learning model. One general difference we have seen over the years, is the owner’s tendency to tolerate more extreme behaviors from their smaller dogs as opposed to their larger dogs. These behaviors include aggression, excessive barking, and even housebreaking or marking problems. Our customized approach to training dogs of all sizes and temperaments, allows us to fine tune our training progressions to suit even the smallest of dogs, with the biggest of challenges. We have a number of videos showcasing how well-trained a small dog can become with a Sit Means Sit trainer.
Does my dog always have to wear the collar?
Training with the Sit Means Sit collar implements the same principles of any learning program that uses a variety of teaching aids. Reinforcement, in any and every form, is a required component for proficiency and a necessary part of your dog’s life. Even after they are trained, it will still be necessary to maintain your rules and boundaries both in and out of the home.
The good news is, that with proper progression and thorough training your dog will become increasingly more reliable. This translates into more freedom for the dog and less stress for the owner. Proofing your dog to be reliable without the use of the Sit Means Sit dog training collar 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 your training and reinforcing your rules consistently, over a long enough period of time, will define your dogs level of reliability in every case.
We advise all our clients to implement the use of the Sit Means Sit collar consistently and without hesitation for 90 days post-program completion. Our focus at this juncture is on generating the smallest deviation between commands given and commands executed. Translation: if you are having to repeat your command 5-7 times, it’s not because your dog can’t hear you, it’s because he doesn’t understand the skill in that particular working arena and current level of drive. The answer to solving this scenario is to go back to basics, and ensure you are following the protocols for progression.
What forms of payment do you accept?
We accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover as well as cash or check.