Dog Training
The veterinarians and staff can expose your young pet to so many different things during this developmental stage.
Dog training services in Peoria, IL
At Prairie Animal Hospital, our dog training program uses praise, positive reinforcement, guidance, and, most of all, making our training FUN for you and your dog. We will teach you how to motivate and guide your dog to learn obedience for life. Our classes are semi-private classes, so they are small class sizes for the personal touch and attention all dogs deserve.
Dog Trainer
Valeri Farmer-Dougan, Ph.D
- Certified Dog Behavior Consultant. (CDBC), International Association of Animal Behaviorist Consultants (IAABC)
- Accredited Dog Trainer (ADT), International Association Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC).
- Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner (KPA CTP)
- Member, Association for Professional Dog Trainers (APDT#81155)
- Fear Free Certified® Professional
- Professor Emeritus, Departments of Psychology/School of Biological Sciences Illinois State University
Puppy Kindergarten
The end goal of the program being that they accept all different situations as just another day in the life of a dog! Each class begins and ends with puppy play time, one of the most important aspects of this class. During play, puppies can teach each other things we as humans just simply cannot, such as “Is this an appropriate way to invite play?” Or “You bit too hard!”
Our program also covers the basics of how to raise a great puppy, including potty training, kennel training, and basic obedience. We emphasize encouraging positive behavior and teach owners the proper way to reward, ignore or re-direct the behaviors.
Kitten Kindergarten
Prairie Animal Hospital’s Kitten Kindergarten welcomes kittens from 8 to 16 weeks of age. During this time, we are taking advantage of what is called the “No-fear” or “prime socialization window”.
We can expose kittens to so many new and different things during this development stage. Our end goal is that they accept many different situations and start to learn basic obedience. (Yes cats can be trained, too!). The class will start and end with kitten play time where they can teach each other kitty language all while playing.
Our program also covers the basics of how to raise a great kitten, including litter box training, and kennel training and we cover all basic kitten behaviors. We will teach you how to re-direct or ignore unwanted behaviors while positively reinforcing positive ones.
Reactive Dog
This class is perfect for dogs that react negatively towards other dogs or people when on leash. The classes are designed specifically for dogs who have difficulty being in the same areas as other dogs and/or people and fearful or highly anxious dogs. Focus will be on learning to tolerate other dogs and people. We will work on learning to engage and disengage focus on another dog or person, safety skills for the dog and handler, and desensitizing the dogs to “scary” things in their environment.
We will also practice our sits, downs, stays and walking on a loose leash as part of learning coping skills for our fearful buddies. Dogs of all ages and all sizes are accepted in this class. This class is NOT for aggressive dogs.