It’s a virtual world.

I used to think that term only referred to playing “virtual” video games, but it seems to be a part of everyone’s life these days, no matter where you live in the world.

I started working virtually in 1998 as an executive recruiter. When I entered professional dog training in 2004 all my work was in-person until 2014 when I gained an additional certification in separation anxiety and began supporting clients and their dogs remotely using video conferencing. When this pandemic hit, all of our trainers were already skilled and tooled to continue serving the needs of our local, US and global clients.

One result of this pandemic is that many people are with their dog nearly 24/7.

Even six months into this pandemic, everyone’s life is still in upheaval in one way or another. You may be trying to figure out how to keep your dog quiet during your work at home conference calls. Or maybe it’s trying to figure out what to do if you can’t give your dog the exercise needed to burn off energy. Or maybe it’s a behavioral change that has you stymied. it could be there’s a new puppy in your home who desperately needs training for all that puppy nipping and biting. These are just a few examples of how we’re helping our virtual clients.

Just this past week our trainers have rolled out online training with clients in Arizona, California, Pennsylvania, New York, Georgia, Virginia, Oregon, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, as well as Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.

Easy and effective dog training with virtual training.

We use a video conferencing app called Zoom that most people are now familiar with. It’s free and easy to download. Once you have the app on your phone or computer, all you need is the link to connect with us virtually. Really seamless! The only downside is that when working with puppies, we’re unable to smell the puppy breath! Now, if someone would create an app that allows us to “smell” too!

There are so many benefits to remote training. We can observe a dog in its home environment without the presence of an unknown trainer (who smells like treats and all the dogs touched that day), we’re able to demonstrate with our own dogs (live, on camera) so you can easily see the goal behavior we suggest for your dog, the ability to seamlessly provide mid-week support, as well as ease of scheduling at a time that’s convenient for you.

Virtual learning is the norm.

It’s true that virtual learning is becoming the norm today in nearly every industry. And effective virtual dog training is no exception.