Would you like your dog or cat to have better manners? Family Pet Consultants can help. We provide a variety of services for dogs and cats so that both pet and guardian can live in harmony. We customize our services according to the needs of each family. All of the services offered by Family Pet Consultants are directed at improving the relationship between pet and guardian in a safe and loving way. Our role is to educate, coach, and offer support to pets and their families.

Family Pet Consultants analyzes and treats a variety of pet behavior problems that are not often correctable by traditional training methods. We treat the entire family system to either prevent or change a pet behavior problem in a loving and safe way. The pet is examined in the social context in which he/she functions. We counsel people and train dogs and cats. We utilize a holistic approach to behavioral counseling to address all of the issues that may have an impact on the pet’s behavior (i.e., health, nutrition, environment and behavior management.)

Family Pet Consultants offers in-home pet training during the day and on weeknights and weekends. All of Family Pet Consultants’ training uses a clicker to teach new behaviors to our students. Clicker training is an exciting way of communicating with and training animals. Clicker training uses a distinct marker signal to precisely capture the behavior the trainer desires, and promises the animal that a worthwhile reward will follow. Simply put, the trainer uses a metal-and-plastic clicker to mark a behavior, and then gives the animal a reward. This motivates the animal to repeat the performance, while giving the information about what action precisely won the reward. Clicker training consciously follows the rules of operant conditioning. Operant conditioning provides us with a way to teach new behaviors so that the animal receives reinforcement and avoids punishment. Positive reinforcement is used to strengthen desired behaviors. Clicker training applies the concept of shaping small increments of behavior to achieve the end-goal behavior so that the trainer and animal are successful.

The clicker is used to teach new behaviors. Once a new behavior is learned, the clicker is no longer needed - until you're ready to teach the next fun thing!