At Rock Solid Dogs, our goal is to build a SOLID Foundation which allows for a lifelong healthy, positive* relationship of trust between the team of dog and handler.

*Positive does not mean permissive.

Our philosophy is based on being FAIR to your teammate, where

FAIR = Proactive, Respect, Patience and Consistency

Proactive

Effectively ‘teaching’ desired behaviors (what we want), without the use of physical corrections and indicating what we DON”T want by constantly saying “no”, “aaahhh”, “stop that” etc.

Example: Instead of constantly telling your dog ‘off’ when jumping on humans teach them an incompatible behavior, such as to sit or have all four paws on the ground/floor when greeting.

Being proactive means being reactive – ahead of time.

~ProactiveChange.com

Respect

Honor the information your teammate is giving you; don’t blame them. “Blowing-off” is not a concept we believe in. It is important to learn your dog’s signs of stress. Our belief is that when someone thinks there dog is “blowing them off”, there has been a break-down in communication, dog doesn’t understand the task at hand, has a physical issue, or we (the trainer) have not ‘taught’ the desired behavior to fluency, not taught it to this distraction level, etc. OR, maybe our dog is simply having an ‘off’ day – just as we do.

“When the destination is desirable, expectation speeds our progress.”

~ Author Unknown

Patience

Each dog is an individual with their own learning style, strengths and weaknesses. Don’t judge one by another. Have patience while your brilliant dog is solving a challenge – allow your dog to use his brain.

Our patience will achieve more than our force.

~Edmund Burke

Consistency

Are you guilty of the following:

• Cue a ‘sit’ and dog lies down?
• Ignore a behavior, because you are in a hurry, think it is no big deal or doesn’t matter because we are not ‘training’ or in the ring?
• Ask your dog to stay at the start line in the agility ring – dog breaks the ‘stay’ and you run anyway (but, if we don’t run how can we qualify?)?

These are examples of being inconsistent. This confuses the dog and breaks down the dog’s trust in you.

Anytime you are with your dog, you are training whether intentionally or not.

When you are FAIR to your dog, your dog TRUSTS you.

We use positive reinforcement training methods to create a strong bond between owner and dog and rehabilitate behavioral problems that correction-based methods cannot do. These methods have been used for many years to train animals for entertainment & military service and to change aggressive behaviors.

We educate dog owners by giving them tools and skills needed to turn their puppy or dog into a well-behaved companion, thereby reducing the number of dogs relinquished to shelters and euthanized for avoidable problems.

Rock Solid Dogs is the embodiment of Jan Reid’s belief that dogs can learn to make proper decisions and not be afraid to make mistakes. Dogs can be taught to learn without the use of choke, prong or electric collars or other aversive techniques.

“The greatest mistake you can make in life is… be continually fearing you will make one.”

~Elbert Hubbard