About Paws that Heal

One on one dog training tailored for you and your dog so you can both succeed. Specializing in everything from proper puppy socialization and basic obedience, behavior modification for fearful and reactive dogs, and service dog training for disbaled individuals. All classes are offered a free hour long consultation in order to make sure our training is a good fit for you and your dog. Training comes to you! Being able to see the way your dog acts at home is important to training, for this reason we will come to you for lessons. Each class will be 40-60 minutes. Dogs can get tired easily learning new concepts, and keeping training fun for both you and the dog is very important. Because of this, class is wrapped up before the hour mark if the pup starts to become overly exhausted. All class packages must be paid in advance. All classes outside of a 40 mile distance will have an added gas coverage fee. All walks include both structure through training and free sniff time to ensure your dog has been exercised both mentally and physically.

Trainer and owner Alaina Santiago has been training dogs for the past 10 years, and has gained experience with dogs of all breeds and temperaments. In youth, Alaina spent a lot of time apprenticing under amazing  “R+” trainers. R+ is a training style that uses only one quadrant of the dog training spectrum, which is positive reinforcement. This foundation in R+training was extremely important in teaching them how to be calm and patient with your dog, understanding the dog in front of you and their needs, and keeping training fun and exciting.  But at 18 Alaina got  a rescue dog named Lucille. Lucille had four previous homes, and was extremely leash reactive. Through training, Alaina quickly realized the R+ methods they were using for other dogs were not working the same way for Lucille. This is when  Alaina decided to apprentice under a “Balanced” trainer. Balanced training incorporates many R+ methods, but also uses all four quadrants of dog training for the best possible communication. Through this apprenticeship,  and through working with Lucille, Alaina learned how to incorporate the other three quadrants, and the humane and proper use of correction tools.  Lucille would later become the mascot of Paws the Heal training, and she even joins class every now and then. This unique knowledge of both R+ training and Balance training is what makes training with Alaina special, they are able to look at the dog at hand and understand what methods would make communication easiest, and keep training the most fun.