Stay    Train

Started in 2012, we were one of the first to incorporate training together with temporary stay. This program was designed to help dogs ranging from basic puppy training to dogs with severe behavioural concerns. Unlike most schools with boarding/training services, our goal was never to send a different dog back to owners, but to rework on confidence and target key issues while retaining the natural personality of the dog.

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A Gentler Approach to Training

Most owners may expect a different dog after being sent for training, but they may not understand what this means. The common reason that a dog's personality changes together with seemingly cooperative obedience is usually due to training using intimidation, ranging from verbal and physical abuse to incorporating tools like choke chain, shock collar, prong into their daily lives. These aims to project fear and/or pain to the dog so that they would adhere to what is demanded from the handler, this in return destroys the typical instinct and personality of an innocent dog, creating a slave/master relationship. Most do not even know what their dogs are going through as they are just expecting a well trained dogs after military programs. Handlers may claim that such tools could be weaned off once the dog obeys, however owners may not understand that this also meant that the dog would have to remember the fear/pain for life to do so. In fact, statistics shows that dogs that are trained on aversive tools tend to rely on them throughout their lives. We prefer to use the concept of relationship building and therapy to work with such dogs.

Teaching dogs with intimidation may seemingly produce immediate results, but most do not understand the possible risks and side effects that may appear with their dogs after a period of time, which can take months to years before they suddenly surface, in short the scientific term from the side effects is known as PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. At ATP, our goal is not to change the personality of your dog, but to instead go the other way round by creating a gentle and strategic workflow catered to each individual dog depending on their background and personality. So in a way, we make effective use of a dog's natural personality and create a routine around their strengths and weaknesses, we then turn training sessions into games that would in return make exercises simple for owners to practice. So instead of forcing dogs to obey, learning starts becoming much more fun and enriching. We believe that we are no longer living in times where dogs are used as tools, these days most dogs are treated as a family member and therefore we strongly believe that intimidation is not necessary no matter how bad a behaviour may seem to be.