About Us!

Author and Contributing Author of Train Your Dog, Change Your Life!

Our vision / passion / dream is to provide a training sanctuary for dogs and their humans. We are bringing people and pets together to enhance education, awareness and well-being for our dogs and ourselves.

All businesses, large or small, are successful because of a few key ingredients: vision, passion, customer satisfaction, good business plan/sense, determination, flexibility and a strong desire to make a difference. A dedicated team of people support our passion that all about educating families on understanding, not just training dogs. The result is a gift to ourselves!

We want to see fewer dogs relinquished to shelters because we know they are valuable to us a society. We are inspired by each and every family & dog who enters the training sanctuary. Our customers (and repeat customers, dog & human) motivate others. It has a positive trickling effect.

Maureen, Gary and their experienced team of volunteers, trainers, behaviorists (coaches) and dog lovers enjoy studying behavior, training and learning about how evolution changes (and we believe strengthens) the relationship between human & dog. Training is exciting from the perspective of learning how to communicate and teach a different species. It's not just about training or the DOG. It's about a cultivating a relationship with a different species. Enjoy the Journey!

Unleash your own Training Practice with Train Your Dog, Change Your Life!

Maureen & Gary, author and co-author of "Train Your Dog, Change Your Life, Howell Book House, 2001 know this for sure:

There is no magic potion. Before you can change anyone’s behavior, you have to change your own. Dogs live with people because people need & enjoy dogs! They have since the dawn of creation. However, dogs are dogs. They are a different culture, species and learning requires an understanding of this basic truth.

The relationship we develop with our dogs can have a trickling effect in our relationships with others and our planet. There is no mystery to this. It's happening in our universe. What we do, as humans, makes a difference. How we treat other species is a direct shadow of who we are as people.

Dogs live in the present moment. They do things the way dogs do, as a difference species. When we accept this, then we begin to create a positive learning experience that is respectful and sensible for our lifestyle.

Dogs live with people! Positive-family-focused training provides the springboard that bounces training, therapy and education from the office, classroom and facility to realistic situations in the home environment for the dogs and their families.

Dog Training happens quicker and more pleasantly when people (and dogs) are grounded, calm and in the present moment.

Knowledge is empowering. Education opens minds (and doors) that present us with the opportunity to be the best we can be, not just make it! Our successful programs are based on the power of relationship. It is calm, but assertive and individual.

THOUGHTS AS A TEAM:

We grieve many who have left indelible paw prints on our hearts including delightful mixed breeds, cats and parrots. We are fortunate to be able to live insidiously through our friends and colleagues learning with horses, wolves and other species.

We view ourselves as coaches and mentors who provide resources so people can make "informed choices" about their and their pet's health and well-being.

Training doesn't happen in a classroom and/or home environment alone. It happens in your every day life. Practice, practice and practice some more is key to results. We embrace focused training with an open-mind. It really does not matter how "positive" training is, if you and your dog are not "focused" and "present". The question is: What is happening in this very moment that is or is not giving you the desired communication results with your dog? What small change can make a difference that will last?

Like most people, we fantasize about a leash-free world, multiple dog packs (and parks) that all get along in harmony; the quintessential positive learning experience for everyone. Realistically, we know that this is a dream. Living within a food chain environment, we have to manage our pack daily. Negative experiences teach us as much, if not more, about change.

Get inspired and go ahead. Give yourself permission to think, even a little, outside of the box. Make a few mistakes. The alternative is going crazy, doing the same thing over and over, while expecting different results. It simply won't happen unless you have some sort of divine intervention. If you do, God (Dog) Bless You.

Striving to be gentle and understanding with our dogs empowers us as human beings. Holistically and spiritually, living with dogs relieves stress (most of the time) leading to what we believe to be healthier minds, bodies and a balanced sense of well-being.

Children learn how to appreciate a broader picture of the world by living with dogs (other species). Children have an open mind, living in a discovery zone. Observing children and dogs can bring back the magic.

Intuitively, we educate our dogs by developing a relationship with fairness, calmness, clarity and assertion; one of boundaries and limitations, but also of love, compassion and understanding our differences. We need to train our dogs with the same patience that we expect and enjoy while learning something new (like a child)!

Knowledge is empowering, but we need to be aware that how we learn is different for all species. Whether something we have tried works or not does not matter, as long as it is pursued with integrity and the dog's well being in mind. No one’s self-esteem or spirit is damaged (the dogs or ours).

The learning process goes on and on like the universe. It does not start and stop with a training session.

Like any thing we learn, dog training is a skill. It requires time, effort and commitment to a different way of being and seeing. If you can take a breath and look at the moment through the dog's eyes, then you will know what to do next. Training becomes more of an integrated, daily part of our life, instead of a 6-week class that starts and stops.

Our message is to invite you to learn something new every day (from all species and nature). Channel energy in a positive way to reduce stress and create new learning experiences. Believe this: everything is a learning experience depending on how you perceive it! It is what you do with it that counts! Conflict, stress, problems and making mistakes are a part of living. What we do with them makes the difference.

Develop a sense of humor. It prevents hardening of the attitudes and puts even the toughest hurdles into perspective.

Moreover, remember, what we focus on is usually what we become. If we can learn to let-go and take a moment to decide what we want from our dogs, they will give it to us. What happens in every aspect of our lives, all of the consequences we encounter, do so because of choices that we make at any given moment! Therefore, we invite you to pause and breathe between that stimulus and response. You cannot control every nuance of life’s unpredictable happenings, but you can take a moment to catch your breath.

Quality breathing simple means you are conscious of the sustaining oxygen that flows in and out of you everyday. You are alive and breathing. You are aware of being in the present moment, the now! Learn by heart. It is never just about the dog. It is about the way we communicate and nurture our relationships on a daily basis.

Take-a-deep-breath, treasure life and hug your dogs; it is healthy and therapeutic!

As our friend and mentor, Dr. Ian Dunbar, would say: "Warm Woofs".

As our mentor Dr. Jane Goodall says, "together we can make a difference."

Maureen: My Passion ~ Dogs

MA - Counseling Psychology - Antioch NE

BS - Organizational Management - Leslie College

NBCC - Board Certified Counselor

CPDT (Certified Pet Dog Trainer)

RYT - Registered Yoga Therapist

Founder of Dog Talk & TheraPet, LLC

Founder of New England Pet partners, Inc.

Co-Founder - Pet Wellness Festival - www.petwellnessfestival.com

Author of Train Your Dog, Change Your Life & numerous publications on canine & human behavior

Member of Dog Writer's Association of America.

I have loved and shared my life with dogs since I was child. I used to study dog breeds in the back of Spiegel catalogs and threaten my mother that "when I grew up, I’d get a big dog". Well, I have: big, small, pedigreed and whatever's. I am forever grateful for their presence in my life and moments we had in our own created "jungle" in the backyard.

Living in a small, cramped, but affordable apartment in Lowell, MA, my parent’s choice of dog for me was small (Chihuahuas, Spitz or little mutts). I had a menagerie of birds, gerbils, turtles and fish. Our family knew next to nothing about dog behavior, aside from what one generation passed on to the next, which wasn't brilliant! As a child, my plea was often "please don't hurt my dog."

There were voids and misunderstandings, that as a child I knew were not okay. Dogs would poo under the bed because no-one let them out, then they were reprimanded for it. Somehow, these dogs (and me) managed to blend in and survive the chaos, making my life more meaningful and safer. I was given a special gift of being given time to learn with dogs! The result as an adult is that I can withstand a lot of emotional chaos, almost without flinching. As a trained counselor, I was given the tools to learn how to protect myself (boundaries, coping skills).

To condense for the reader what will be my next book, I know that many of you will relate to the reality of the "imperfect" family. What I've learned is that is that the "perfect" family is an illusion, and matter of perception. All families have skeletons and secrets that are colored with pride, beliefs and values passed from generation to generation. Certain members of my family suffered from demons that rolled down from generation to generation. It was a mixture of patterns and behaviors that could create calm or conflict. Core values were strong too. That is what I choose to hold onto today. I knew I had a choice-- change or make the mess bigger so I could hide in it.

Families do the best they can with the skill they have. It is how we use and choose to learn from the information we are given that makes the difference. This is true in how we relate, teach and work with children and dogs. I am fortunate. I process well, I am resilient (bounce back), and was given the gift of dogs (intuition). Dogs taught me how to "choose" my battles and a lot about fight or flight.

Survival techniques were learned at an early age as it is by every species. Dogs are excellent are reading body language. I learned how to read expressions and find rocks to skip on to the other side of the stream before the impending storm. Intuitively, who I am becoming as a person, is an accumulation of all I learned while growing up and what I continue to discover with wide opened eyes and an insatiable curiosity.

As a child and now, I find comfort in knowing that I am never alone. I wake up grateful to be alive and with dogs by my side. I consider dogs to be my unconditional companions, teachers, and therapists (in their own way of course). They connect me to people and pathways that I otherwise never would have found. That is what I choose to believe! It works for me. I encourage others to discover this too by taking the time to breathe.

With dogs I learned to accept death, grieve and let go. Life presents "stuff" to all of us (panic attacks, depression, anxiety, stress, death, divorce, transition and trauma). Dogs create learning experiences and connections for me (chosen friends, family).

They say lessons are repeated until they are learned from generation to generation. Dogs keep teaching me to never give-up, to love many, trust few and try to harm none! For humans, this isn't as simple. We analze. Dogs do not!

I consider myself grateful and privileged to be invited and accepted in the presence of dogs and their ancestors the wolf. Suddenly, I can view the world through another specie's perspective without judgment. I do not believe that dogs love unconditionally all of the time. They have specie related conditions, just as we do.

I am in awe, honored and more content when I am in the company of others who intuitively sense the same intrigue with dogs, nature and something that is bigger than all of us. Not a word has to be spoken between two living beings that share this with dogs.

As my friend Stella, who passed at 93, taught me, "it is a "knowing" that needs no words. As Dr. Jane Goodall shares, "if I had one wish it would be to see the world through their eyes (her beloved chimpanzees) if only for a moment." My friend and mentor, the late Cindy Fischer, M.Ed., TTouch Practitioner, Founder of the Pet Wellness Festival and author of Pets Tell us a Story shared, "animals I've lived with make me aware of my connectedness with them and to others."

This connection with dogs is giving me the opportunity to share my experiences with others, to make even a small difference, to leave a legacy that I am passionate and proud about living ad learning with dogs. I have no idea why. Most times, I can't explain it. That's the beauty of it. It just is what it is and not always what it seems. It is a journey.

For this, I am forever grateful. For dogs, I will do whatever I can to lessen their burden through raising awareness, education, relationship and well-being. Enjoy the Journey!

Gary on a personal note

ME - Engineering, Cornell U

Co-Author, Train Your Dog, Change Your Life

Co-Founder of Dog Talk & TheraPet, LLC

Co-Founder of New England Pet Partners, Inc.

Engineering Fellow - Raytheon Company

20-years of Canine Behavior Experience / Workshops / Presentations

Registered Pet Partner, Licensed Team Evaluator & Instructor (New England Pet Partners, Inc.

Hi, I am an engineering manager for Raytheon Corporation. Dog Talk gives me the opportunity to combine canine and human management experience by assisting in creative training programs for Dog Talk & TheraPet. When time allows, I enjoy joining Moe and the teams. I find what I learn working with dogs, I can bring to Raytheon. It makes me a better person and manager.

I coach dog sports, sub for group classes, and offer a team practicum for Delta. It keeps me involved in something different from Raytheon, which can be toxic.

I grew up in a middle class neighborhood one of six kids. We didn’t have a dog, but we had several cats (less maintenance for my Mom I suppose). There were dogs all over the neighborhood, some nice ones and some not so nice ones. While delivering papers for 8 years, I was able to develop a ‘special’ bond with some of them. Like I said before, there were some good dogs and some not so good dogs.

It wasn’t until I met Maureen that dogs truly became an integral part of my life. I quickly found out what others have known for millenniums. Dogs are really something else. I wouldn’t change a minute. There have times when I have literally loved a dog to death (and that is tough letting them go).

The dogs have shown me such grace, compassion and unconditional love, helping me through my good times and bad. The dogs have also afforded me the opportunity to meet people who I never would have met otherwise. You guys know who you are. We’ve traveled all over the world, and you always meet people who care about dogs.

I remember walking outside the London Zoo and asking a gentleman exercising his Terrier if he had ever watched "Dogs with Dunbar". Needless to say he had, and he never missed a broadcast.

Dog people are really interesting (I think there’s a book in there somewhere). Like our dogs, we come in all shapes, sizes and colors. We don’t always agree (and some of those disagreements are legendary), but if we’d only take the time to step back, we’d realize that we all want the same thing … what’s best for our dogs and our well being!