Choosing the right dog trainer is an important decision, and it’s natural to have questions before getting started.
We’ve compiled answers to some of the most common questions about our training programs, behavior modification services, puppy training, service areas, and what to expect during the training process.
If you don’t see your question answered below, feel free to contact us directly. We’re always happy to discuss your dog’s unique needs and help you determine the best path forward.
Getting Started
email or call/text
we get to know each other
depends on the dog and the owners expectations
About Wen’s Waggin’ Tails
At Wen’s Waggin’ Tails, training is behavior-based and rooted in dog psychology. Instead of simply teaching commands, we focus on helping owners understand how dogs naturally communicate through body language, energy, structure, and leadership. The goal is to build stronger relationships between dogs and their humans so dogs can stay in loving homes and out of shelters.
Behavior-based training focuses on understanding why a dog is behaving a certain way rather than simply correcting the behavior itself. Dogs communicate through body language and energy, so training focuses on helping owners communicate in a way dogs naturally understand.
Dog psychology focuses on how dogs think, communicate, process environments, and respond to leadership, structure, and energy. Understanding dog psychology helps owners better understand why behaviors happen and how to guide dogs more successfully.
Both. Dogs quickly learn who they respect and trust. A dog may listen perfectly to a trainer, but if the owner does not understand leadership and communication, the behavior will often return once the trainer leaves.
Dogs behave differently depending on who is holding the leash. The best trained dog will instantly recognize the difference between a dog lover and a dog leader. Training works best when the family learns alongside the dog.
Dogs naturally respond to confidence, consistency, leadership, boundaries, and energy. Many dogs know commands perfectly well but do not fully trust or respect the person giving them.
Absolutely. Children are often wonderful learners because they naturally observe and test behavior patterns. Teaching children how dogs communicate helps create safer and more respectful relationships.
A healthy relationship creates trust, structure, communication, and confidence. Dogs that feel secure and understand expectations are often calmer, more balanced, and easier to live with.
Services
Wen’s Waggin’ Tails offers:
- Puppy Training
- Obedience Training
- Behavioral Modification Sessions
- Loose-Leash Walking Training
- Treadmill Training
- Portable Agility
- Dog Wedding Escort Services
- Limited Board & Train Programs
Yes. Puppy training focuses on creating healthy behaviors early, including structure, confidence building, potty training guidance, socialization, leash work, and preventing unwanted behaviors before they become habits.
Yes. Obedience training helps owners build communication, structure, and reliability with their dogs both inside and outside the home.
Yes. Behavioral Modification Sessions are designed to address issues such as anxiety, reactivity, jumping, leash pulling, overexcitement, barking, lack of boundaries, and more.
Yes. Loose-leash walking is one of the most common requests. Training focuses on helping dogs become calmer, more connected, and more balanced during walks.
Yes. Treadmill training can be a useful tool for some dogs when done safely and properly.
When introduced correctly and supervised properly, treadmill training can be a safe and effective outlet for some dogs. Not every dog is a candidate, so each situation is evaluated individually.
Yes. Portable agility can help dogs build confidence, focus, body awareness, and mental stimulation.
Yes. Wen’s Waggin’ Tails can help escort dogs during weddings and special events to help ensure your dog remains calm, safe, and included in your special day.
Yes, but in limited situations. Wen’s Waggin’ Tails primarily focuses on teaching owners how to work with their own dogs, but Board & Train may be recommended in certain cases.
Training Sessions
Sessions are typically done in the client’s home, yard, or neighborhood where the behavior is naturally occurring. This allows training to happen in the dog’s real-world environment.
Behavioral Modification Sessions are typically 90 minutes. Most other training sessions are approximately 60 minutes.
The first session focuses on understanding the concerns that brought the client in. We discuss dog psychology, leadership, communication, and practical techniques. Hands-on training may also be included depending on the situation.
Behavioral Modification Sessions include emailed notes summarizing the topics discussed along with a personalized Training Plan created specifically for the client and their dog. Puppy clients may also receive a Puppy Plan.
Every dog and family is different. Some clients only need one session, while others continue training for months or years. The number of sessions depends heavily on consistency, leadership, follow-through, and the goals of the family.
Yes. Children are encouraged to participate when appropriate because dogs interact differently with every member of the household.
Ideally, yes. Consistency between family members helps dogs better understand boundaries and expectations.
Wen’s Waggin’ Tails services most of San Diego County.
Some locations that require extended travel time may include an additional travel fee.
Yes. Many real-world behaviors happen during walks and everyday situations, so neighborhood training is often extremely helpful.
Yes. Training often begins in lower-distraction environments such as the home or yard before progressing into more challenging situations.
Dog Behavior Questions
Dogs do not simply follow words — they follow communication, consistency, structure, and leadership. Many dogs know commands perfectly well but do not fully respect or trust the person giving them.
Recall problems are often related to distractions, inconsistent follow-through, excitement levels, or the dog viewing the environment as more rewarding than the owner. Reliable recall requires relationship building, structure, and consistency.
Many “hyper” dogs are actually mentally overstimulated, under-structured, anxious, or lacking clear boundaries. Dogs need both physical exercise and mental balance.
Jumping is often excitement combined with poor impulse control and unclear boundaries. Dogs repeat behaviors that successfully get attention or interaction.
Dogs naturally move faster than humans, but excessive pulling often comes from excitement, lack of structure, unclear leadership, or the dog mentally leading the walk instead of following it.
Lunging is often connected to excitement, frustration, anxiety, fear, or overstimulation. Training focuses on helping dogs become calmer and more connected to their handler.
Many dogs become overly excited and mentally disconnected during walks. Loose-leash walking is not just about physical control — it is about helping the dog mentally slow down and reconnect with the handler.
Dogs are experts at reading confidence, consistency, and energy. They quickly recognize when someone understands canine communication and leadership.
Outside environments contain significantly more distractions, stimulation, smells, sounds, and excitement. Dogs must first learn how to stay mentally connected to the handler in stimulating environments.
Some dogs naturally form strong attachments to their owners. In some cases, constant following may also indicate anxiety, insecurity, or over-dependence.
Dogs may react differently to body language, movement, confidence levels, energy, or previous experiences.
Window watching can become mentally overstimulating for some dogs because they constantly react to movement, sounds, and outside triggers.
Guests often create excitement, stimulation, and emotional energy in the home. Dogs that lack impulse control or clear boundaries may struggle to settle.
Some dogs struggle to mentally relax due to overstimulation, anxiety, inconsistent structure, or constantly practicing high-energy behavior patterns.
Behavior changes can be influenced by inconsistency, changes in routine, stress, anxiety, health issues, overstimulation, or unclear boundaries.
Dogs can become overly food-dependent when rewards are not properly phased into relationship-based communication and leadership.
Dogs naturally explore what behaviors are allowed, successful, or rewarding within their environment.
Leashes can create frustration, restriction, tension, and overstimulation for some dogs, especially if the dog already struggles with confidence or impulse control.
Many behaviors that appear aggressive are actually rooted in fear, anxiety, insecurity, overstimulation, or poor coping skills.
Some dogs may shut down due to fear, anxiety, unfamiliar environments, physical discomfort, or lack of confidence.
Freezing often indicates uncertainty, fear, overstimulation, or environmental stress. Dogs like to negotiate, so using their “brakes” is a discussion.
Anticipation and excitement can cause dogs to mentally escalate before the walk even begins.
Slower feeding tools, structure, calm feeding routines, and reducing excitement around meals can often help dogs that eat too quickly.
Absolutely. Dogs of any age can learn new behaviors, boundaries, and routines when training is consistent and fair.
Yes. Many rescue dogs simply need structure, confidence building, patience, and clear communication to feel secure and successful.
Many rescue dogs make incredible progress when given patience, consistency, leadership, and proper guidance.
Yes. Wen’s Waggin’ Tails works with dogs of all breeds, sizes, ages, and personalities.
Many dogs displaying aggressive behaviors can improve significantly with structure, leadership, consistency, and behavior-based training.
Stress signals can include pacing, panting, whining, barking, shutting down, avoiding eye contact, excessive excitement, lip licking, shaking off, or difficulty settling.
Dogs that lack trust may avoid engagement, ignore guidance, remain hyper-vigilant, become reactive, or struggle to relax around their owners.
Puppy Questions
Puppy training should begin immediately. Puppies are constantly learning from their environment whether formal training has started or not.
Puppy biting is normal, but puppies must learn appropriate boundaries, impulse control, and calm engagement.
Puppies naturally explore with their mouths. Proper management, supervision, structure, and redirection are important.
Zoomies are often caused by excitement, overstimulation, excess energy, or difficulty self-regulating.
Successful potty training requires consistency, routine, supervision, timing, structure, and realistic expectations.
Crate training should be introduced gradually and positively so the crate becomes a calm and safe place.
Proper socialization is about building calm confidence around people, dogs, sounds, surfaces, environments, and experiences — not simply overwhelming puppies with interaction.
Yes. Puppies begin learning structure, boundaries, communication, and leadership from the moment they enter a home.
Puppies often jump due to excitement and attention-seeking. Teaching calm greetings and impulse control is important early.
Puppies often become overstimulated during fast movement, excitement, and play. Children also move differently than adults, which can trigger chasing and nipping behaviors.
Puppies need balanced physical exercise, mental stimulation, structure, and plenty of rest. Over-exercising puppies can sometimes create more overstimulation rather than calmness, and can damage their growth plates as they develop.
Family & Home Questions
Yes. Multi-dog households often require structure, boundaries, leadership, and clear routines to create balance.
Conflict between dogs can stem from excitement, tension, insecurity, resource guarding, unclear boundaries, overstimulation, household imbalance or lack of clear leadership.
Resource guarding is often rooted in insecurity, anxiety, or learned behavior patterns.
Guests create excitement, stimulation, and emotional changes within the home environment.
Introductions should be calm, structured, gradual, and properly managed to help reduce tension, overstimulation and ensure there is no fighting.
Preparing dogs for babies involves structure, boundaries, routine changes, calm exposure, and helping dogs remain balanced around new energy in the home.
Yes. Many anxious dogs improve when they gain structure, confidence, predictable routines, and calmer leadership.
Consistency is extremely important. Mixed messages often confuse dogs and slow progress.
Dogs learn through repetition, routine, and predictability. Consistency helps dogs clearly understand expectations.
Training Philosophy
Wen’s Waggin’ Tails focuses on behavior-based training rooted in dog psychology. Dogs naturally communicate through body language, movement, boundaries, and energy, so training focuses on speaking the dog’s language rather than relying only on verbal commands.
These tools are considered advanced tools and are typically a last resort. In over 11 years of working with dogs, e-collars have only been used in a very small number of cases when specific situations warranted it.
No ethical trainer can guarantee results because dog training depends heavily on owner participation, consistency, follow-through, and relationship building. Dogs may behave very differently with different people.
Training tools vary depending on the dog, family, goals, and situation. The focus is always on communication, structure, and relationship building rather than relying solely on equipment.
Treats can be useful, but dogs should also learn calmness, boundaries, communication, focus, and leadership without becoming fully dependent on food rewards. Dogs become dependent on treats, then might only preform the requested command if they see the treat.
Dogs naturally look for guidance, consistency, and structure. Leadership helps dogs feel more secure, balanced, and confident within their environment.
Every dog can learn. The key is understanding the individual dog, building communication, and helping the family become effective leaders for their dog.
No. Dogs are capable of learning throughout their lives.
Different breeds were developed for different purposes, energy levels, instincts, and work styles. Understanding breed tendencies can help owners better meet their dog’s needs.
Practical Questions
Please have your dog’s regular walking equipment available along with any treats, tools, or items you currently use.
Leash recommendations vary depending on the dog, goals, and situation.
Retractable leashes can create safety concerns, inconsistent boundaries, and increased pulling behaviors in some situations. They should not be used unless it is a specific situation.
Equipment needs vary depending on the dog and training goals.
That is completely okay. Many dogs begin training later in life.
Many clients come after trying multiple approaches. Every trainer has different philosophies, methods, and communication styles.
Absolutely. Education and owner confidence are an important part of training.
Vaccination requirements may vary depending on the type of session and environment.
Sessions can be scheduled by contacting Wen’s Waggin’ Tails directly through the website, phone, or social media.
Accepted payment methods can be discussed during booking.
Cancellation policies can be discussed during scheduling.
That is one of the major goals of Wen’s Waggin’ Tails. Many dogs end up surrendered due to misunderstood behaviors, lack of structure, unrealistic expectations, or communication breakdowns between dogs and their families.
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Stronger Bonds, One Wag at a Time!
