Dog owners in Perth County struggling to find timely training for their new four-legged companions should consider taking the virtual route before surrendering their pet due to bad behavior, the region’s humane society says.
Dog owners in Perth County struggling to find timely training for their new four-legged companions should consider taking the virtual route before surrendering their pet due to bad behavior, the region’s humane society says.
The Humane Society of Kitchener Waterloo and Stratford Perth recently announced that it’s teaming up with a virtual dog training service based in the US as a surge in adoptions during the pandemic continues to boost demand for local classes.
“A lot of the trainers, especially in this area, have quite the waiting list right now,” said Brooke Bell, the humane society’s canine co-ordinator. “(Dog owners are) waiting for potentially weeks to actually get in. We really want … these adopters to get a little bit more help sooner rather than later.”
The humane society’s partnership with GoodPup, a virtual training service created by Massachusetts-based company PetCareNow, could help.
The app – which boasts more than 55,000 users, according to its website – offers dog owners flexible one-one-one online appointments with certified positive reinforcement trainers and 24/7 chat support. Both of those elements were important during the humane society’s search for a virtual training service it could recommend to local pet owners, Bell said.
“We’re not going to be able to help at 3 am, unfortunately, but GoodPup is going to be there,” she said. “Making sure that it’s easier for adopters to be able to make that transition into a home is … a huge part of why we think this is going to be super beneficial for everybody.”
Dog training is among those services pushed online during the pandemic, especially as many people decided to use lockdown periods to adopt a new pet. The online method might not be for everybody, Bell said, but it has been effective for those willing to put in the time.
“Having the one-on-one connection in person is, of course, going to be an ideal situation for most people … but if people are actually really wanting that help and they’re committed to doing that training and doing that work with a trainer, having virtual sessions is going to be extremely beneficial as well,” she said.
For the humane society, another training option for new owners couldn’t have come at a better time. Many shelters are now reporting an increase in the number of animals being surrendered to them following the pandemic adoption surge. In Stratford and Kitchener, Bell said behavioral issues are one of the most common reasons dogs are coming into their care.
“We really want to help keep people and their dogs together rather than having these dogs brought into a shelter environment,” she said. “We know a lot of people struggle with (unwanted) behaviors and training is oftentimes not cheap, especially one-on-one training in person.
“GoodPup is a much more affordable option. It’s a huge thing for a new adopter to be able to have a safety net to get some help with training problems that they’re dealing with, or behaviors that they maybe didn’t even know about … once they’re at home.”
Like many online services, GoodPup offers a free trial just for signing up.
Afterwards the service costs about $40 per week but, as an added incentive, GoodPup has committed to donating $40 back to the humane society for every user who signs up using the local shelter’s QR code and continues past their free trial.
More information is available on the humane society’s website.