Service Dog Tutor

Service Dog Tutor offers customized private training programs designed to address specific needs and goals for both family dogs and service dogs. The process begins with an initial 90-minute consultation where the dog’s temperament, obedience skills, and the owner’s disabilities and training goals are discussed. The home training environment and family involvement are also considered to create a tailored program, with training exercises beginning immediately.

Follow-up 60-minute sessions are typically scheduled once a week, with owners receiving a written review of covered behaviors and practice assignments. For owners with physical limitations or time restrictions, the trainer can conduct initial instruction and then transfer skills to the owner in subsequent sessions. Training can continue to polish skills, work on off-leash control, games, and tricks, and prepare dogs for Canine Good Citizen testing or Therapy work.

For family dogs, training covers puppy skills like crate training, housebreaking, stopping nipping, socialization, and introductory obedience. It also includes basic obedience commands such as sit, stay, come, down, leave it, off, leash walking, greeting other dogs, and addressing behavior issues like pulling on the leash, jumping up, bolting out the door, nuisance barking, nipping, and food guarding.

Service dog training includes consultations on proper breed selection, obedience tune-ups, task training, and Public Access Training. This preparation includes Canine Good Citizenship and Public Access Testing, as well as training for traveling on various modes of transportation like airplanes, buses, BART, and CALTRAIN.

Pricing Summary

Private Training services are offered at $175 per hour, payable by check or cash. Basic Training for family dogs requires a commitment to at least four sessions, totaling $700. Most clients opt for three months of training for the longest-lasting benefit. For some “working dog” types, private training and day training services are offered at $150 per hour, with basic training requiring a commitment of at least four sessions for $600. The estimated cost for training a service dog with a professional trainer at $175 an hour is about $8400 a year.

Service Dog Tutor is a dog training business led by Jean Cary, an experienced trainer with over thirty years in the field. She specializes in training companion dogs, Pet Assisted Therapy dogs, and pheasant hunting dogs. Since 2012, her focus has been on training service dogs for mobility and psychiatric assistance, serving both adult and pediatric clients, including children with physical handicaps or on the autism spectrum.

The business emphasizes “training for both ends of the leash,” focusing on strengthening communication between the handler and the dog. Jean Cary utilizes positive rewards training and incorporates games into her methods to make training enjoyable and effective for long-term results. She offers customized private lessons, including in-home training, which is ideal for seniors, individuals with limited mobility, and families who want all members involved in the training process. Online classes and coaching are also available for clients outside their service area or during specific circumstances like pandemics.

Jean Cary also provides consultations on proper breed selection for specific tasks and prepares dogs for Canine Good Citizenship and Public Access Testing. She gives lectures on dog behavior, pet therapy, and service dog training.

Accomplishments

Jean Cary has over thirty years of experience training companion dogs, Pet Assisted Therapy dogs, and pheasant hunting dogs. She has mentored with Martina Contreras, a certified professional dog trainer for obedience and agility training, and Glenn Martyn, Executive Director of the Hearing Dogs Program in San Francisco. Her previous careers include being a Surgical Assistant and a designer specializing in Accessibility, providing a strong background for focusing on the needs of disabled individuals.

Jean provides lectures on dog behavior, pet therapy, and service dog training to local service clubs and humane shelter volunteers, and has been a sponsored speaker at Senior Centers and the Peninsula Stroke Support Group. She is a freelance writer for Baywoof Magazine. Her dogs, Ranger and Flicka, serve as demo dogs for service work, appear yearly at the Stanford Assistive Technology Faire, and have helped raise funds for the American Cancer Society and the Support for Families organization. Jean is trained in Pet First Aid and CPR, served as a Socialization Trainer for Peninsula Humane Society, and is a member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT).

How to Get Started!

To begin, clients should call Jean Cary for an evaluation and a customized training program for their dog. The first step is an initial 90-minute consultation where the dog’s temperament and obedience skills, as well as the owner’s disabilities and training goals, are discussed. The home training environment and the involvement of other family members in the training are also considered. Training exercises can begin immediately during this session.