About Canine Coaching

Canine Coaching is a Rockland County training school on Chestnut Ridge Road that runs both group classes and private sessions, and it publishes the widest class list of any business in this directory.

The class ladder

The published program runs in a sequence rather than as a menu. Puppy Kindergarten comes first, then a Basic Manners class, then Intermediate and Advanced classes for owners who want to keep going. Alongside that ladder sit classes that are not about obedience at all: a Therapy Dog Training class, a Scent Work class, a Great Outdoors class, and a class the school calls Fungility, which is its tricks and agility work. Live online training is offered as well.

Private work and behavior problems

Private sessions are booked separately from the classes, and behavior problem consultations are a distinct service with their own page. The school's own framing is that most training difficulties come from poor management, weak communication and an imbalance in the relationship rather than from the dog, and the consultations are pitched at the more complex cases. Discounted training packages are published for owners buying several sessions.

Who runs it

Dottie Zaris is an owner of Canine Coaching, LLC and its Director of Behavior Counseling and Training. Her own site records CPDT-KA and CBC certification and AKC Canine Good Citizen and STAR Puppy evaluator status, with over 20 years working with dogs and their owners. The CCPDT directory lists Dorothy Zaris of New City as a CPDT, and the APDT New York member list carries Canine Coaching of Chestnut Ridge.

Method

The published methods are positive and motivational, with clicker training available on request. The school states it takes all ages, all breeds and all issues, and it advertises group classes and private sessions at the same rates page.

Service area

The site names the Rockland towns it serves – New City, Nyack, Pearl River, Chestnut Ridge, Bardonia, Piermont, Spring Valley, Congers, Orangeburg, Stony Point, Pomona, Haverstraw, Tomkins Cove, Nanuet, Tappan, Tuxedo Park and Sloatsburg – and adds parts of Bergen County, New Jersey and Westchester depending on location.