About The Dog Chick

The Dog Chick trades as 'The Dog Chick Dog Training & Behavior Modification' and titles its own site 'Long Island Dog Trainer & Canine Behaviorist'. It is run by Charli Sorrentino, published as Owner, Head Trainer and Behavior Specialist, and operates from 260 Evergreen Ave in Huntington Station.

Credentials, published in full

The site lists CCBC, CPDT and ABCDT-L2 after the owner's name, together with a Diploma of Animal Psychology, a Diploma of Canine Behavior Studies and a Diploma of Moderating Canine Behavior. It also publishes instructor and certified testing evaluator status for AKC STAR Puppy, Canine Good Citizen, Community Canine and Urban Canine, and instructor and evaluator status for the APDT CLASS (Canine Life and Social Skills) program. Professional memberships named on the page are the Association of Professional Dog Trainers, the Behavior Education Network and the Association of Animal Behavior Professionals.

How the practice describes its methods

The stated approach is motivational and science-based: 'we determine what your dog finds pleasant and use that to encourage and teach a better behavior', applied alongside classical conditioning, counter conditioning and desensitization. The site states plainly that a dog 'is NEVER in danger of being physically or emotionally damaged' by the methods used, which puts this business at the reward-based end of the range an owner will meet locally.

Who else uses it

The about page names the organizations the practice works for rather than only its private clients: it is published as the official trainer and behavior specialist for Pioneers for the Animal Welfare Society (PAWS-LI), Furbridge Animal Rescue and Happy Tails Dog Rescue, and as an official mentor for the Animal Behavior College and the CATCH Dog Training Academy. Mentor status for two national trainer schools means students are placed here for supervised hours.

The questions it tells owners to ask

Unusually, the site spends its about page coaching owners on how to hire. It asks two questions – whether you would send your child to a school where the teachers were not formally educated and certified, and whether you would send them somewhere intimidation and physical punishment were used – and then tells the reader to 'ask the exact method used, what equipment is used and who is this person certified by'. That is good advice whoever an owner ends up booking.