Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Courtney Case. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Courtney, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry
The term “positive-reinforcement” has become, from what I can tell, mostly mainstream. For anyone unfamiliar, when a dog (or other animal) trainer refers to themselves as “positive reinforcement” it says explicitly that they do use treats and praise to get the behavior they want and it implies that that person doesn’t use “aversive tools” ie anything that would hurt or cause extreme fear or distress in a dog. The line of what causes pain and what amount of stress is tolerable for a dog is going to be different from dog to dog and trainer to trainer. I have always identified as a positive trainer because I knew from before I even started training that I didn’t want to use equipment like prong collars and shock collars. Now, it seems more and more people are realizing that R+ really is the most effective way to teach.
At the beginning of my career, I worked at Petco for about a year. I was a trainer there, but in between teaching classes I would stock shelves and help customers. One day a customer came in looking to buy a shock collar. I asked what he wanted to use it for. He said that his dog was barking at other dogs and people walking up and down the hallway of his apartment building. I asked if he knew how the shock collars worked. He said he didn’t and I told him, “These collars work by emitting a low frequency electric “buzz” that grabs the dog’s attention. Some have settings that will emit a sound like beep. The idea being that the beep is the “warning” that a shock will follow if the dog doesn’t listen.” I also mentioned that countries in Europe have been banning the use of these devices since 2010 because of the negative side effects of using threats and pain to get your dog to do what you want. We talked about how these “bark collars” are bandaids, and that at best, it’s going to fix the symptom and definitely won’t fix the root problem.
We talked about how best case scenario if he used a bark collar would be that his dog would stop barking, that could be one outcome. If that were the outcome, his dog would still be feeling the stress and fear of hearing strange noises outside the door all day, plus now he would be afraid to alert to those things because that causes him more pain. Then, his dog could potentially redirect that anxiety into chewing up the couch or digging at the floorboards. This cycle often ends in people becoming more and more frustrated with their dog’s behaviors and their dogs becoming more and more stressed. Eventually the man agreed to try a training game we talked about that was meant to desensitize his dog to the noises in the hallway.
I’d love to tell you that that man came back to me two weeks later and told me the training plan had worked. That didn’t happen. I don’t know what that man did with his dog or how he ended up handling the situation. But I was happy that even though the company lost out on a $100 sale I had hopefully helped someone have a little more compassion for their dog’s situation and the best way to address it. I dreamt of campaigning the Petco CEO to discontinue the use of these tools. They had already been training using positive methods for years! But life happened and I ended up leaving the company instead of trying to change it.
That was 6 years ago. In 2020 Petco stopped selling shock collars and released a statement that the science has shown that punishment hinders training, it doesn’t help it. I use them as an example because that’s where I’m most familiar, but more big box stores are following suit. More and more pet professionals, not just trainers, are learning that force and fear really aren’t the best ways to motivate animals in any situation.
The industry is catching up to what the scientists and behaviorists have been saying for decades. It’s heartening because we can’t expect the average pet owner to know WHY we train the way we do. They come to us for answers, they trust us because we are the ones who (hopefully) have been studying and learning about how learning and behavior works. So when stores stop selling equipment that is inarguably dangerous, it supports the qualified trainers who are dedicated to education and helps to delegitimize the people who, unfortunately, spout lots of misinformation to unknowing pet owners.
This isn’t a regulated industry. For better or worse, dogs are still legally property. So, barring abuse, it’s challenging to tell people what they can and can’t do with their animals. The more pet professionals who support and advocate for the use of positive techniques, the more successful our pet owning population will become.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Paws and Effect offers dog training and behavior consultation in Long Beach, CA. I started the company in 2020 and relocated to Long Beach recently, in July of 2024. My certifications are both through the same organization, the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers who are the “leading independent certifying organization for the dog training profession.” They develop rigorous exams to demonstrate mastery of humane, science-based dog training practices. As a certified trainer, I’m qualified to work with puppies, newly adopted dogs and “basic” behavior issues like jumping up, pulling on leash, barking at visitors, etc. Behavior Consulting is for more complex issues like bite histories, aggression or fear toward people or other animals, and what we refer to as “leash reactivity” which is dogs who pull, lunge and bark on leash. Having these certifications not only shows that I was able to pass CCPDT’s tests, it also requires continuing education, so any trainer with those certifications is definitely at least somewhat up to date on the latest in the science of behavior and learning in dogs. Personally, I’m almost always either taking an online course or planning an “education vacation” like going to a 3 day conference or spending a week training donkeys and goats in Washington state.
Most of my day to day is private in home lessons. I go to people’s home or we meet online and first we talk about the dog’s history and what the training goals are. Some people get the information they want from just one consultation and some people work with me for months. On average, I typically do 3-5 sessions with a client before they have the skills and knowledge to maintain the behavior we’ve been working on. I also offer Day Training which is an intensive program that includes me working one-on-one with the dog a few times a week to reinforce the training the owner is doing. While I don’t offer group classes in Long Beach yet, I have taught them in the past and plan on offering some in the future. Group classes are a great option for new pet parents, pet parents on a budget and dogs who can stay calm around other dogs.
My goal is to help people live more harmoniously with their dogs. I’m especially passionate about reactive dogs because I have a reactive dog myself. Basil, my 5 year old Australian Cattle Dog mix, has been scared of people and other dogs since he was a puppy. When I brought him home at 12 weeks old after he had been raised flawlessly with his mom, litter mates and the amazing organization that rescued the pregnant mom, I thought he would be my easy puppy who could go everywhere with me. I was devastated when I had been working on building his confidence for months and then he met my mentor at 7 months old and he snapped, barked and lunged at her ferociously. Through tears, I talked to my mentor about all the training I was doing and I couldn’t figure out what I had done to mess up this dog. “Nothing.” was her answer. Sometimes nature outweighs nurture. So I talked to my vet and we started working together to find medications that could help. With many more years of training and the right dosage of puppy Prozac, he’s doing great. He still prefers not to say hi to strangers and we avoid other dogs on the street, but we can also do things I never imagined he’d be capable of. We sit at restaurants and he can rest under my chair while I eat. We can go to the dog beach, as long as he’s on leash and we stay away from any roughhousing the other dogs engage in. He has a few doggie friends. Most importantly, from what I can tell, he’s happy and healthy.
Having a dog who isn’t what you imagined can be a massive challenge. The support and guidance of a trainer who has been through (and is still actively living with) a similar situation can be invaluable in learning how to effectively make change in the family’s life. I’m most passionate about helping fearful, misunderstood dogs and their families. Don’t get me wrong, I love working with sweet young puppies who just need to be guided in the right direction. I’ve also seen how rewarding it is when someone can walk a dog down the street they previously thought could never handle being in public.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I used to think it was a bad thing that I get bored easily. Each of my early jobs (coffee shop, grooming salon, neighborhood bar), would offer a fun challenge in the beginning; learning new skills, meeting new people. Eventually though, once the new became routine, I would get restless. I would ask my boss to give me projects to fill my down time and start dreading the monotony of doing the same thing over and over. It wasn’t until well into my career that I was able to reframe this as a positive.
I grew up wanting to be an artist. I pursued an acting career throughout my late teens and early twenties, growing to a point where I was writing, directing and producing my own work because of the dissatisfaction I had with the roles I was going out for. The thing I loved about acting was getting to explore new characters and lives, there was always something new. The business of film/tv, however, was not for me. I hated the auditioning process and I couldn’t see myself hustling in that way for the rest of my career. I wanted what I considered to be a “normal” life. Meaning I wanted to work during the day and stop bartending until 4 in the morning, I wanted to know where and when my next paycheck would be. (Trust me, the irony of becoming a business owner is not lost on me.) And even though I wanted this sense of normalcy, I couldn’t see myself going back to school to end up behind a desk for 40+ hours a week, doing the same thing every day for the next 30 years.
When I decided to get into working with dogs, one of the exciting things about it to me was the potential for growth. When you first start training dogs, you want to stick to the “easy” stuff like puppies and teaching the basics like sit, down, stay. I knew when I started that it would be years before I had the knowledge and skills to feel confident working with aggressive dogs. Fast forward to 5 years into my career and I was already getting restless with the puppy and basic obedience classes I had been teaching. Every dog and owner is different and in every career, there will be monotony. There will be conversations that I have to have every day with different people. I’ve matured enough that I can handle those things now. And I look at my propensity to get restless as sign that I need a challenge. When I start feeling like Im getting frustrated with my day to day now, I look around at what I can add to reignite my
I will probably always be looking for my next challenge. I already know that eventually, I’d like to start training other trainers. It’s the next evolution in my career, from what I can see. Now, I not only accept but I appreciate that I love a challenge. I couldn’t see myself doing the same thing for 3o years. And luckily, I won’t have to.
How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?
I’m pretty upfront about my communication policy with my clients when I start working with them. If you are my client, I’m your trainer. You can reach out to me with questions at any time and if it’s outside my business hours, I’ll get back to you during those business hours. Sometimes it takes me a couple days, but I will respond do you. Reach out with questions.
It’s true that there’s no such thing as a behavior emergency. Even if someone’s dog gets into a fight or snaps/bites someone, there is little I can do over the phone in the moment. However, so much of what I do is emotional. Yes, I’m teaching my clients skills and giving tangible tasks. I’m also a bit of a doggie-therapist and sometimes people at their wit’s end just need a little reminder that they will make it through the difficult months.
Not everyone takes me up on it. I’m not, despite what you may think, on the phone at all hours with various clients, calming nerves and coaching through endless situations. Most of the time when people do reach out in between sessions, the conversations are short and incredibly helpful for the client. In our ever changing world where people expect instant and immediate responses, it can be hard as a business owner to feel like you ever get time off. But client relationships are most of what I do, so being available to people is incredibly helpful. I’ve found that the ongoing support in between sessions frees people up to reach out to me weeks or months later with questions.
So I guess to answer the question more succinctly, it’s all about customer service.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://pawsandeffect.pet
- Instagram: pawsandeffect.dogs
Image Credits
Professional Photos taken by Ashley Coakley of Dog Inspired Photography