This Consultation is an evaluation of your dog’s current skill set for public access and for the actual service provided by the dog. Providing a plan to refine those skills and prepare the dog to perform as a service dog in private and public.
Service Dog Initial Consultation
No matter what job your service dog performs for you, traveling requires a behavior skill set that your dog might not really have. I can help your dog acquire those skills so you can be sure that you are both confident and stress-free when you travel.
I will help you train your dog until I feel comfortable attesting to the fact that your dog can travel with you and can reliably behave in public.
Your dog needs to be:
- Fully House trained
- Able to settle on the floor next to you even with major distractions
- Show no aggression towards other dogs or humans
- No jumping up on strangers
- No barking
- No begging for food
Please note: In order to qualify as a Psychiatric Service Dog your dog needs to be prescribed by a mental health professional, regardless of how well trained they might be. I can only fulfill the airlines’ and Department of Transportation’s (DOT) requirement that the dog is safe in public and well behaved.
Related Services
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Sessions
Puppy Training
Completely customized and expert led developed plan to teach you how to shape your puppy’s skills and behaviors – from house training to polite manners
Behavior Training
Prevent inappropriate yet normal responses such as jumping, leash pulling, barking, and fear aggression while finding solutions to other undesirable behaviors.
Psychiatric Service Dog Training
Train your dog to provide essential support with tailored training for your specific needs. Includes letter of confirmation of those specific service training skills and public access behavior.
Wellness + Enrichment
Promote mental stimulation and a physically fit lifestyle through carefully guided sessions that teach you additional handling skills and enrichment solutions to fulfill your dog’s needs.
All we can say about Elisabeth is that she saved us! What a professional!! We brought home two 12-week old…
All we can say about Elisabeth is that she saved us! What a professional!!
We brought home two 12-week old puppies from the North Shore Animal League in May and although we were excited and loved them immediately, there was a lot of reorganizing to do around the house. First and foremost was to start having the pups house trained .
Of course, we didn’t think about this BEFORE we brought the puppies home. We were so excited because they were so cute and cuddly that getting them home was all we cared about. Then reality set in! Big time! Elisabeth came so highly recommended from a woman that we met while sitting in the waiting room of our veterenarian’s office that we called her immediately when we arrived back home.
The beauty of this story is that Elisabeth came to our rescue THAT SAME DAY! When I called her, she asked me a bunch
of questions about what was happening and she gave very helpful advice over the phone so that we could get through the night without barking puppies! We were hooked on Elisabeth from that moment on because she showed us immediately that she cared. She cared and she knew exactly what she was talking about.
That was almost four months ago and today, our puppies are incredibly well-behaved and learning more and more everyday. They are approaching seven months old and we can not believe the difference in them in such a short amount of time. The joy they bring is incredible anyway but imagine the joy they bring when there is zero chaos? We are having the time of our lives with them and we would not be in this position if it were not for Elisabeth’s incredible knowledge and talent with animals. The puppies absolutely adore her and it just makes us smile. We are confident they are getting the best of care and for us, that makes all the difference.
We highly highly highly recommend Elisabeth and would be happy to talk to anyone looking for a
referral. There is no one better!
“Where do I begin? Elisabeth is a treasure. We adopted our sweet pup just before lockdown in February 2020 and…
“Where do I begin? Elisabeth is a treasure. We adopted our sweet pup just before lockdown in February 2020 and I knew she would be instrumental in training (our pup and us)! Then lockdown occurred, we moved out of NYC, and I panicked. Elisabeth to the rescue! She swiftly adapted and began offering us virtual training. She is a master and we are so thankful for her!
My experience with Elisabeth of Dog Relations has been consistent and remarkable for 2-1/2 years. It is not my experience.…
My experience with Elisabeth of Dog Relations has been consistent and remarkable for 2-1/2 years. It is not my experience. It is the experience of me, my family and my staff – all of whom were trained by her so that we acted consistently to our new puppy. She was empathetic, compassionate and patient with us as she was with our dog.
We met her when we were frustrated by the pup who was not fresh from a litter and being 8-12 weeks old, but rather more like five months old and was accustomed to running with a “pack” of other dogs, all Tibetan terriers who like independence and are not people-pleasers like golden retrievers.
We had a Tibetan terrier and wanted another one and knew that with enough loving, we would make it work. After one month of trying it on our own and with traditional trainers, we called friends for help who had dogs with behavioral problems and they said that she was the “dog whisperer”. They urged us to be in touch.
She met our dog and we watched her in action. Her results were clearly visible and she gave logical and easy-to-understand instructions to us, getting inside the head of the dog to establish “a relationship”.
Our patience had come to frayed edges by that time, however, and although we saw improvement over the next two weeks, we saw that we were not consistent with her counsel and that a lot of different people were dealing with the same animal and he was playing each one of us and he was winning.
We embarked upon a radical plan which was: we left town for close to three weeks. She moved in to our home. Everyone was in boot training who remained in the residence. The dog was the principal being trained.
When we returned to the United States, our dog listened to us (after we were trained by Elisabeth) and has never stopped listening. Sit. Stay. Up. Down. Patience. Restraint. Polite. Give paw. Walks well. All the things a dog could do and should do. He sits when getting to curbs. Doesn’t bark or bother other dogs on the street. Plays well with others. Is friendly with everyone. Does not steal or beg for food. It was magic.
Elisabeth has continued the reinforcement and the dog is constantly learning more and more problem-solving, having greater stimulation and she has become part of his life and our lives.
It has been a revelation and a blessing.
We recommend her to anyone at any time
1000 thanks to Elisabeth Weiss for so positively effecting our home life. we have a beloved, but super rambunctious standard…
1000 thanks to Elisabeth Weiss for so positively effecting our home life. we have a beloved, but super rambunctious standard schnauzer and rebbe’s behavior was starting to dominate our every move.
Elisabeth trained Reb (and me) with patience and humor and affection . she’s made it possible to enjoy our dog with out constantly having to worry about his next outburst. she’s also a great resource when it comes to his health issues – truly a holistic approach that’s made me feel like i’m not going it alone.
We can only say wonderful things about Elisabeth. We got Sydney, an 8 week old Weimaraner puppy, and didn’t have…
We can only say wonderful things about Elisabeth. We got Sydney, an 8 week old Weimaraner puppy, and didn’t have any of the proper training tools in our pockets. Sydney lived in a rule free house until he was 8 months old. Although we loved him very much, we were getting frustrated with his inability to settle down in the house. We were considering various training methods when a fellow Weimaraner owner referred us to Elisabeth. All we can say is what a blessing! Immediately upon meeting Elisabeth we knew she was the right trainer for us. Her methods are loving and gentle while producing the desired result–a well trained companion! Sydney immediately loved her and responded to her techniques after the first session. He now lives in a home with rules that requires him to use his mind and enables him to settle while in the house. We have been working with Elisabeth for a few months and Sydney is a different dog! He still has his loving, gentle, funny personality while being able to listen and respond to commands. As Sydney continues to work with Elisabeth every week he continues to come leaps and bounds from the rule free puppy he once was.
Dear Elisabeth, David and I read your wonderful and enlightening letter. We cannot thank you enough for taking the time…
Dear Elisabeth,
David and I read your wonderful and enlightening letter. We cannot thank you enough for taking the time to care and relate your experience and wisdom to our problem.
When you said “Fear Aggression” the biggest lightbulb went off. We always thought that Zeus was over protective of David, but I think you absolutely have nailed it. Now we have an entirely different perspective.
We also are thankful for you excellent description of Schutzhund training and why that would not be a good option for Zeus. And most of all in one simple sentence, you have explained to us the importance of the positive reinforcement training. When you said that it is much better to do something because you want to do it, than worrying about some terrible thing happening if you don’t, again the sky actually parted for us. I never knew that was the reason for that kind of training. When we worked with the folks at Santa Fe Tails previously, no one ever said that. We just thought it was a newer, more modern way to train dogs. And we worried that they gave far too many treats. And finally your wonderful explanation of deferential behavior gives us such hope for Zeus’s future. I could not bear the thought of living a life of constant fear about him and for him and you actually have lifted a terrible and ominous weight off of the situation. Our only challenge now, is can these folks train us to understand and work in this way with Zeus?
Could I ask you to recommend a book or DVD that would be appropriate for us to learn to work with Zeus in this manner?
I am ever grateful to Freddie and Myrna for discussing our problem with you and I am ever grateful to you for your amazing expertise and for being so generous in sharing this with us.
Warm regards,
Roberta Remy and David Shields
Elisabeth is amazing. She sees things most vets and trainers don’t see. I’m looking forward to working with her to…
Elisabeth is amazing. She sees things most vets and trainers don’t see. I’m looking forward to working with her to train my 5mo old puppy to be a therapy dog.
Elisabeth was fantastic with Isis, our Havanese. Despite our best efforts Isis had been doing her business all over the…
Elisabeth was fantastic with Isis, our Havanese. Despite our best efforts Isis had been doing her business all over the house and was not good at listening. Elisabeth was able to train her in a couple of sessions to listen and do her business in the right places. Elisabeth engaged Isis with interactive tasks which she found challenging and fun. Having Elisabeth come to train Isis was the highlight of her week. Isis was connected and engaged with Elisabeth at all times. I would recommend Elisabeth to any dog guardian. Her loving care and her practical advice have been invaluable to me.
I came to Elisabeth with an older dog that had some behavior issues that were inadvertently reinforced by me and…
I came to Elisabeth with an older dog that had some behavior issues that were inadvertently reinforced by me and somehow defied the skills of various trainers over the years.
Elisabeth is one of those unusual and special people whose personality, temperament, interests and talents all come together in her work in a profound way.
She has an unlimited repertoire of creative techniques to keep my very smart dog engaged and loving to learn instead of searching for situations to react to. The behavior issues become non issues over time.
I’ve learned so much thanks to Elisabeth’s generosity of time and support and willingness to share information. And her positive reinforcement approach is at the forefront of current behaviorist thinking.
Working with Elisabeth and Dog Relations has far exceeded my expectations. I can’t imagine that she won’t be a part of our lives for a very long time.
Elisabeth came to our home for the standard 90 minute consultation. It was the perfect amount of time. We worked…
Elisabeth came to our home for the standard 90 minute consultation. It was the perfect amount of time. We worked on basic puppy manors and learned the tools needed to teach our little guy many skills. Thanks!