Trainer Spotlight – Amber Jester of THE GOOD DOG
Trainer Spotlight – Amber Jester of THE GOOD DOG
Amber Jester is the owner and sole trainer of The Good Dog located in Newark, Texas. Amber has extensive experience in animal training at the private, corporate, an animal shelter levels. Dave recently sat down with Amber for an interview.
Read on below to find out more about how she helps to make Happy Dogs in Happy Homes.
Transcript:
Dave : Greetings! We’re here with Amber Jester, the proprietor of The Good Dog in Newark, Texas, who’s going to talk to us about dog training, animal training, her business and her experience. Thanks for agreeing to this interview Amber.
Amber : Of course, thank you for inviting me.
Dave : I’m looking forward to hearing what you can tell us about your experience and your passion – dog training – and what you can bring to our audience to help them and help their animals become Happy Dogs in Happy Homes. So why don’t you take a minute and introduce yourself and your business and give us some idea of what it is that you do.
Amber : Well, I’m Amber Jester. I am the owner and the only current dog trainer of The Good Dog. I am a mom and I run the business by myself, so I do the back end of things as well as the training. I went to school in 2008, at Starmark Academy, at the time it was called Triple Crown Dog Academy and they’ve since changed their name to Starmark. For certification it was a four month on site 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM process. You lived there, and I felt like that was really helpful in getting me started in the dog training world. And then from there I trained dogs for the movies. I did that for six months to a year, and it’s just a really nomadic lifestyle, so it wasn’t really for me, because the movies come and go.
So I started my own dog training business. It was Waggin Tails Canine Training, and then that got the attention of Operation Kindness and they invited me to come out and create a dog training program for them. After the training program they asked me to stay on, so I ended up pausing my business and working with Operation Kindness solely because I found that I couldn’t do both. I was with them for almost five years, and in that time I moved up to the Director of Operations, just as circumstances happened and positions opened and I ended up running the operations there.
I left OK to move closer to home. I had a five year old little girl and at the time I wanted to have more time with my family, plus I was pregnant with my son who’s now three months old. I moved closer to home because Operation Kindness was a good little trip for me from north of Fort Worth. I then moved on to the Humane Society of North Texas and worked with them for a little over a year where I was the Director of Animal Resources. After that I decided that I wanted even more time at home and more flexibility in my schedule with the kids, so I started my own dog training business back up and changed the name to The Good Dog.
So what I do at The Good Dog is I primarily do private lessons. There has been a big demand for board and train, so I’m also offering board and train from my home. The dog gets to come live in my home as my pet where we work on house manners including obedience or whatever the issue is. They get the benefit of living with a trainer as well, so there’s the added bonus of not having to be surrendered to a kennel. It works in the client’s favor. I also offer private lessons at a mutually convenient location or on my property.
I recently started offering guaranteed packages, so I guarantee your result. I work with the client until we achieve the wanted result so that it’s not an hourly based charge for the client. I can guarantee that something is going to happen. And of course, the faster I make it happen, the happier the client and the happier I am. That also means that I deliver a product and they can feel confident about that.
So just a busy mom running my own business and doing my thing, you know?
Dave : That’s quite an achievement. What are the special strengths or special passions that you bring to the problem of helping animals become family members?
Amber : I think my experience in the shelters such as Operation Kindness and the Humane Society really gave me a unique perspective. We were constantly looking for trainers who were capable of dealing with some pretty big behavior modifications. Not just teaching sit, down and stay, but working through separation anxiety, or destructive behavior, or dog reactivity or dog aggression. It was really difficult to find trainers who had gone beyond basic obedience, or who had the experience. Or when we did find a trainer who had this experience, often they didn’t want to work with aggressive dogs, or didn’t want to work the more complex cases. So I think that’s my niche.
I focus on behavior modification in areas where there aren’t many trainers with a lot of experience, or there aren’t many trainers that want to work with those behaviors. I’ve seen this immense need from inside the shelter and found gaps that we couldn’t fill. So I choose to offer treatment in those areas to my clients. That’s where I focus so I have that unique perspective.
My work at the shelter also provided me with a level of compassion for the owners because often they are at the end of the line and thinking about giving up their animal. How can we prevent that? If training is all that’s missing, then I want to help set them up for success and give them the tools that they need so that they don’t have to part with their beloved pet. So that their beloved pet doesn’t have to go into the stressful shelter. Plus I am told that I’m good with people and that it’s a unique combination to find somebody who is good with both animals and people.
Dave : That’s really special to hear Amber. As you know I have 10 years volunteering and I’m sensitive and aware of the issues that cause people to bring dogs into shelters. Seeing how many animals are surrendered because the owners don’t know what to do and don’t really know how to find the training they need is heartbreaking to see. It’s something that we really are targeting to help with A Dog In The Family.
So tell me what you think are the most important things that a dog owner can learn or understand about their dog, whether it’s a new dog who they’re training and bringing home or their existing dog who has behavior problems.
Amber : The one thing that dog owners need to know about their pet, they can learn if they try to see life from the animal’s perspective. If you can put yourself in your animals’ feet, then what you see makes so much more sense. When your newly adopted pet moves into your house, it can be a really traumatic and scary experience. While it’s very joyful for you, the dog doesn’t understand what’s going on. This is yet another move in a series of moves that he’s recently experienced. Is this going to be a positive move or is this going to be a negative move? And so he’s really very cautious. Some dogs are just happy to be anywhere, but I think a lot of times they come in approaching it cautiously, and we struggle as humans to understand why they’re not just as happy as we are that they’ve joined our family, and why they’re not comfortable with everything. But all of the rules in your house are brand new and the whole experience is new, and this is what I tell my clients.
Think about it. Imagine if an alien abducted you. This is essentially what happens when a dog is picked up off of the streets, they’re being abducted, right? They’re put in a cage which is where the alien is going to keep us? Probably not running around free in their house. Initially you’re in a cage, then at the shelter or the vet where you get poked and prodded. Not a really positive experience, and you’re lined up with others like you in cages, not knowing what’s going to happen. And some of the others around you are stressing out, some of them are not, so you don’t really know what to expect. And then along comes another alien to pick you out of the lineup and take you to their new house. And then they want to hug you. But do you know that a hug is safe? A hug is really a foreign concept, an alien concept to a dog. So just thinking about it from their perspective makes a really big difference. And if you can equate humans to the jolly green giant, or the big alien in their lives where they don’t know what to expect, then everything makes a little bit more sense.
Dave : Tell me what you think the pros and cons are of the more retail type training scenarios where you might be going Into a class at a large retailer or into a class at a puppy boarding or an animal boarding facility versus going to a private training.
Amber : As a private trainer, I’m going to believe the way that I offer is the better way. I think that there are more pros than cons in private lessons because you can get information and lessons geared towards your specific animal. Every animal learns. So although we could all read the exact same book telling us how to train a dog, you’re going to have to modify it slightly for your own pet. There’s not a one size fits all, and so having a private trainer means that you get that modification built in and it’s part of the experience.
I think that learning in a group setting asks for a more advanced behavior for your dog. We first want to teach them in a place where we can set them up for success in a no distraction environment. Just like with our kids, right? We set them up for success. We don’t start with calculus. We start with the introduction of the numbers and then addition, and then the subtraction. We build on top of success. We don’t start at the hardest level. In the middle of a large box store in a group class, that is already at a higher level with lots of distractions. And then you’re asking them to learn basic commands. It’s a harder setting for them.
Having a private trainer means that you can work at the level that best suits your dog, and can build on top of that and eventually work up to where they’re going to excel. So if I can do that, then that just sets everybody up for success. It’s much better for all. I mean if we build on top of a shaky foundation, the house will crumble. We want to make sure our foundation is great before we build on it, or before we go to harder things.
The advantage of having a private trainer is that you get a more solid foundation. The trainer is there to answer your questions. Whereas in the group class it’s like raising your hand in the middle of class. But if you have a private trainer, not only can you have questions answered during training, but in my case you can call my cell phone number, send email, reach me on social media – every way possible. You can get a hold of me and ask a question at any point. I encourage you to do so, rather than wait until I come back next week. Ask me while we’re working on it so something doesn’t go wrong so we can get you to your goal faster. I just ask my clients to give me 24 hours to respond so that I’m not constantly working but yes, I want them to ask me what’s going on.
Another advantage is that you get a more professional experience. I think every professional trainer is a little different, but in my case you are given written instructions that are not generic, and then we fine tune with your individual pet. I’m available for questions throughout the time that we’re working, and we can move at your pace as opposed to moving at the pace of everyone else in the class. We move at the individual dog’s pace so training goes faster, plus it’s more specialized.
However, private training is a little more expensive. But I think that you get what you pay for. Often at the big box retailers, the trainers are not trained to the same level as professional trainers. The big box retailers might send their trainers for two weeks training and they’re trained inside very specific margins. And if your dog doesn’t fit inside of those margins, they don’t really know what to do. Many don’t continue their own education like going to conferences where they are learning what’s happening with new stuff. Obviously this is not true for everyone – I’m sure there are professional trainers that work at big box retailers as well.
Dave : So, you also need to train the client as well as the dog. How important is it for the owner to learn that they’re the ones who will be the leader of the pack for their family members, and to recognize that it’s their skills that are important?
Amber : I love that you have picked up on that, Dave and I know with your experience, that’s something that’s intuitive to you. I love that you’re pointing it out. I’ll say to my clients that really I’m coming out to train you how to train your dog. Because I could train your dog to be a good dog for me all day long, but that doesn’t really matter unless you’re going to ask me to move in and manage your dog. And I haven’t had that offer yet, so… But, so much of what I’m offering depends upon the owner.
I have recently started offering programs with a guarantee that we’re going to achieve, for example, having a dog who doesn’t pull on a leash. I’m going to teach you how to train your dog, but if you don’t practice with your dog, then your dog won’t learn how to do it. If you’re not open to these methods then they won’t learn how to do it. If you’re not consistent with the message, then the dog will learn loopholes. So I have written up an agreement so that when we start with the guarantee they read all of the pieces that say “I understand that this is ultimately up to me and I’m going to have to be the one to do the practicing”. If you have any questions you have an advisor on retainer so you can ask at any point, “What do I do in this scenario? What do I do here? What do I do there?”. But it is actually up to you to do the training and the practicing and you really do have to come Into it with an open mind, and that’s part of the agreement.
You need an open mind and an open timeline because I can’t make the dog go faster than the dog is able to go, and we are dependent upon the dog learning it. It’s not a matter of “I’ll pay you more, make it happen faster” – it just doesn’t work that way. And I think that quite a few people are disappointed to find out that they can’t just pay and make it go smoother, but a dog is a living breathing thing. Much like a child, right? We have to work with it and when we try to work against it we will struggle to get a great outcome.
Dave : One last question, Amber. You’re offering both in person sessions where the client keeps their pet at home, and you also offer board and train. Can you talk a little bit about the differences in those offerings and the pros and cons of those two.
Amber : Absolutely. I offer private lessons and I offer them in a variety of different ways. The private lessons can be in your home. They can be on my property (I have two acres in Newark). I also offer lessons remotely so that we could do a lesson via Zoom. And I offer all three of those really depending on what is best for the client and their pet. If you have a dog-aggressive dog, or a dog who is fearful of people where my presence is slowing down his learning, then the Zoom lessons are really advantageous. A remote lesson is super important so that my presence isn’t affecting our progress. We have an hour to work on your goal, and we go as far as we can in that time. I will show you what to train for. The following week I give you a goal for that week so that you have an accomplishable goal within that week. And then the following week I come back and we advance based on how much the dog has learned, and just keep going until we get to the goals right.
For board and train, they come to stay with me and I’m doing the footwork, the primary work of teaching the dogs, the sit, down, come, whatever it is we’re working on. But there’s still a piece that is necessary when the dog goes home – we transfer the command, or the cue, back to the owner.
When the owner picks up their dog, I have to transfer the rules to the owner so that they’re sticking to the same rules of engagement that I use so that the dog can understand, “oh, Mom used to let me jump on her and the trainer didn’t. And now Mom doesn’t let me jump on her”. Before you were accepting all of the bad behavior, when you pick up your dog, you adopt this new behavior. Your pet doesn’t immediately know what you expect. They think anything goes but now there are new rules at home.
That’s the big difference in board and train. I do the work, but there’s still a piece of work for you when you take your pet back home. The next week to two weeks is really vital in making sure that the dog adheres to those things. Because if you don’t hold them accountable for what they’ve learned, they will regress and lose it all. So what I do to help my clients with that is when they pick up their dog, we do a training lesson, then I make sure that they know how to ask and what to do. Then we do another lesson the week following to make sure we worked out any kinks. And then we do a second lesson 2 weeks after to work out any further kinks and, usually in the second lesson we teach some cutesy behavior because everything is rolling smoothly. I stay in contact with them throughout those two weeks touching base and making sure it’s all going well, so that we don’t have any lingering issues. We work through it all.
If they do a package with it, then depending on the package they have a guarantee. I do a three month guarantee because it only takes so long for you to untrain the behavior, and really, three months is pretty generous because if you went from not petting your dog when he jumped up to petting your dog every time he jumped up, it would only take a matter of days for your dog to learn to jump up again so. They are learning dogs, they learn constantly. And so when the rules change, they change with them.
Dave : OK Amber, is there anything in particular you would like to say to close? And please tell people how to contact you if they are interested in working with you.
Amber : The reason I do what I do is that I want to make it happier for everybody involved. My training style is relationship based, and that means that I want the owner to enjoy the dog more and I want the dog to enjoy the family more, and really for that to happen we have to open lines of communication.
I think that’s exactly what training does, and it’s remarkable how when you start training, when you open those lines of communication, how many other behaviors self resolve. The dogs start to understand that you can and are communicating with them and it just makes everybody that much happier. Even if your dog doesn’t have problems, training is a good option. I think you will be happier with your dog and your dog will definitely be happier with you knowing that you can converse, knowing that there is a language that the two of you can speak and be on the same page.
So that being said, that’s why I do what I do. It makes me happy knowing that I can be a part of that and that I can make dogs happier and people happier.
To contact me, you can go to my website. It is https://trainingthegooddog.com. I offer free behavior consultations right now. You can go online and book a free behavior consultation anytime and get a behavior evaluation and talk to me about any of your questions and figure out what’s the best training format for your dog. And you can do that at https://trainingthegooddog.com/services.
You can also find me on Facebook at The Good Dog, on Instagram at trainingthegooddog, or on Twitter @trainthegooddog. You can always email me at [email protected] and then my cell number, which is also the business number is 817.2193300
Dave : Well thank you very much for joining us Amber, and for bringing your passion for Happy Dogs In Happy Homes to our community at A Dog In The Family. I really look forward to seeing more from you, and hopefully we can help to share your experiences with our clients and community. Thanks very much.
Amber : I absolutely appreciate the opportunity and I wish all the best of luck to you guys, and I know you guys. I know you’re going to make a big impact on the dogs, and so that’s what we’re all In it for.
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