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Testimonials I would like to take this opportunity to thank and wish Carolyn Clark best wishes with her new life and to also wish our new owners Jo-Ann Steele and Nicky Barham good luck in their new venture with the business. Carolark's future is in the best of hands. -------------------------------------------------------------- April 2010
This is a former Carolark puppy class of 2007 graduate - Fracas (Taygold's Brawlroom Dancer) at the conclusion of a full weekend of obedience trials in Belleville in March 2010. He has completed all his core obedience titles (Novice, Open, Utility) with distinction 9 High in Trial scores), finished his advanced obedience championship titles (OTChX and MOTCh) and is now started on the long road to a "Grand Master" title (the crown jewel of obedience). He has also completed both his Rally Excellent title and Field Working Certificate ... and all of this at just three years of age! These many accomplishments would not be possible without sound basic obedience fundamentals, and we attribute much of that success to the great puppy experience he got at Carolark. Even as seasoned and experienced trainers, when we get a new puppy we still rely on the Carolark puppy program for the right balance of both skill development and puppy socialization, and would gladly and strongly recommend Carolark to all new dog or puppy owners. Ellie Beals and David Skinner
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October 2009 Hi Carolyn, I have been meaning to send you a note to let you know how impressed I am with the clicker training method which you taught me when I joined your puppy class with my Golden Retriever, Monti, in the summer of 2008. As you know I have been training dogs in competitive obedience since the 1970's, starting with my first Bearded Collie using the then popular Kholer method. WOW! have training methods changed for the better, for us trainers and also of course for our companion dogs. I had become more and more uncomfortable with the use of force and dominance in my training and you opened up a new wonderful world for me with clicker training. Although I never used excessive force, I still had to «impose my will» on my dogs, and even though we did it humanely and with sensitivity, I observed my dog enjoying training and competing less and less. Now with Monti, it is the opposite. The more we train and do advanced work, the more he looks forward to it, the more he enjoys it; he is allowed to make mistakes which I just ignore and within a few tries, he drops that behavior and tries to proceeds to find the right one. We started with you when he was around 10 weeks of age, and it has been a great adventure in learning for me. I was not familiar with that approach before I joined your class and from the first week I was curious to find out more about it and to train Monti exclusively with the clicker method. I found that you gave me information on the principles and the approach, allowing me to use it for all sorts of training with this. Once you get the principles, the applications are infinite, isn't that wonderful! Monti is a delightful dog who is always happy to work with me, never shows signs of distress in learning situations, keeps on trying to discover what behaviors will get me to click and has essentially learned to learn with this method. I am preparing him for obedience competitions, for rallyo competitions, and for agility; and he loves all of it. He is 18 months old now and I am looking forward to going to trials with him this year. I have also retrained my other Golden, Bailey, a crossover dog, with this method, and he has earned his CD this summer with lovely scores in the 190's. So thank you very much, Carolyn, for having introduced me to this fantastic method. Bailey and Monti send their thanks too!! Lucie Allaire
Monti jumping the broad jump, with toddler distraction |
