Group Training & Coaching

Most of our colleagues in the business work on training dogs using various forms of reinforcement, such as positive and/or negative reinforcement, and focus on conditioning cue responses, otherwise known as obedience. 

By contrast, the Way of Life Method works on strengthening the relationship between you and your dog and improving your mutual way of life. We aim to raise sound, strong, and spirited dogs who by their very nature are “functionally” obedient. They behave without having to be asked.

Our group classes are built on this philosophy. They emphasize signature Way of Life exercises designed to build confidence in your dog and encourage cooperation between you, whatever level you are at.

We have a few safety measures that allow clients with reactive dogs to be able to participate in our group classes. First, all dogs are crated at our training venues. Some are crated indoors and some are crated in their cars parked outside. (In hot weather, we advise sun shields and portable fans for dogs crated in cars and in cold weather, clients can regularly step out to warm their vehicle.) Depending on the degree of reactivity, your dog might be crated in the car until it is your turn to do the exercises one-on-one, while the other dogs in the class are crated and the clients are seated a comfortable distance away.

Over time, we find that this careful exposure to a group situation can begin to lessen a dog’s reactivity to the point where they are able to be included, with instruction and management, in some of our group exercises. One of our training venues has a sectioned-off area where a client and their reactive dog can be part of the group while safely separated.

If a client and dog are just starting out in the Way of Life Method, we advise them to attend only a half day. Many of our signature exercises are performed one-on-one by the client and dog, so there’s plenty of rest time for all participants as we cycle through the group. In conventional training classes, the instructors tend to work everyone at once. We prefer to give individual attention to each client-dog pair.

If a client signs up for a full day of training, they will practise the same exercises in the afternoon that they practised in the morning. This gives the client and dog the opportunity to learn something new, then get more comfortable and confident executing it the second time around. You’ll both feel tired in a good way at the end of the day. 

Way of Life would want to know about your dog’s health and mobility issues ahead of a field trip to determine if they can participate. For clients with mobility concerns, we can recommend which field trips might be best suited to your needs. The majority of them are very walkable, with occasional challenges in the terrain. If endurance is an issue, you always have the option of turning back sooner than the 3-hour duration. We have clients of all ages and differing levels of fitness who enjoy these outdoor experiences.

Things are expensive these days, and most of us just want to say “No!” to any additional spending. With everything costing so much, you might think you should just go it alone because you can’t afford the investment in group training, whether indoors or outdoors. But it is, in fact, an investment and not a loss – an investment in your knowledge, your dog and family, and everyone’s long-term happiness and well-being. We have countless examples of clients whose lives have been healed as a result of investing in Way of Life Method training.

We don’t offer traditional “puppy classes” at Way of Life Dog Training because our view of socialization is very different from conventional trainers. Instead of introducing a little pup to obedience and forcing them to have multiple encounters with people and other dogs, we urge clients to concentrate on starting their puppies off right by joining our membership site, the Way of Life Method Academy. What puppies need when they’re very young is to feel safe with you, experience joy, learn naturally, and mature to become ready for training.

Puppies as old as 12-16 weeks are welcome in our group training classes with the older dogs. All our signature Way of Life exercises can be tailored to the age and stage of puppies and dogs.

First, the Way of Life Method does not use control tools of any kind. Devices such as head halters, prong collars, remote collars, and no-pull harnesses work because they hurt. And the behavior is suppressed but not resolved. Instead of looking at surface behavior, we go to the heart of behavior issues, which can always be traced to the dog’s way of life.  

And yes, our group training addresses pulling, jumping up and all other problematic behaviors by understanding what in your dog’s life and your relationship is causing agitation. We will ask you to give up your head halter and learn to live, work with, and handle your dog in a way that heals her stress.  

To participate in our field trips, you first need to be a student of Way of Life Dog Training. To get to the bottom of your dog’s environmental fear, we need to look at his current way of life and relationship and what could be contributing to his behavior. So to start, a 2-hour in-person private session with you and your dog to get a better idea of his fear and how you manage it is required. From there, you would begin to apply the Way of Life Method by joining our membership site, the Way of Life Method Academy, and attending our group classes. Once you advance with the Method, your dog will have the foundations necessary to cope with and build confidence on a field trip. 

So glad you asked! It is a very supportive environment, from the caring, detailed attention given by our head instructor to the empathy of fellow participants who each have their own struggles with their dogs and have each other’s backs. Try us out! Way of Life indoor group classes and outdoor field trips provide a truly unique experience for both handlers and dogs.

With that said, we also offer private coaching and training options in the form of our intensive six-months long Mastery program, which you can find out more about here.

Way of Life Dog Training founder and operator Souha Ezzedeen has been working with dogs for more than 20 years. She brings her clients a diverse set of experiences with dogs, combining her background in behavioral science with years of experience as a shelter and rescue volunteer and foster parent, dog owner and canine sport enthusiast, and as a dog trainer and relationship-focused coach. Souha has been influenced and mentored by a range of individuals who have deeply shaped her perspective on dogs and our bonds with them, including veterinarians, breeders, master dog trainers, and sport instructors.

Souha is the developer of the Way of Life Method, author of the award-winning and best-selling book The Way of Life Method: How to Heal Your Relationship with Your Dog and Raise a Sound, Strong, and Spirited Companion (At Any Age), and founder and leader of the online Way of Life Method Academy. She is also a Certified L.E.G.S. Applied Ethology Family Dog Mediator (FDM) and a Certified Relationship Assessment Tool (RAT) Instructor.