About Us
People

About Us

• Overview

• Mission and Values

• Training Approach

• Philosophy

• Contributions

OVERVIEW

Welcome to Sarah Richardson’s Canine Connection! We are so glad you found us. Sarah Richardson’s Canine Connection is a comprehensive canine education center where everything, from our training and dog day care programs to the products we provide, is rooted in an understanding of dog behavior and the human-canine bond.

The Canine Connection was founded in 2002 when Dr. Sarah Richardson (PhD, CPDT, CDBC) introduced positive training methods to the area. At that time, she was one of the first trainers in the nation to become a Certified Pet Dog Trainer (CPDT; Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers) and today is one of only a handful of trainers to also be recognized as a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC). Dr. Sarah also holds a Certificate in Canine Counseling, with Honors, from the San Francisco SPCA Academy for Dog Trainers, widely considered the "Harvard" of dog training.

Dr. Sarah leads a skilled, passionate staff that is dedicated to helping you be your dog’s best teacher, parent, and friend. Our trainers, assistant trainers, and day care providers have years of experience with dogs, from training to veterinary work, pet sitting, grooming, and shelter volunteering.

	Rhodie and Cody take a break during agility class.

In 2002 we opened Chico’s first indoor training center, a place where thousands of Chico area dogs and their people have trained. This past summer, because of your support, we had the opportunity to expand our already wonderful training facility and program and create a dream facility:

• Our center is state-of-the-art, designed and developed with you and your dog’s comfort, safety, and learning in mind
• Our innovative training program takes dogs from puppy kindergarten to advanced obedience, therapy dog training, and dog sports, depending on your interests. It also addresses specialized behavior challenges, such as anxiety and aggression, you may be experiencing with your dog.
• Our dog day care and play groups ensure that dogs become and remain comfortable and relaxed around their canine friends. Dog play also burns energy, and is fun, fun, fun!
• Our seminars address key topics and bring top specialists to the area to expand your knowledge about current dog-related topics such as nutrition, first aid, wellness, behavior, and dog sports.
• Our special events bring dogs and dog lovers together to celebrate occasions and causes that improve the human-canine bond.
• Our wonderful store offers the very best products that you and your dog will use, appreciate and enjoy. We scout out the very best training supplies, toys, treats, foods, and other products. We even have some things custom made because we’re so picky about quality, utility, and safety.

MISSION AND VALUES

Our mission is simple: to help build fun, energetic, and lasting relationships between people and dogs by drawing on our leading edge knowledge of dog behavior, learning and the human-canine bond. We love dogs! And, just as much, we love helping people discover ways to understand, communicate with, and appreciate their dogs. We aim to help enrich your life with your dog by providing a comfortable, caring environment where you and your dog can learn, develop lasting friendships, and have fun!

We value:

1. DOGS, because they are intelligent, sentient, and sensitive creatures with whom we are blessed to share our lives.
    
2. RELATIONSHIPS between dogs and people and believe those relationships are enhanced through knowledge, understanding, and education.
    
3. SERVING OTHERS – our customers, clients, students, partners, and fellow staff - and the relationships of trust and friendship we form with those who cross our paths.
    
4. OUR COMMUNITY as an attractive, friendly, healthy place to live and work and we strive for dogs to be welcomed in our parks and public places.
    
5. The HEALING POWER of DOGS and other animals, their power to lift moods, improve health, and create social connections.
    
6. HELPING DOGS who are homeless, in shelters, or with rescue groups and are waiting to become cherished members of loving homes. 
    
7. SAFETY and sparkle in our environment.
    
8. LAUGHTER, creativity, and fun!

TRAINING APPROACH

In recent years there has been a dramatic shift in how we look at dogs. Scientific principles of learning and behavior have been successfully integrated into the world of dog training. The result is that we now understand that dogs learn better when they are taught using positive reinforcement instead of punishment.

The training methods we use rely on positive reinforcement. In a nutshell, this means that we focus on rewarding dogs for getting things right instead of focusing on correcting them for getting things wrong. And, we help our dogs get things right by preventing unwanted habits from developing by managing their environments for success. Have you ever seen the comic strip that shows one dog talking to another, saying "My name is 'No-no-bad-dog"? How sad and stressful for both dog and owner to constantly point out our dog's wrongdoings. With positive training our dogs learn to practice the behaviors we desire because their life is full of "Yes!".

Because we do not rely on corrections as a way to train, we do not advocate methods or equipment that can cause pain or discomfort to your dog. Thus, we do not advocate the use of chain (choke or pinch/prong) or electronic (shock) collars. Instead, we use equipment that helps foster good behaviors we can then reward.

We Believe Training Should Be Fun!

We strongly believe that training dogs should be fun – for you and your dog – and we strive to make it enjoyable!  When training is fun for dogs they:

• enjoy it more
• gain confidence and trust in their trainer
• develop a better bond and partnership with their people
• better appreciate and respect their people
• learn a larger repertoire of behaviors
• and respond more reliably.

When training is fun for people they:

• enjoy it more
• practice it more
• develop a better bond and partnership with their dogs
• better understand, appreciate and respect their dogs
• teach a larger repertoire of behaviors
• train in more locations and take their dogs more places
• and interact with their dogs more frequently and enjoyably.

The end result . . . happy dogs and people who can enjoy a permanent positive connection!

Clicker Training – With or Without
the Clicker

In many of our classes we use the principles of clicker training (though you need not use a clicker to employ the principles). Clicker training is a fast and fun method of training that is based on developing a powerful communication system with your dog. It's the same method (with some variations) used to train marine mammals at places like Seaworld. And hey - if you can train a 6000-pound killer whale to do amazing things, just think what you can train your dog to do with these same principles and techniques!

• Frequently Asked Questions

PHILOSOPHY (or “Why We Train As We Do”)

Though of a different species, dogs are asked to live and perform in a very human world. They give us so very much (which is why we humans must love and need them so) and I believe it is our utmost responsibility to give them, in return, opportunities to learn in a kind and gentle way. Every dog is a unique individual, shaped partly by genetic traits, and partly by the experiences he or she amasses while living in our human world. As a unique individual, each dog, and his or her person, deserves the utmost respect, and an opportunity to learn in ways that are reassuring and rewarding.

From Sarah Richardson, Founder of The Canine Connection

I have traveled all over the world, and have often found myself in places where I do not know the language or the culture. I have sometimes felt confused by unfamiliar words, unclear expectations, and unknown meanings. Sometimes I think this must be what an untrained dog must feel like in a human world. When dogs do inappropriate things, or don't behave as we want, it's usually because they simply don't fully understand what we want, or know what to do. Don't we owe it to these marvelous and mysterious companions - our dogs - to help them learn our human expectations in a humane way? Would we want any less if we were the ones doing the learning?
 

CONTRIBUTIONS

The Canine Connection was founded because of a love of dogs. In an effort to extend our reach to dogs not directly affiliated with us, we contribute, in a variety of ways, to non-profit groups involved with the rescue, rehabilitation, and rehoming of dogs. Some recent gifts, made possible by our caring clients, have included:

	Long Nose, Big Heart: Quaid was adopted through Greyhounds Friends for Life

$260 to Northwest SPCA in Oroville, California.  We donated all registration fee proceeds from our recent nutrition seminars, taught by Nancy Kerns, editor of Whole Dog Journal, to Nancy’s favorite local group.

$150  to Greylong, an organization founded by greyhound lovers, to raise money for research to fight cancer in dogs. Donation given in memory of Pixie, Molly, and Lola.

$200 to Greyhound Adoption Center . We donated all proceeds of the Canine Good Citizen test along with donations to our greyhound change jar to this wonderful organization that helps greyhounds find loving homes.

$100 to NorCal Aussie Rescue. We matched the $100 generated by the gift certificate raffle at Rhodie’s BOW WOW Birthday bash, so generously donated by Art, Etc. so together we could  make a $200 donation to this local organization, in honor of Rhodie (our mascot) and Auggie (Art, Etc. mascot).

Here are some other organizations to which we have recently contributed:

• Butte Humane Society
• Best Friends Animal Sanctuary
• Greyhound Gang

To learn about this photo click here.