Services
private lessons
The best way to start your dog’s training. Completely tailored to you and your dog. Any breed, age or problem are welcome.
Residential training
this is a training course where your dog will stay with me for a minimum of 4 weeks to intensively work on their traininggoals
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Walk and Train
I take your dog with me on a 1-1 walk to work on traininggoals. It is more than just a walking service, as we specifically work on the things your dog finds difficult
Group class
Join the weekly group lessons to practice your new skills in a controlled environment. Meet like-minded people and ask questions about things you might struggle with.
Teach your dog the skills for a happy, stressfree, off leash life
Do you want your dog to listen to you, with enthusiasm? Do you want to enjoy your walks without your dog pulling or lunging? Do you want to give your dog the off-leash freedom to explore and have fun? Would you like more peace and quiet at home even when guests are visiting? Or do you just want to give your puppy the best start? I can help you with all of this!
My way of training
Behaviour problems in dogs often originate from a shortage of clarity and communication. The dog can have the best intentions in the world, but because of miscommunication, shows it’s less admirable side.
During a training session I teach you how to communicate with your dog in a way they understand. This includes clickertraining or marker training, teaching you about timing and handling and how to motivate your dog. This will solve any frustrations, improve the relationship with your dog and work on the behaviour issues in a clear, positive and effective way. Your dog will love to work with you, instead of what may feel like against you.
There are a lot of trainers that believe they can punish behavior out of a dog, but I don’t beleive it is fair to correct a dog for doing something they believe to be right. Behavior always makes sense. There is a reason your dog behaves the way it does. It might bark at another dog out of fear, it might run after a rabbit because it’s fun, it may even completely ignore you on walks as everything else is just more interesting. As we learn why your dog does what it does, we can start to make adjustments in their behavior. We can show them what we would like them to do in certain situations, like walking calmly by your side when you pass another dog, or coming back to you when you call them.
We create a new response for specific triggers, like seeing another dog or wanting to chase after a rabbit. This also changes the way the dog feels about something, so we can truly change behavior from within. As a result, you won’t have to walk around with food and toys for the rest of your life, as your dog will become less and less triggered. This makes life so much nicer for both you and your dog.
Behavior modification
Dogs can show unwanted behavior for a lot of different reasons. Sometimes it’s fear, sometimes excitement or a combination of both and a lot of times it’s not entirely clear. It doesn’t matter, the training remains the same. The perception and emotional reaction to the trigger has to be changed. We do this by creating a new habit for the dog. Behavior modification takes time and repetition, but with the right approach, you will see great improvement in a few weeks. Some have even amazed by what we could achieve in just one lesson. You can really change your dogs life by teaching them the skills they need in our human world. My own dog used to be reactive and agressive to other dogs. I used to have her muzzled and on a leash on all walks. Now I take her everywhere, she gets to run around off leash, she no longer kills rabbits and she is no longer a dangerous dog. Your dog can change, you just need to know how.
A loving relationship
With the right skills you can let your dog roam around freely and safely. You call him back to you with one command when needed and walk together past distractions with ease. This clear communication and biological fulfillment will deepen the bond between you and your dog. You can start to enjoy a trained, happy dog that you can take with you anywhere without problems.
Reviews
We had a 1-1 lesson for our two dogs that would fight inside the house and were reactive to every dog outside. I would highly recommend Arjette to anyone struggling with their dog, no matter how big or small the problem is. read more
FAQs
About me
My name is Arjette Dijkstra, I am 26 years old and now studying medicine. As a child, I always wanted a dog, but my parents wouldn’t go further than a rabbit. I loved the rabbit, but I still longed for a dog. At the local shelter, I first got into contact with dogs that weren’t that friendly and nice. I had a very calm ernergy and the shelter dogs reacted very well to that. Because of this, I was allowed to help train those dogs. I loved it so much to see them grow every week, that the idea to do something with dogs never left my mind.
In 2018 I moved to Amsterdam to study medicine. With this, the volunteering at the shelter stopped. I missed working with dogs, so I started searching for something in Amsterdam. I soon found a behaviourist in a town nearby, Back2Balance, and I got to help there every tuesday. We would walk packs of dogs in the morning and train them individually in the afternoon. Before I knew it, I was walking ten dogs at a time and I learned so much more about how dogs work, learn and process the world. I loved working with the pack, but I prefered a more obedience based form of training. My own dog did so well on clickertraining, that I wanted to explore this further. I took multiple online courses and eventually developed a trainingsystem that is effective, simple and positive.
