Dog Training - Tacoma, WA
Dog Trainer, Tacoma, WA Dog Aggression
 
 

Meet Garrett

Garrett Stevens founder of Alpha and Omega Dog Training and Stevens Family Kennels has been whispering and training dogs of differing breeds and personalities into properly behaved canines for over 17 years. Garrett's results and his books speak for him.  He is an expert in canine body language and energy communication. To get great results with any animal one must use clear communication, leadership, and the natural drives and instincts of each individual dog.  As a skilled communicator Garrett is able to equip dog owners with the skills they need.  He partners daily with his terrific "example" dogs as they serve to prevent or eliminate problems for the many, many dogs and people they serve.

Throughout the years Garrett has successfully rehabilitated dogs suffering from severe aggression, fears and other behavioral problems. Garrett has rehabilitated dogs that have killed other dogs back to the point where they are balanced and happy members of multi-dog households! He did it all without treats and without harsh handling!  He has even successfully trained a blind and deaf bull terrier through the dog's sense of touch and feeling. He has done Schutzhund training with his dogs in the past too.  Garrett excels in identifying the underlying issues within a dog or pup and he can turn those problems into solutions.

Garrett wants to learn from each dog he works with. He is constantly researching the field of canine behavior and both new and old training methods. Published in the Pet Connection Magazine, on Wolf and Iron, and on his wordpress blog (thecaninecalmer.wordpress.com) Garrett's writing has received high praise from other trainers, vets, rescues, dog professionals, and television producers and directors. His groundbreaking first book, Dog Myths, is truly empowering both owners and dogs towards a better relationship with fewer behavioral issues and his book So Long Separation Anxiety gives great practical advice and guidance to those that struggle with that dreaded dilemma.  He is currently working on his third upcoming book all about the 5 Senses of a dog and the 4 Pillars of Dog Language.  Take a moment to sample his unique books for free!  Caring dog owners travel to us for training sometimes from three, four, and five hours away!  

Over the years he has instructed many dog daycare owners, groomers, dog rescues, shelters, veterinarians, vet techs and even other dog trainers in the natural ways of dog language.  Unfortunately, he spends a large amount of time re-training dogs and re-teaching owners that have Not received excellent teaching and the results they sought for because they initially hired other dog training companies. Stevens' reputation is pristine.  He is well known around the local community (in and around Tacoma and Puyallup) and our clients typically come already having been referred by several people and their vet or daycare owner or groomer! 

People and animals are Garrett's lifelong passion.  As a husband and a father of four beautiful kids, Garrett has studied and applied proven principles of success in his life, his business, and with his growing family.  He loves bringing this same success to his clients.  He was instructing people long before he ever taught dogs.  He has traveled the world several times and lived in and/or visited India, Thailand, Cambodia, Ecuador, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Canada, Mexico and he's explored much of the USA.  He is in love with life and learning.

Whenever he can find a free moment to slip away from training people and translating for the dogs, Garrett works on his own books and videos to help meet the demand for better training and behavior modification techniques.  He is loving life and being a husband to his gorgeous and brilliant wife and their four beautiful, stubborn, smart, high-energy, and oh-so-excellent children.  He loves working side by side with his beautiful, powerful dogs.

Garrett's training is always fun, fast-paced, educational, motivational and rewarding to the open minded.  He practices a No Dog Left Behind policy!  Currently Garrett and the team at Stevens Family Kennels are in talks with an executive TV producer and a director because they want to showcase the Garrett Stevens Method of calm canine communication and dog owner education...we might be getting our own TV show based on the success and uniqueness of our behavioral methods!

For more info on Garrett Stevens see our Testimonials page!

 

 

Meet David

David Shaw has been on our team since 2019. Beginning in our kennel David has efficiently worked with and handled thousands of dogs thus far - many of these powerful and problematic. From kennel cleaning and treadmill training to helping behind the scenes with the more serious Behavioral Board and Train dogs that we help, David has received excellent training from the dogs themselves and given excellent training and leadership back to them.

An invaluable part of our behavioral team David has been shadowing Garrett and training clientele on his own for a while always utilizing our custom calming methods since December of 2020. Committed, personable, intelligent, and with rapidly growing skills David is and has been certified to instruct under the Garrett Stevens Method. We will watch his career with interest!

 

 
                                                                                  

Our Winning Philosophy

Dogs are a super-social pack species that are always communicating. Are we listening and understanding? Most human-dog problems come from miscommunication and owner's false belief in widely spread dog behavioral myths. When we bridge that communication gap through great, observant training that is timed precisely, and when we finally start communicating through the FOUR PILLARS... magic happens!  

Did you know that a lot of dog training and behavior modification doesn't prevent or fix behavioral issues?  Were you aware that almost every form of training is based in excitement and goes directly against how the mother and father dog would raise their young?  Did you know most dog behaviorists and trainers are simply spitting out what they've been taught in a cookie-cutter manner instead of looking at your individual dog and your individual family?  Were you aware many trainers and behaviorists will just keep upselling you class after class or session after session?  

There is something much better available to you and your dog than the typical bribery with food treats or the typical harsh correction!  There is something much better than obedience and "work" for your dog.  Energy control, spacial control, and real communication are critically important to your pet...yet most training and behavioral companies fail to address these key issues properly!  They don't know the Four Pillars of dog language (as it applies to the human body) and they only teach tricks or obedience.  Therefore, they cannot prevent or reverse behavioral issues!  We are quite different.  We look at nature and adapt our methods very specically to your dog's needs and to what is similar among all canines.

All animals live in the moment; they do what they need to do to survive at that exact second in time. Because they live in the moment, they can also learn new behaviors fast, and leave old “bad” behaviors fairly quickly.  If you have the tools to accelerate or decelerate a dog's energy level you're scratching the surface of good natural dog handling and proper canine communication with your pet.  Your puppy or dog will soon love, trust and respect you as you use their language to communicate back to them. 

Most people are under the impression there are only two ways (positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement) of training an animal...I am here to say nothing is farther from the truth!  Instead we should be focusing on developing real relationships with our dogs, relationships based on respect and trust and real communication.  Calmness is key in canine society.  Most any fool can use a treat or bite sleeve and get a dog into an excitable sit, down, or stay behavior; few can calm them down.  Set your dog up for real, successful, social, calming, habits and any dog will thrive in any environment!  The worst trainers need to bribe their dogs, the better trainers reward their dogs, but the greatest trainers know that the relationship is all important!

The keys to a good dog are exercise with structure, socialization with leadership, and focus with fun (when we use the dog’s natural drives it becomes fun).  Let's all realize and strive to teach our dogs that the "jobs" they are getting through training should only be part-time and that calmness, energy control, and relaxation are what is so, so needed yet is sadly ignored in much of the mainstream dog training industry.

Results for your dog or pup need to flow from you (the owners) first.  Take full ownership!  Every day I educate, motivate, and fill our human clients with confidence and leadership skills.  Every day we have fun.  Every day we are planting seeds.  Every day we cultivate a deeper and richer understanding of nature, energy, health, communication, persistence, relationships, and living an inspired life.  The owners and the dogs are always empowered to their fullest potential.  Success is something that is very important to our dogs.  It should be equally important to us.  Let's define it, take action toward it, refine it, and start living it every single day with our dogs.  


 

Email Garrett  or Call  253-653-4890 (voicemails are returned on a first-come, first-serve basis)

 
 
Recommended Reading:

       Our blog -  www.thecaninecalmer.wordpress.com
  • Dog Myths: What you Believe about dogs can come back to Bite You! - Garrett Stevens          
  • So Long Separation Anxiety - Garrett Stevens
  • Drive - Daniel H. Pink
  • Merle's Door - Ted Kerasote
  • Training the Behavior - Gary Patterson
  • On Talking Terms with Dogs: Calming Signals - Turid Rugaas
  • The Intelligence of Dogs - Stanley Coren
  • The Art of Raising a Puppy - The Monks of New Skete
  • Cesar's Way - Cesar Millan
  • Der Schutzhund - Helmut Raiser
  • Inside of a Dog - Alexandra Horowitz
Recommended Viewing: 
        Stevens Family Kennels on Youtube (Subscribe, have fun, and learn!)