Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
About Parkers Dog Training
Good dog training should make everyday life with your dog easier and more enjoyable—not just produce obedience during a training session.
I work with dogs ranging from puppies learning the basics to dogs struggling with difficult walks, barking and lunging, fear, reactivity, and other challenging behaviors. My focus is not simply on teaching commands or stopping unwanted behavior, but on helping dogs and their owners develop the understanding and practical skills needed to create meaningful, lasting change.
About Esther Parker
I began working professionally with dogs more than 20 years ago, initially caring for, walking, and managing large groups of dogs at a dog daycare. Spending so much time observing dogs interact sparked a deeper interest in behavior and eventually led me from pet care into professional training.
Early in my career, I apprenticed under and worked alongside experienced trainers with different backgrounds and approaches. Since then, I’ve continued my education through seminars, workshops, and hands-on learning with trainers from a variety of disciplines rather than limiting my education to a single methodology.
My training experience also extends into IGP/Schutzhund, a three-phase dog sport incorporating tracking, obedience, and protection. The demands of competition training continue to challenge and expand my skills beyond pet dog training. That combination of experience, continued education, and a willingness to keep evaluating what works continues to shape how I train today.
My Approach At A Glance
The Goal: Create Clarity
Understand what is happening, determine what needs to change, and give both the dog and owner a clearer path forward.
HOW I GET THERE
Understand Behavior — Look beyond what the dog is doing to understand what may be driving the behavior and what needs to change.
Change Emotional Responses — When needed, create the space for a dog to begin feeling differently about what triggers an unwanted response.
Build Capability — Meet each dog where they are, recognize what they are ready to learn, and help them build confidence as they take on new challenges.
Develop Resilience — Help dogs work through appropriate challenges, recover from stress with support, and move forward feeling more confident and capable.
Motivate — Use what the dog finds rewarding to teach, encourage engagement, and make desirable behaviors worth repeating.
Follow Through — Help dogs understand what is being asked of them and support them in following through, even when something else feels more appealing in the moment.
THE RESULT: REAL-LIFE CHANGE
Bring those pieces together in practical ways that make everyday life with your dog easier and more enjoyable.
My Approach To Training
At the center of my approach is clarity. That starts with understanding what is happening, why it may be happening, and what needs to change. From there, I can determine what the dog needs to learn, what the owner needs to understand, and how best to bring those pieces together.
There isn’t always one starting point or a fixed sequence. Depending on the dog and the problem we’re addressing, creating clarity may involve changing an emotional response, building a skill the dog doesn’t yet have, developing greater resilience, finding the right motivation, establishing boundaries, following through, redefining the relationship—or some combination of these.
LOOKING BEYOND BEHAVIOR
Before deciding what needs to change, I need to understand the dog, the owner, and the circumstances surrounding the behavior—and what may be contributing to it.
Genetics, environment, experiences, and the relationship between a dog and their owner can all influence behavior. These factors don’t exist in isolation, and understanding how they interact can provide important insight into why a behavior has developed, what may be maintaining it, and where it makes the most sense to begin.
From there, the approach needs to make sense for the dog while also being realistic for the owner and the circumstances of their everyday life. What we ask of both should support the changes we’re trying to make in a way they can realistically carry forward.
This evaluation is not about placing blame or assuming that one explanation applies to every dog. It is about developing a clearer picture of what is happening so we can make thoughtful decisions about what to prioritize and how to move forward.
Challenge, Resilience & Recovery
Dogs need to learn how to experience, respond to, and recover from appropriate levels of stress. Stress is a normal and unavoidable part of life, and the goal shouldn’t be to eliminate all stress from a dog’s life.
Instead, the goal should be to help dogs navigate appropriate challenges with thoughtful support and learn to move forward without becoming overwhelmed by them. With guidance, these experiences can help build resilience, confidence, and adaptability.
Motivation
When teaching new behaviors, I typically begin with motivation to help the dog learn while creating a positive association with those new behaviors—using things they value such as food, play, praise, affection, or access to something they want. Motivation also plays an important role in changing behavior, encouraging engagement, building confidence, and making desirable behaviors worth repeating.
Motivation can also help change how a dog feels about something. By thoughtfully pairing an experience with things the dog enjoys or values, we can often begin to change the emotional response associated with it. This can be especially important when fear, uncertainty, or another underlying emotion is contributing to an unwanted behavior.
Follow-Through, Guidance & Corrections
Training isn’t always about convincing a dog that doing what we ask is the most rewarding option. There are also times when a dog understands what is being asked and is expected to follow through, even when they would prefer to do something else.
I don’t see motivation and follow-through as opposing ideas. We can make learning rewarding, help dogs develop more positive associations, and give them meaningful reasons to engage with us while also teaching them that what is asked still matters.
Guidance and corrections can take different forms depending on the dog, the behavior being addressed, and what has already been taught. This may include spatial pressure, leash guidance, verbal feedback, or tools such as slip leads, martingale collars, prong collars, and remote electronic collars (e-collars).
I view tools as part of communication, not training itself. I don’t believe a particular tool defines good training. What matters is why and how it is used, the dog’s understanding of it, and whether it provides fair, meaningful information that helps the dog understand what to do differently. Corrections should have a purpose and a clear path toward success—not simply make an unwanted behavior unpleasant.
Training the Dog Is Only Part of the Job
Successful training has to work beyond the training session. I don’t expect owners to become professional dog trainers, but I do want them to understand what their dog has learned, how to reinforce it, when to follow through, and what to do when things don’t go perfectly.
Part of my job is making training understandable and practical for the people living with the dog. Owners should leave feeling capable of maintaining their dog’s progress, working through challenges when they arise, and continuing to build on what their dog has learned. The goal is for the training to become something you know how to use—not something that only works when the trainer is there.
Ultimately, good training should create meaningful, lasting change that makes everyday life better for both you and your dog.