About Us:

Cindy is a Certified Pet Dog Trainer- Knowledge Assessed or CPDT-KA, a professional member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers where she serves as the SC state greeter, and she is a Canine Good Citizen Evaluator for the AKC. I have been training dogs in the Charleston area for 4 years. My training methods are positive, science based and proven to work. My goal is to help owners build a strong relationship with the dogs they choose to share their lives with. I strive to help people be more clear and concise when they communicate with their dogs: whether it is what they say, how they say it or their body language. I also teach people how to watch their dogs body language for the signs of stress, joy or possible problems.

I truly believe there is no one size fits all training. If there were, someone would have developed a pill and all our issues would be a thing of the past.

I try to customize my training to fit each person and dog team -- understanding and mutual respect are key to keeping dogs in their homes and out of shelters, or worse.

Services:

Mindful Manners offers group classes beginning with puppy manners and continuing through advanced classes. These classes include teaching basic skills such as sit, down, come when called, leave it, etc. But, I make a real effort to concentrate on focus and attention, after all, if your dog can’t hear you call him, he can’t sit. I keep my classes small so each person can receive individual attention from me.

I teach outdoor classes beginning with puppies that have finished puppy manners. It is one thing to be able to sit inside, but the real test comes when dogs and owners are surrounded by distractions.

I offer an Outdoor Adventure class that starts to work toward off leash reliability. And I teach a Metro Meanderings class which is designed to specifically deal with the problems of teaching a dog to walk politely on leash, including help with greeting dogs and people, pulling, barking, etc.

As you know, I have an extremely reactive Aussie, on a good day, and aggressive on a bad one. Because of Jude’s issues, I bring a unique perspective to working with reactive and aggressive dogs. Not only do the dogs need help, but the owners need support, compassion and extra encouragement when it comes to management and training. Owners of these dogs frequently don’t understand exactly what they are dealing with, as a trainer it is my job to be clear about what it takes to have an aggressive dog. I work privately with these people developing a behavior protocol for them, and making sure they understand the challenges they are facing.

I have been incorporating Control Unleashed® exercises into my private and group classes for well over a year. Now we are beginning to offer CU® group classes and have scheduled a CU® workshop with Scoot Dog Agility in March. CU® is more designed for reactive dogs and I do assessments of the dogs before they are excepted into classes. Group classes of this type are not for extremely aggressive dogs until they have done private work with me.

Contact Info:

Cindy Carter
843-906-9997
www.mindfulmanners.net
mindfulmanners@me.com

Additional Links:

www.apdt.com
www.ccpdt.org
www.controlunleashed.com
www.iaabc.org