City Dog Training, LLC

Liz Shaw, formerly of Magical Mutt in Belmont, MA joined Marjie Alonso at City Dog Training in June 2009. Liz started her training career as a volunteer dog walker in a large shelter in Pittsburgh, PA. She quickly discovered that one of the major reasons that dogs are turned into shelters is because they and their people lack the training and skills needed to form a life long bond and peaceable coexistence. While there she, in concert with others, developed a training program for volunteers to provide basic training for the shelter dogs.

When she moved to Massachusetts, she formed her own training business, Magical Mutt, named for her remarkable shelter dog who changed her life. She is an active volunteer with the Lowell Humane Society (including a stint as interim executive director in 2008) and PILOT, a Massachusetts Animal Coalition program that assists Animal Control Officers in the state of MA place their strays and surrenders at shelters and rescues where they can be adopted.

Liz uses reward based training methods that rely on the principles of learning theory. She has drawn on the work and experience of behaviorists, ethologists and other scientists who study animal behavior as well as experienced dog trainers to improve the lives of dogs and their owners.

Reward based training focuses on the manipulation of rewards in the dog’s life. Rewards may be food or treats, attention, praise, play, toys, chasing squirrels, sniffing and tracking. For each dog the rewards may be different. Liz encourages owners to identify which rewards are most important to their dog and use those to capture and reinforce behaviors they like and discourage behaviors that they dislike. Liz focuses on building a positive relationship between owners and dog through training and play. She teaches owners to better communicate with and understand what their dog is ’saying’ by teaching owners about canine body language and their own body language’s influence on their relationship with their dog.

Liz especially enjoys working with adolescent goofballs – dogs that seem like they have ADD (Adolescent Dog Disorder), and shy dogs who need to build confidence in facing the world.

Liz is a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) and an Associate Member of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC).
She regularly attends seminars and reads to update and improve her training.

Liz lives in Belmont with her very patient husband and three dogs. Magic, her partner in shelter/rescue dog evaluations, enjoys being demo dog, ranching chipmunks in the back yard and belly rubs. Quinn, a shy border collie rescue who introduced Liz to sheep herding, likes staying at home and snuggling on the couch. Rose, a young, outgoing, energetic border collie rescue, goes sheep herding with Liz in Carlisle where they are co-owners of 25 sheep and 4 goats.

Liz’s recent Continuing Education seminars attended