About Pet School
Hi, I’m Michal McCracken, certified dog trainer.
I founded Pet School to help puppy parents and pet professionals.
“Get a puppy” they said, “It’ll be fun” they said…
And sure, it would be if your puppy stopped barking, biting, howling, destroying stuff and peeing on everything.
Your partner finally agreed, the kids pinky swore they’d help, but the chaos of puppy raising has landed firmly in your lap like your warm but kinda smelly puppy.
Now that you’re finally sitting down, you’ve spotted yet another pile of poop under the coffee table, but you’re too tired to get up and besides you don’t want to wake the puppy now that you’re finally getting some peace and quiet.
Is it always gonna be this hard?
You’ll be relieved to hear that puppy raising does get easier if you put some solid rules, boundaries and strategies into place. It’s a process and I’ll help you turn your puppy into a calm and well behaved dog.
I’ve been where you are right now. I know all about the broken sleeps, the mess, the noise, chaos and destruction.
My own dog:
hated other dogs
had a high and dangerous prey drive
stole food off the kitchen counter
peed and pooped everywhere
had no manners around people
destroyed everything she could wrap her teeth around
She was completely uncivilized when I found her and training her was like swimming upstream but she did turn into a lovely dog who was a real joy to be around.
So I’d be very surprised if your puppy throws up anything I haven’t already seen behaviourally (or even physically - including regurgitated socks, collars and poop from the dog next door).
My Story
Obsessed with animals since birth, but only having access to cats and dogs due to being from a small suburb in a small city in the small country of New Zealand, I always knew I wanted to work with animals but I just didn’t know how.
As a teenager I’d pet sit and walk dogs for friends and family but this wasn’t a viable career back in the day. The only option was to be a Vet or Vet Nurse but I quickly ruled that out because:
A) Science (not really my cuppa tea, much to my mother’s dismay)
B) Squeamishness (blood, guts, bones protruding through skin, ah nope, not for me)
C) A desire to avoid spending all day with people and pets in serious physical or emotional pain
and D) I can’t touch birds. They freak me out.
Vets and vet nurses are truly amazing people, but I just couldn’t go there.
So I did what every other Kiwi does and embarked on my O.E. heading to San Francisco and I ended up staying there for 10 years.
I worked in multiple start-ups during my time there, and on the weekends I volunteered with the dogs and puppies at the San Francisco SPCA.
I eventually quit my job in Human Resources so that I could attend the San Francisco SPCA Academy for Dog Trainers.
In 2006, after graduating with Honors, I moved back to New Zealand and started my own dog training, dog walking and pet sitting business, and then a couple of years after that opened up a dog daycare as well.
Pet School is my latest offering, where I’ve created courses and resources to help puppy parents, and people wanting a career in dog walking and pet sitting.
I’ve worked with hundreds of families and have trained dozens of employees and contractors to work confidently and safely with dogs too.
What’s my dog training philosophy?
Positive Reinforcement Training methods, mixed with a healthy dose of treating your dog like a dog.
Sometimes you need to adjust your own behavior to get the best behavior from your dog.
Treating your dog like a furry human can result in some pretty messed up doggie issues, so I’ll teach you how to avoid those and I promise, there’s nothing scary, no punishment for either of you, and it’s all positive and fun.
I’m a proud full member of the APDTNZ.
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