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Loomis is one of the better places in Placer County to own a dog, and most of that comes down to space. It is a real town with a rural edge, so there are open fields, orchards, and quiet roads that city owners would have to drive to find.
That space comes with its own set of firsts. Loomis is horse country, with working properties, livestock, and equestrian trails running through it. For a dog who has never met a horse up close, that is a big one, and plenty of owners find out about it on a walk they did not plan for.
None of that is a reason not to train here. It is the reason Loomis is such useful ground, as long as your dog is getting practice in the right direction.
How the work runs
The evaluation is $100 and is credited toward your program if you enroll.
Loomis has open space that is genuinely hard to find elsewhere in the county, but much of it sits behind a road with no sidewalk and no shoulder. Getting your dog to the good spot is the first skill, and it is worth training on its own.
This is the part that catches people out. Loomis is horse country, with equestrian trails and properties keeping livestock. A horse is a large, unfamiliar animal moving unpredictably, and a dog who loses it over one is working on the same underlying problem as a dog who loses it over another dog.
Orchards, ponds, and open fields bring in squirrels, birds, and other animals. A dog blowing up at a squirrel does not look like leash reactivity, and most owners do not realize the two are closely related for the vast majority of dogs. A rehearsed blow up makes the next one more likely, and worse.
Every walk is a training session whether you meant it to be or not. An unplanned encounter is a repetition for the reaction you are trying to remove. The same goes for barking at the delivery driver or coming unglued at a squirrel. Those do not look like leash reactivity, but they feed it.
The Loomis environments that come up most often. These are training ground, and most of them are good at it.
Loomis, California
A walking loop through open ground and wildlife habitat, with dogs welcome on leash. One of the friendliest starting points in town and a good place to build a foundation before moving to harder ground.
Loomis maintains equestrian trails through several communities, and horses use the roads here too. If your dog has never worked around a horse, this is where you find out. We treat it as its own skill rather than assuming dog-and-dog experience carries over.
Many Loomis roads run without sidewalks, which removes the option of stepping off when a car, a cyclist, or another dog comes by. Learning to work on the road you live on, and not only in a park, is one of the most useful things we do here.
The wildlife that comes with this much open ground is constant. Squirrels, birds, and other animals are everywhere, which makes for excellent impulse-control practice when no other dogs are around, and that is not as often as you would think.
Most reactivity is worse in the neighborhood you walk every day. Your dog likely sees it as their own area, with familiarity, comfort, and history attached. In most cases that makes it the best place you have to train, and you can start the moment you step out the door.
“Derek was amazing. I adopted a very shy and fearful dog. He was able to help me work with my dog and bring out his personality while working on his commands and work with him around horses. I highly recommend Derek. I now have a happy, playful, spunky dog with amazing commands and recall.”
Mariah Schieck
Confidence, commands, and work around horses
Yes. Sessions happen on the routes you actually walk, which in Loomis usually means your own road, the park you use, and the quiet stretches nearby. Working where the behavior happens is the point, because a dog who only holds it together in an open field has not learned the thing you need.
Yes, and Loomis is one of the few places where that comes up often enough to plan for. Reactivity is reactivity, with the same causes underneath, depending on the dog. A horse is a larger and less predictable version of the problem, and we approach it with the same philosophy while respecting that the stakes are higher when a horse is involved.
Your property is a great place to start and often the best place to build a foundation, because your dog knows it and you can work without loading up the car. But a dog who is reliable on your own land has not been tested by a neighbor's dog coming up the road or a horse going past, so at some point we take it out into Loomis proper. That step is usually where the real progress happens.
Six to eight weeks for the standard program, or an accelerated four week format with two sessions each week. The evaluation tells us which fits your dog and your schedule. Many dogs get great results in as little as four lessons, but we have the six to eight to get you even more improvement.
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Leash reactivity coaching for adult dogs in Rocklin.
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Leash reactivity coaching for adult dogs in Roseville.
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Leash reactivity coaching for adult dogs in Loomis.
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Leash reactivity coaching for adult dogs in Lincoln.
View pageThe E.D.G.E. program
Four stages built for leash reactivity: Engage, Drive, Guide, Execute. Pricing, what is included, and the Make-Right Guarantee.
See the programThe evaluation covers your dog, your goals, and the specific Loomis routes you walk. You leave knowing whether this is the right fit.
The Make-Right Guarantee: if we have not hit your goals after the eight sessions of your program, you get up to four additional lessons at no cost. At least one of those is mine alone, with no leash in your hand.