Courtesy of the Zoom Room
By Jill Nagy
Whether you want your dog to jump through hoops or simply to walk sedately at your side, the Zoom Room, a new dog-training facility in Clifton Park, may have a class for you.
According to owner/operator Bill Overholt, the Zoom Room will primarily provide obedience training but will also offer non-competitive agility training and some enrichment activities like tricks and bench work. The agility training uses the same equipment as used for competitive agility activities but on a smaller track.“Puppy socialization,” for puppies less than eight months old, is also very popular.
“We don’t train dogs; we train the people who love them,” Overholt said. The key is enhanced communication, he explained: eye contact, hand motions, voice commands. Emphasis is on positive reinforcement. When a dog performs well, he or she is rewarded with a click and a treat. Every dog has a preferred treat, Overholt said, and he can provide more exotic treats for the fussiest dogs.
The actual training methods are proprietary, Overholt said, but they are backed by American Kennel Club standards and Puppy Training in Seven Easy Steps by Mark VanWye. The facility in Clifton Park is one of 15 nationwide and the personnel of the different locations, about 500 people in all, get together for a Zoom call once a week to discuss problems and compare notes. The nearest other facility is in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.
On the whole, the aim is to create tired happy dogs. His guidelines are positive reinforcement, premium treats, and community involvement.
Overholt’s professional background is in “people training,” he noted, most recently, as a professional sales coach. He has volunteered at a Saratoga animal shelter and, he recalled, he was surprised at how many of the animals there had minor behavior issues. He continues to work closely with shelters and offers discounts to the owners of rescue dogs, along with a complementary no-pull harness and a pre-filled training treat bag. Rescue organizations are invited to use exercise space free of charge.
Classes now average three dogs and Overholt expects to have four to six in a class when the facility is operating at capacity. He has four trainers on staff and describes himself as “master of everything.” All of them have prior experience and go through a certification process prescribed by the Zoom Room organization. Private classes are also available.
So far, Overholt said, there have been no extreme problems. Some of the dogs bark but none of them bite.
Overholt urges owners to get their dogs into training as early as possible. Once bad habits set in, he said, they can’t always be fixed.
Tuition is $42 a session. Overholt encourages people to begin with a package of five sessions “in order to get into a routine or habit.”
The Zoom Room is located at 1603 Route 9 in Clifton Park.