ALL DAY FUN IN THE SUN
Our Dogs Go Home Happy & Tired!

Lee Fratto:  Lee Fratto was born and raised in New York City where, for many years, he worked in news radio production for Bloomberg Business News. There he served as technical producer and environmental reporter, doing stories on animal rights and environmental issues. He has always had a passionate love for animals and when Robin and Lee moved to California, he started working as a professional dog trainer in the San Jose area. He taught classes at Memorial Park in Cupertino and at the Petco in Mountain View. He now devotes all of his time to Doggiecamp and his family, and he is having the time of his life! He also does oil painting and animal portraits. 

Robin Stone: Robin was born & raised on Long Island & moved to New York City upon graduating college. When she was 12 years old she began training neighborhood dogs to make extra money (an alternative to baby-sitting!) She has been training dogs ever since in one form or another and feels that she has always had a deep understanding of animal behaviors & emotions. Robin received her Bachelors degree in Psychology from Syracuse University and took her first job at Dean Witter in the World Trade Center… From there she went to work in the marketing division of J.Crew & has worked in direct marketing ever since. In New York she worked for Grey Advertising, IBM, & Disney. After moving to Santa Cruz in 1996, she became a full time marketing consultant commuting back & forth to Disney in Burbank. Robin's other clients included Frederick's of Hollywood, Esprit and Restoration Hardware. Working in L.A. was where the dog training/sleep away camp had its inception. The Vice President of Marketing at Disney had a mischievous dog Daisy, who we were able to completely turn around for her in 2 weeks. Donna the VP was so impressed that she suggested we open up a training camp, she was really our inspiration!  

  (place mouse over Maggie) 
Maggie: Our first dog together, was adopted from the Dallas SPCA. She is the perfect camp counselor for our campers.  She never has any aggressiveness issues & is more than happy to submit when challenged.  She especially loves campers that refuse to bring back the ball because she will push it away & bring it back for another throw.  We trained Maggie with lots of love and praise and we never let her get away with anything.  She is now 4 years old and a perfect little lady. 

Apollo:  In August of '98, we purchased Apollo from Artica Kennels in British Columbia (articadogs.com).  He is a White German Shepherd and absolutely the cutest thing we had ever seen.  (Shhh, don't let Maggie hear that.) He is an excellent counselor because of his size & demeanor.  He is so large and handsome  that all the female dogs seem to develop crushes on him immediately.  He loves getting the other dogs to run around and wrestle with him & he is extremely gentle with even the smallest of dogs. 

We started the Doggie Camp because we feel there is a real need for this in our community. Many people (including us) don't like the idea of leaving a dog at a kennel where they get little attention, and spend the entire time in a cage wondering why Mommy and Daddy left them here. There are also many dogs who are bored out of their minds all day long and get into all kinds of trouble because of it.  We can give them a life beyond that life, and a vacation beyond that offered by a kennel. Expanding their minds with new experiences so that they may live happier lives, so that their owners may live happier lives. 

Doggy Philosophy: 
We believe the key to raising a well behaved and smart dog depends on the following things: 
Puppies need constant love and care, much like human babies.  The best way to ensure against misbehavior is to be there when it first arises.  They need to be shown what is right and what is wrong and the younger they are when that happens the better. They must be shown what is right by offering flowing praise for good behavior. You should never hold back praise and love. 

When behavior arises that is bad, the dog must be told that it is bad and shown obvious disapproval. Be overly dramatic, whine at him, lecture him, but don't shout, don't lose your temper and never strike your dog. Physical corrections should be in the form of a shake by the back of the neck or leash corrections with a choke collar and should be reserved for major offenses. Then the bad behavior must be quickly replaced with the good version of that behavior and is rewarded with "Goooood girl" and lots of love. (example: Dog bites on couch "BAD DOG", shove chew toy in dog's mouth "GOOD DOG") Try to always end on a good note, by showing the puppy what is good after the bad is over. Don't linger on the punishment when he is a puppy. Talk to your pets. The more you talk to your dog, the more she will understand what you want from her. 

The most important factor in raising a good dog is love.  The dog must feel loved and needed.  They need to feel like they belong to a family, a pack.  Puppies need their confidence boosted with lots of praise. They need a lot of guidance when they are young. It isn't good to leave the puppy unattended for long periods of time. One to two hours is really pushing it. It is when they are alone that bad habits like chewing on furniture and other no-no's form. Perhaps you may need to send him to puppy camp. (Who let that salesman in here?) You must always be consistent with your rules.  If you tell him "No you can not come up on the bed" and then give in after 10 minutes of whining, you may consider yourself trained by your dog. Remember that your dog needs just three important things from you to be happy. Love, rules, and more love.