Training Resources
Train the Person. Transform the Dog.
Grounded in Melissa Berryman's 30+ years of teaching, these resources help you understand your dog's behavior — and your own role in shaping it.
Core Principles for Every Dog Owner
The PTFGD program combines defensive driving–style safety and liability protection with horsemanship for dog owners — with communication at the center of it all.
Defensive Driving for Dog Owners
Just as a defensive driver anticipates hazards before they happen, a skilled dog owner reads situations, manages the environment, and steers their dog safely through a human world — before a problem ever starts.
Horsemanship Applied to Dogs
You can train a horse, but that doesn't mean you can ride it — or that your family can. The same is true for dogs. Handling skills must be learned by every person who interacts with the dog, not just the one who attended a class.
Communication Is the Core Skill
Dogs communicate constantly through body language, posture, and behavior. Learning to read and respond to those signals — rather than projecting human meaning onto them — is what separates confident handlers from frustrated ones.
Safety and Liability Start With You
Owners are responsible for their dog's behavior in the eyes of the law. Understanding your dog's triggers and managing situations proactively isn't just good training — it protects you and your community.
Work With Core Canine Drives
Dogs are driven by social and behavioral instincts that have nothing to do with spite or stubbornness. When you understand what motivates your dog, you can redirect those drives rather than fight them.
Don't Ignore Insubordinate Human Behavior
When a dog corrects a human for breaking dog rules, we blame the dog. But dogs communicate clearly — we just aren't listening. Learning to read those signals prevents the incidents most people call "unpredictable."
The Program
Instruction with Melissa Berryman
This isn't dog training — it's dog handling. You and your family will learn to prove you are worthy of your dog's trust.
A Different Way of Thinking
Dogs are very similar to horses — a horse may be trained to accept a rider, but that doesn't mean you know how to ride it. And if you can ride, it doesn't mean anyone else in your family can. Dogs are constantly aware of who knows what they're doing and who they can rely on. Buying a dog, giving it love, food, and walks does not automatically make your dog feel secure living with you. That requires your active involvement in building a real relationship.
PTFGD offers something different than dog training. You and your family will be engaged in "dog handling" lessons where you will be proving that you are worthy of your dog's trust. I am not the dog trainer — I am your coach and instructor. This is a journey where you will learn to navigate your dog through our world while appreciating that they aren't four-legged humans.
Family participation is essential. Everyone living with, caring for, and handling your dog needs to be involved — not just the person who attends a class.
The Basic Package — 8 Lessons
The basic lesson package consists of 8 lessons and begins with private sessions. Upon completion, you will be folded into an ongoing group lesson where you apply what you're learning in as true-to-life situations as possible.
This is very different from traditional dog training programs that only teach a few commands in a hermetically sealed environment. You can expect dogs to run through class and people to filter in and out — providing the real-life distractions you have to learn to contend with. All life is a distraction, so being able to handle your dog in any situation is key.
I have personal "schooling dogs" you will work with to practice skills before trying them with your own dog. The third private lesson includes a mock group lesson so you know what to expect. I will also teach a foundational exercise called the Leadership Exercise that forms and strengthens the dog/owner relationship — everything else is built on this.
Technique & Methodology
My instruction promotes a balance of positive and negative feedback that mirrors real life. The end goal is to use vocal directions to handle your dog. There is no such world as "positive only" — nor should anything be "negative only." Abuse is very different from discipline, and we will spend considerable time going over tools and methods so you understand the distinction.
Our goal is to avoid the common mistake of poor leash handling — where people fail to communicate and instead push and pull their dogs through life as if the leash controls the dog. Instead, we aim for clear communication with an animal capable of thinking and understanding cause and effect.
The methodology I use models what dogs already understand, which allows your dog to be fully participatory. The challenge is teaching owners to learn "dog" as if learning a foreign language — so you can communicate fluently and effectively. Most dog owners unknowingly remain silent while using the leash to push, pull, and drag their dog. Communication is a skill that needs to be taught, encouraged, and developed.
"But I Only Need to Fix One Issue"
Many people inquire about help with jumping, pulling on a leash, or one command — believing that's their only issue. I can teach your dog to come when called off-leash in about 10 minutes, stop jumping, and teach obedience commands extremely quickly. But that doesn't mean your dog will do it for you.
Often in class, one person will have difficulty — and when another takes the leash, they don't have the same problem with the same dog. The issue is not your dog as much as you not yet being able to get your dog to obey you. I will be asking you to communicate more efficiently and change how you and your body respond to your dog. Can that happen in one lesson? Not likely if it's a new technique and you've been doing something different for years.
Program Cost
The basic package includes 8 lessons and approximately 12–16 hours of instruction. It also includes a leather training leash designed specifically for class objectives and a copy of the People Training for Good Dogs book.
Scheduling & Directions
I currently have openings on weekends and some late afternoons on weekdays. For scheduling, it's best to call.
41 Twin Oaks Dr., East Falmouth, MA 02536
Off Spectacle Pond Rd and Sam Turner — 3rd house on the left. #41 is on the green mailbox.
Instruction and dog care takes place in the backyard. Drive around the house to the back and pull into the parking lot at the power lines. Look for the green awning and the dog-themed flag that marks the entry door. Push down on the black bar and push the door forward — come into the inner gated area and wait. Melissa will meet you there.
Please park perpendicular to the power lines so others can come in and out. Avoid pulling up in front of the fence or parking in the middle of the lot.
14 Common Dog Myths — Corrected
Most of what people "know" about dogs isn't true. Here's what Melissa has learned from 30+ years of working with owners and animals.
When greeting a new dog, extend your hand for it to sniff.
Dogs don't sniff each other's paws. Instead, tap your hand on your thigh to simulate a friendly wagging tail.
Hugging means "I love you" to a dog.
Dogs don't hug each other. To a dog, hugging signals domination — and many dogs think they outrank children.
Dogs are protective of our homes and vehicles.
Dogs don't know your belongings are valuable. They are simply trapped in a space and will fight if threatened.
Breed dictates temperament.
What dictates temperament is the role you play in the group and the rank of group members. Dogs are dogs.
Dogs act the same with everyone.
Dogs are constantly assessing rank and will behave differently with people they perceive to be of a higher or lower rank.
Neutering makes a dog docile.
Neutering won't change a dog's temperament if the dog believes it holds the top-ranking position in the group.
Dogs are simply friendly or unfriendly.
Dogs are as friendly or unfriendly as the people they meet. Your behavior shapes their response.
People can't prevent dog bite injuries.
People can develop skills dealing with dogs that will put them in charge and prevent injury.
When a dog charges, there is nothing you can do.
A charging dog is deciding if you are friend, foe, or prey. Face the dog, relax your body, tap your thigh, and use a friendly high-pitched voice.
Posting a "Beware of Dog" sign protects your liability.
A sign makes people react fearfully, which is more likely to cause a dog to consider visitors prey — and bite them.
Only bad dogs owned by bad people bite.
Any dog will bite when it feels personally threatened or when a lower-ranking individual threatens its resources.
If you socialize your dog, you won't have any problems.
You can't predict what other people or dogs will do. Your dog needs to know it can rely on you to pay attention and keep it safe.
Breed books tell you how your dog will behave.
All dogs herd, all dogs hunt, and all dogs protect themselves. Breeders are marketers. Dogs are dogs.
Why Dogs Bite: The Three Contexts
"Once a dog bites, it always bites" is one of the most misleading generalizations in dog ownership. Biting is not a personality trait — it is a predictable response to one of three specific contexts. Understanding which context you are in changes everything.
Dogs are group canines with a wild-designed brain. They are gripper-and-ripper animals built to hunt large prey as a team. Those instincts do not disappear in a living room — they are simply waiting for the right context to activate.
Within the Group
Inside the social group — the people and animals a dog has relationships with — dogs bite over status and resources. This is normal canine group behavior. A dog that believes it outranks a child, or that its food, space, or possessions are being threatened by a lower-ranking group member, may correct with a growl, nip, or bite. This is not aggression — it is communication within a social structure.
Most family dog bites fall into this category and are entirely preventable once owners understand rank dynamics.
Outside the Group
With strangers — people or animals the dog has no relationship with — a dog's response is shaped entirely by how that stranger acts. A person who moves erratically, runs, stares, or acts fearfully may be read as prey. A person who acts threatening may be read as foe. The dog is not being unpredictable; it is responding logically to the signals it is receiving. How you act around an unfamiliar dog determines which category you fall into.
Children running, cyclists, and nervous strangers are most at risk in this context.
Disjointed Attention
Dogs are opportunistic group hunters whose wild ancestors coordinated hunts not through language but through shifts in attention. When one wolf grabs prey, the change in focus signals the rest to grip and rip together. That same hardwired response exists in domestic dogs. When attention in a group suddenly shifts — a child falls, people scatter, a commotion erupts — some dogs read that shift as a signal to act. The "switch" turns on automatically. People provoke these situations constantly without realizing they have created a fight-or-flight moment or triggered a prey response through a change in focus.
Society rarely recognizes this context, which is why these incidents feel random — they are not.
"Society likes to use generalizations and stereotypes — they are cognitively easier, but they are not valid. I use a template of contexts and situations so people can understand exactly what situation they are in and how to avoid setting up injuries or problems."
— Melissa Berryman
Keeping Children Safe Around Dogs
The majority of dog bites happen when adults aren't paying attention. These six tips — drawn from Melissa's work with Cape Cod Health News — give parents and children practical skills that work.
"Never assume that a human gesture's meaning is understood by a dog." — Melissa Berryman, as quoted in Cape Cod Health News
Act Friendly
Smart dogs know strangers can hurt them, so act like a friend. Teach children to relax, use a high-pitched voice, and tap the side of their leg to signal they are a friend and not foe or prey. Dogs respond to how your child is acting.
Ask the Dog
We are strangers to dogs we are meeting for the first time. A stiff fist or hand toward a dog is offensive and offers negative information. Tapping your thigh allows a dog to decide decisively if it wishes to be approached.
Pay Attention
Dogs are wired to capitalize on opportunity. Adults must actively supervise. The majority of dog bites occur when adults are not present or aren't paying attention. When leaving a room, take either the dog or the child with you.
Never Hug a Dog
While hugging is a positive gesture for us, dogs never hug to show affection. For them, it is a negative dominating gesture. Encouraging kids to hug a dog sets your child up to be bitten in the face.
Know Your Child's Place
Dogs interact with people depending on rank. If a dog considers itself above your child in status and your child steps out of line, it is normal for the dog to correct with a growl, nip, or bite.
Avoid Running
Instincts are very powerful and many dogs cannot control their impulse to chase someone who is running, biking, or skating. Teach your child to avoid running by or with dogs — don't expect a dog to "know" not to chase.
From the Book
"Imagine your reaction if your child's friend grabs the remote control of the TV you are watching and changes the channel — and then later, does it again. We instantly recognize this behavior as wrong and correct it. When humans break dog rules and they correct us, we ignore our insubordinate actions and default to 'blaming the dog.'"
Former animal officer Melissa Berryman witnessed how devastating society's entrenched beliefs about dog behavior can be for communities. People Training for Good Dogs shows how analyzing situations and contexts can stop the cycle of preventable incidents — written with humor and compassion.
Get the BookFrequently Asked Questions
Common questions from dog owners getting started.
Ready to Start?
Training instruction requires no tour or prior evaluation. Reach out and we'll get you started right away.
Melissa Berryman has been featured in the Cape Cod Times and Cape Cod Health News as a local expert on dog behavior and bite prevention.