ABOUT OUR TRAINING
Dogs are our passion
Lost Woods Canines was founded by Maria Carabaña with the idea that dogs need emotional and mental stability to thrive. Having worked with dogs for the past decade, Maria saw a need to facilitate communication between dogs and their owners to help both lead more peaceful lives.
While a lot of training focuses on obedience, Lost Woods Canines chooses to focus more on the mental well-being of problem dogs. Many behavioral issues stem from emotional problems such as lack of impulse control, fear-based reactivity, overexcitement, or hyperactivity. We find that addressing the root of the internal problem eliminates the external problem behaviors such as jumping, biting, and pulling. It's often a simple task to teach dogs obedience in the peace and quiet of your living room. Problems arise when we try to move those commands into the distractions of the real world. What if your dog could feel as calm and comfortable everywhere as he feels on a quiet night at home?
The anxious dog, the hyperactive dog, the reactive dog, the I-CAN'T-HEAR-YOU dog, all have the same thing in common - they have trouble regulating their emotions. We can help your dog be its absolute best and calmest self in all situations.
Our training is primarily based on Training Between the Ears (TBTE) training and principles. TBTE was developed by our colleague, Mark McCabe, and uses primarily reward and relaxation strategies to change the emotional state of dogs and help them moderate their own emotions. The techniques aim to build relationships with your dog by removing conflict, develop your dog’s self-motivation through success-seeking behaviors, and changing your dog’s perception of the surrounding world so they are emotionally more relaxed and stable, and therefore resilient to external stressors (trainingbetweentheears.com).
With a background in TBTE methods, obedience, hunt test training, puppy raising, and behavioral modification, we can help you and your pup have the life you've always dreamed of. Whether you're looking for off-leash reliance, help with separation anxiety, or the dog that goes everywhere with ease, we've got you covered. Contact us today to improve your relationship with your dog! References available upon request.
Piper & Harper
We just got our two dogs back from Maria and it’s like having two completely different dogs. They were with her for three weeks to learn how to mind their manners both on and off leash and Maria exceeded ALL expectations I had for them. I know they can be stubborn and didn’t expect to be working with them off leash when I picked them up but that’s what we were able to do!
Maria kept in contact the whole time, sent pictures and videos of their progress, and even gave me recommendations for products to help me keep up with their training when they came home.
I cannot say enough amazing things about her. I will recommend her to anyone who is looking for a trainer!! THANK YOU AGAIN!
Brade
I want to thank Maria Carabaña at Lost Woods Canines for her excellent guidance and care of my young lab. He has stayed with her on several occasions and besides loving the environment and her, it is obvious that he gains invaluable training opportunities. She is able to see what makes him tick and share those insights with me in a way that is fun and understandable. This is so helpful as I work to make him a solid citizen.
Training Testimonials
Pippa
Maria has a natural ability to communicate with dogs that is both harmonious and beautiful. You can see that dogs and training is her passion. She genuinely wants to just help the dog and the owner understand each other so they can grow and build a better bond. Maria also has experience with working gun dogs and is the only trainer I trusted to start my Labrador on bird retrieval. I also have a young Beauceron puppy and they're a breed who can be very handler sensitive. This isn't a problem for us when working with Maria because she can read the dogs body language so well she knows when to push and when to wait. If you're looking for a trainer who will treat both you and your dog with compassion but also provide invaluable knowledge to further your relationship with your dog then I highly suggest Maria at Lost Woods Canine.
Tucker
Maria was awesome to work with. She is a very patient and kind trainer that I felt confident and trusted with my baby. She uses a gentle approach and provided resources for me to continue working with Tucker. Thanks Lost Woods Canines.
Fenris
Lost Woods Canines and owner Maria Carabaña, I cannot say enough good things and praise the professionalism enough! We are participating in a board and train for one month. Our puppers is an eleven month old Cane Corso who had a few problems, one being an OCD fixation on water. In addition due to poor breeder choices outside of our control, he was taken away from mom and littermates at 3 weeks old. We have had our precious boy since he was 5-6 weeks as we found him for sale on Craigslist. Maria was very positive about working with our breed and very knowledgeable. Other places did not want to work with our pup because of his breed. We dropped him off on Friday and it has been very difficult on me as this is my “best’est” baby boy and my home feels so empty. Maria has been sending me lost a of videos and pictures giving me updates and progress reports. If her videos were on YouTube she would have a thousand views all from me. Our pup will drink water until there is no water no matter the amount, within two days of being with Maria, Fenris had left water in his dish AND even shared his water with some of his friends! With the fear of rambling on and getting even more long winded I will end my initial review/accolade here! Thank you so much Maria for taking care of not only Fenris but holding this momma’s hand through the separation.
Nox
Our Nox is off at puppy camp learning to be the bestest girl she can be. It took me awhile to find a trainer that I truly felt comfortable with. This wasn’t a venture I take lightly, our dogs have never spent the night away from home in anyone else’s care. Not only did I want a balanced trainer knowledgeable with an insane fleld lab drive, I didn’t want our girl staying in a sterile environment. Thanks to the lab community I found Lost Woods Canines and the wonderful Maria. Her references were impeccable, we had a mutual friend I confided in and Nox is living in her home with the lab gang! She evaluated Nox upon arrival, mini training session and Nox took very well to her. She has been in training for a week tomorrow and is responding very well. Mike and I are missing our destructo Nox in a bad way... but we will all benefit and I am excited to see her improvements
Willow
Maria is amazing with dogs and their human companions.
From the first conversation we had about our Willow, I instantly knew she not only understood her but would be able to help our sweet girl.
We adopted Willow from the local humane society in May of 23, from the beginning she was anxious, reactive to people, noises, movements, even my teenaged son. It became extremely stressful very quickly. I had tried other trainers, tried everything I knew to try, to no avail.
As someone who has PTSD and anxiety, I could see in Willow, a lot of the same things that I often feel. There was just no one that would hear me, I knew she needed something different than the usual obedience work.
Maria has already worked miracles with her, in a short time, Willow has learned to feel better about the world, feel safer and more relaxed. She is no longer growling and lunging at people when we walk. She doesn’t react visibly to loud noises or movements.
She is able to sleep through a neighbor pulling into our complex, the postal truck stopping out front, etc. She engages my son by taking him her stuffies and toys, asks for pets from him.
I know we still have many things left to help her with, I have much to learn still to be able to keep helping her at home. But to see her go from being scared of everything, to where she is now is incredible.
I’ve had the honor of watching Maria with not only her beautiful pack, but with other pups and our Willow. She truly understands each dog’s needs and feelings. She is able to communicate with them in a way that brings me to tears. Her compassion and love for animals shines through in everything she does for them. She also understands that as their owners/companions we need grace and compassion as well and she gives that freely.
I was scared to reach out to another trainer after past experiences, because not only did they not help Willow but they left me full of doubt about my own abilities to help her.
While working with Maria I have become more relaxed and at ease while walking Willow and feel more hopeful than ever about Willow’s emotional rehabilitation.
I went from feeling broken over not being able to help her, to knowing she would be ok.
There’s no way for me to describe how amazing that is.
I can never thank Maria enough for helping Willow to heal and become a happy, emotionally healthy pup!
Dagger
On recommendation from another great trainer, I was referred to Maria. "If anyone can help him, Maria can, " I was told. I took a chance. From the very beginning, in the consultation, Maria listened to all of my concerns and talked me through every step of the process, what to expect, what training methods she uses, and how she would implement her training to fit his needs.
We traveled 6 hours to drop Dagger off, from the moment I met Maria in person, she was naming the behaviors and working with him to see first hand what I was experiencing with him. She validated all of my experiences and concerns and helped him settle in before we returned home. She trains out of her home and the dogs get to live and coexist with her own dogs. This was very important to me as I was very worried about his transition. He stayed with her for roughly a month and a half, and EVERY SINGLE DAY Maria sent me a detailed comprehensive update regarding what they were working on, how we would implement it, and overall how he was doing. This eased my anxieties so much and helped me prepare for him to come home. We had numerous phone conferences on how he was doing through out his stay and keeping up to date on his progress. She really set amazing ground work for us to be able to easily pick up the torch when he came home. Upon pickup Maria walked us through every step of what we would need to do to help him transition home and continue with his training. She showed us everything, had us try it hands on, and gave us ample literature on what to do going forward. It was a very structured transition. My partner and I were very nervous to get Dagger home and nervous overall, we had previously structured our whole life around trying to keep Dagger feeling calm, safe, and happy. Seeing how he was before, it was almost hard to imagine that there was anything other than that possible. On pickup it was very apparent that our sweet pup had bloomed with Maria's training. Where once stood a young pup who would cower, jerk, and panic; stood a confident dog who had the tools to handle stressful situations. He formerly cried nonstop when crated, and now he doesn't make a peep, he's calm and has managed to be unbothered by me working 9 hour days. Where formerly he would be scared of any novel experience or new item such as a bicycle, he know investigates it with a wagging tail and loose body language. I have cried probably 5 times since Dag has been home over this change, he's so much happier, more confident, and you can visibly tell that he feels more safe. Maria truly changed our lives for the better, we all felt helpless with Dagger prior to her training.