Dan Perata Dog Training and Boarding

Providing the right nurture for your dog's nature.
It's not the biscuit in the hand, it's the hand that holds the biscuit.

415.373.0889

At Dan Perata Training our mission is to support you in having a life-long, well-adjusted, good natured canine companion at ease anywhere.

The Dan Perata method of training is founded upon positive reinforcement and deploys the simplest and most effective tools for training dogs: love and praise. We want a dog that listens to you for two reasons: 1. You’ve asked it to, and 2. Your dog respects and trusts you enough to be its decision maker.

It's not the biscuit in the hand, it’s the hand that holds the biscuit.

We work towards the goal of a balanced, calm and confident companion in all situations. We do this by alleviating your dog of the burden of making decisions. Dogs and kids are notoriously bad decision makers, and they count on us to this for them! Both to keep them safe and to keep you sane. At DPT, we teach you how!

Why is it important for your dog to be confident?

A confident dog can be left home alone without worry; a dog lacking in confidence can exhibit separation anxiety and end up eating the belongings in your home. We’re not being dramatic when we say that we helped a dog that literally ate through walls. That gives the old phrase “eating us out of house and home” a new meaning.

A confident dog can be introduced to new situations (other dogs, people and stimuli) and will respond appropriately. A dog that lacks confidence is often fearful, can potentially bite and will display other aggressive behaviors. It is not an option to have an aggressive dog in a city environment.

A confident dog is a fully integrated member of your family. A dog that lacks confidence is a dog you’re constantly apologizing for (which really gets tired fast). You don’t want to be the owner whose dog has just knocked over a toddler.

After 35 years of honing his training methods, Dan describes his training philosophy as energy management. This means teaching you to guide your dog by using your confidence and leadership rather than aggression or any other reward than your praise and affection. Dogs are animals that either lead or follow and they’re counting on you to be a good leader. One of DPT’s favorite maxims is, “If you treat your dog like a human, it will treat you like a dog. If you treat your dog like a dog, it will treat you like a human.” It is crucial to respect your dog’s nature by nurturing it in the right way.

“If you treat your dog like a human, it will treat you like a dog. If you treat it like a dog, it will treat you like a human.”

Dan teaches you and anyone in your family group how to communicate consistently and effectively with your dog through energy (body language and positioning), using verbal, non-verbal and non-punitive commands to maintain control of your dog’s behavior. This method, practiced over the long term, creates mutual trust and respect.

5 TRUTHS OF TRAINING AT DPT

Treats do not equal love (they really don’t).

Training via punishment/pain will never create a trusting relationship with your dog. Just like us, pain or fear gives a temporary reaction and behavior modification (it’s lazy training). It’s not a loving solution.

Your dog does not understand human language.

Whatever state of mind your dog is in, when you talk to it or touch it, you’re reinforcing that state of mind. Dogs don’t act, they react--and often, they’re reacting to you.

A confident, balanced dog is a happy dog. Happy dogs create happy owners.

Compassion
Connecting people and dogs through kindness, understanding and care.

Support
Going above and beyond for our clients by fostering the growth of trusting and nurturing relationships.

Patience
Taking the time to listen, consider and explore all the possibilities for building success in a calm, kind and consistent manner.

Trust
Teaching with honesty and transparency, allowing canines and their owners to succeed.

Fun
We want you to enjoy this! Dogs are a tremendous source of love, fun and joy. The hard work that you put in now will pay off for the whole of your dog’s life.

From how we interact with our clients to the people and organizations we work with, DPT is committed to making a difference for our clients and community each and every day. It is a team effort, one that requires patience and trust throughout the training process. Whether it’s our clients and their dogs or our staff and organizational partners, each part of our team does its jobs so you will be thrilled with the results!

Dan Perata

Co-founder, principal dog trainer
(runs the dogs)

Dan Perata is a San Francisco original; someone who has always bucked the traditional conventional wisdom. A third-generation native of the city, Dan has always had a natural rapport with all animals, dogs in particular. He’s been working with them since he was a teen! He’s been honing and perfecting his methods ever since, sometimes in the most fascinating of places.

Dan began working with and observing dogs as a boy around his grandfather’s hunting dogs. He had no interest in training the dogs using shock collars and food bribes. He decided to use love, praise and compassion as the reward and found it to be a more effective alternative. The wisdom of that philosophy was confirmed when Dan was a clown for Ringling Brothers Circus – True story! He observed and became close with the legendary animal Trainer Gunther Gebel. Gebel trained lions, leopards, elephants and a myriad of animals in extremely dangerous environments, armed with nothing but his love of the animals, knowledge and confidence. Gebel based his training style on mutual respect for the animals. He completely revolutionized animal training across the globe. Brute force and fear-based training was replaced by learned commands and mutual respect. Gunther’s influence and the combination of personal experience developed the philosophy that Dan embodies and is part of the guiding principal at DPT.

Dan is known for his outspokenness, humor and straight-shooting manner--a manner that the dogs love (but you are not required to), because he radiates the energy of consistency and resoluteness that dogs naturally respond to. He’s also an avid outdoorsman whose love of animals knows no bounds. When you work with Dan, you’re working with an original thinker with the courage to break with worn out training paradigms to create a style of dog training that is infinitely more compassionate, forward thinking and effective. (And fun!)

Natasha Koral

Co-founder, CEO
(runs the biz)

From the day she co-conceived and co-founded DPT, Natasha Koral knew she wanted to create an environment that would embody her love of nurturing people and what they most care about, creating an environment of hospitality and support that is one of the hallmarks of DPT.

“I’ve always believed that there can be heart and compassion in day-to-day business matters,” Natasha declares, and with close to 3 decades of experience in the entertainment industry from event production, artist relations/management to ticketing and deal making taught her the value of making each individual that walks in the door feel special. She explains further, “My favorite mentors in the music business could complete the most challenging deals where everyone felt like they won and everyone ended up as friends. Relationships matter and when we started DPT I wanted to create a business around the old-fashioned belief that kindness is more important than the dollar.”

The graciousness that Natasha employs in all her interactions is what makes DPT feel like a family (occasionally a sitcom family, but family nonetheless). Whether it’s the hospitality that greets someone walking in the door the first time, creating affordable training programs for teachers, students, first responders and civil servants, or in working with her team, it’s Natasha’s innate intuitive sensitivity towards the needs of others that is the energy that guides DPT. A resident of the Bay Area for over thirty years, in DPT, Natasha has created an entity that reflects the diversity of the city it serves. “I sometimes imagine what it’d be like if we had a cocktail party with all of our clients--it would be fascinating,” she muses. ”Our clients come from all walks of life--from captains of industry to veterans; celebrities to our most underserved communities, they all become valued members of the DPT family.

Making DPT accessible to everyone speaks to Natasha’s innate generosity of spirit. You will often hear her warm and deeply resonant laugh fill whatever room she’s in, and whatever your needs may be as a client, Natasha is there to guide you and your dog successfully through your journey at DPT and beyond.

Stephanie Tate

HR Leader & Business Management

Whether it’s for DPT’s clients or team, Stephanie Tate is about providing resources to people in need and going above and beyond to ensure that their needs are met.

Stephanie has more than twenty five years of human resources and staffing experience, from start-ups to large organizations and Fortune 500 companies such as Yahoo and Intuit. She is also an accomplished and well respected Dharma and Yoga Teacher. She has been a dedicated advocate of for at-risk youth. This is all in addition to her being the owner and producer of Mom’s Metta Balm, a kick ass, all-natural skin care line that the entire staff swears by. Made by someone’s mom, just not yours!

Stephanie is the proud owner of Rosie, a Bull Terrier. Natasha says of Stephanie, “She works tirelessly to clean up all of our wounds and bruises, both internal and external, and we love her for it.”

Sydney Perata

Facility Manager/Trainer

You can tell by her last name that she’s been here for a while. Next to Dan and Natasha she’s worked at the family biz the longest, going on 13 years. She started off cleaning kennels and feeding puppies as a kid and after all these years she’s now the Facility Manager. Aside from managing the downstairs, she helps with creating new operation procedures and if you are lucky, you will see her either teaching or working with her Border Collie, Fox . After a decade she was able to run off to college for a few years, but because of the pandemic she’s back, and we are thrilled to have her! She does plan to complete a master’s degree in public health and open an NGO someday, working to make the world a better place for women and girls. Of course where Syd goes, Fox goes too, and hopefully at that point Fox will be fully off leash!

JV Del Rosario

Trainer

A trainer who has been with DPT for three years, JV’s favorite part of the job is hearing the clients verbalizing about their dogs’ progress. ”Just hearing that is awesome,” he says. An army brat who besides living in various states also has lived in Mexico and Japan, JV’s spare time is spent skateboarding, reading comic books and playing video games. Of the three dogs he’s had during his lifetime, his favorite is a corgi named Max, who he had as a boy. You can experience JV training his newest addition, Cornelius Rush here at Camp.

Guess

(2001 - 2019)

Guess was and remains the muse and training standard at DPT. She was a Border Collie Lab, knew 100’s of commands in her prime and was better behaved than most small children. Guess powerfully impacted everyone that knew her; her beauty, self-assuredness and demeanor was special indeed. Guess was a superbly trained, welcomed everywhere, beloved dog that inspired the creation of DPT and is what we strive for with every dog that comes to see us. Her Spirit will be with us always.

Do you love animals and hope to get your foot in the door and begin a career working with furry creatures? Dan Perata Training might be the place for you to learn, grow and spread your wings!

We are a family-run facility that takes pride in being an inclusive, warm environment that supports its employees and treats them like family while expecting them to work hard, learn a lot and be an active team member. We provide a great space to learn from the best dog trainers in the Bay Area and have fun while doing it! We have been successfully working with dogs for 35 years.

Our multilevel, 12,000 square-foot facility in the Bayview (southeast San Francisco, between Bernal Heights and the Bay) is always looking for responsible, reliable, trustworthy people who work hard, give their all, and are eager to learn from the best and to be the best. We are an equal opportunity employer and we mean it: we don’t care what age you are, what you look like, where you’re from or who you love. The only thing that’s mandatory is a sense of humor, a willingness to learn our methods, and to be dedicated to our 2-legged and 4-legged clients. Some positions do require the ability to lift 50lbs.

To apply, please send us your resume by clicking here.

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We can't wait to hear from you. We work with clients to make sure our services are affordable so please feel free to message or call us and see how we can help on your journey to having a confident dog that is fully integrated with your family.

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