Our training philosophy focuses on the relationship between your dog and family. We strive to teach people to communicate effectively with their dog and create mutual trust and respect.

Every dog is different and requires a tailored approach to their training; whether it's basic obedience or behavioral rehabilitation, we can help. We are not here to create a robot dog; our focus is:

  • Clear communication between dog & handler

  • A better relationship between dog & human using the dog's motivation as the driving force

  • Teaching impulse control to help dogs with over excited, aggressive, or anxious behaviors

  • Setting structure in the dog’s routine to help them learn boundaries and reduce anxiety

  • Building obedience skills

  • Teaching owners the art of proper socialization to help their dog learn to be as comfortable & stable as possible

  • Teaching calmness to help the dog learn how to manage excessive energy and anxiety

Owner and Trainer

Linsey Hamilton

Linsey started her dog training journey in 2017 after purchasing her German Shepherd Dog, Hailey. Linsey wanted to avoid the anxiety and reactivity she was experiencing with her two other dogs, Ellie and Duncan. So she began taking classes and lessons with Hailey. From there a love of dog behavior and training was born.

Linsey began shadowing under a trainer in March of 2018 to gain experience handling different dogs and learning to help with unwanted behaviors and provide training to their owners. She soon progressed to independently teaching classes, private lessons, and working with board-and-train clients quickly and worked for this trainer until July of 2022.

After taking a break to raise her young children, Linsey began working for a training company in the Binghamton area teaching basic training classes.

In October 2024, Linsey opened her business, Fetch and Focus LLC to provide the Greater Binghamton Area with training that follows her personal philosophies that combines the way dogs learn with effective methods.

Our methods are considered LIMA, which stands for Least Intrusive Minimally Aversive. We believe all learning should be done with a heavy focus on positive reinforcement and corrections should be used only when the dog understands what is expected of them in that situation.

We are well educated in the usage of all tools and dedicated to finding the tools that work best for the individual needs of both the dog and the human in front of us. We promise to never force an owner to use a tool on their dog that they are uncomfortable with and instead will educate and provide options to each unique partnership between dog and their human.

We look at the whole dog, not just their behavior and change the way the dog thinks and feels about the situation in question. This helps boost confidence and creates a happy and calm dog. We avoid training methods that suppress behaviors through the use of strict obedience or poorly used corrective tools.