When Your Dog Thinks It Runs Delco: Sit Means Sit

When Your Dog Thinks It Runs Delco: Sit Means Sit

Your dog isn’t “being stubborn” so much as doing what has worked before. Good Neighbor Podcast host Bob Blaisse sits down with Zephyr Dipple, owner of Sit Means Sit Philly, to talk about what actually changes behavior when you need more than cute tricks. From the Delco area out through Montgomery, Chester and Bucks counties, families come to Sit Means Sit in King of Prussia for one reason: they want a dog that can live calmly in the real world.

We unpack the two big groups Zephyr sees every day: new puppy owners who want to start strong with obedience training, and people who feel stuck with an adult dog dealing with leash pulling, anxiety, fear, reactivity or aggression. Zephyr explains why scrolling dog training tips online can help you understand the “blueprints,” but why experienced trainers often “build the pool” faster with better timing, clearer structure and fewer mixed signals. That's where Sit Means Sit Philly comes in. We also get honest about the awkward truth that dogs may listen to a trainer before they listen to their owner, then we show how that gap closes when the household becomes consistent.

You’ll hear how their programs work in practice, including daycare training, board and train and graduate group classes that keep skills sharp around distractions. Everything starts with a free evaluation so the plan matches your dog, your home and your goals. If you’re searching for dog training in the greater Philadelphia area, this conversation will help you choose training that leads to a safer, calmer relationship. 

Sit Means Sit Philly
Email: philadelphia@sitmeanssit.com
530 South Henderson Road, King of Prussia, PA
215-593-0539

--- About The Show--- Good Neighbor Podcast is a spotlight on local businesses in and around Delaware County, PA (“Delco” ) and Beyond...  The executive producer and host, Bob Blaisse, is a community sponsorship advocate, business branding specialist, and publisher of several hometown magazines, including: Newtown Square Friends & Neighbors, Marple Friends & Neighbors and Newtown Edgmont Friends & Neighbors, mailed monthly to more than 12,000 homes in Western Delaware County, PA, and also available for reading online.
 

Transcript

Welcome And The Delco Vibe

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, Delco. This is Michael Barcan. Welcoming you to the Good Neighbor Podcast, where fans of local businesses and their neighbors come together. It's my pleasure once again to introduce my friend and neighbor, our host, Bob Blasey.

Introducing Sit Means Sit Philly

SPEAKER_02 0:19

Thank you, Michael Barcan, for that very kind introduction. And everybody, welcome again to the Good Neighbor Podcast. My name is Bob Blasey, and we're coming to you from Pennsylvania, the Good Neighbor Podcast from Delaware County, Pennsylvania, the southernmost, southeasternmost county of Pennsylvania's 67 counties. We're right above the state of New Delaware and just west of the state of New Jersey. If you're familiar with Delaware County, Pennsylvania, it's really uh commonly known as Delco, but we call it Delco and Beyond because there's a real vibe that the people of Delco have in this community. We have a lot of uh TV shows now being filmed here, and there's just kind of a funny vibe that goes on about the way these people who are outside the city of Philadelphia think that they're the center of the universe. So we bring to the world from the center of the universe good neighbor businesses that we have in our community and we want to talk about, but really our community and beyond. And this time we're stretching a little bit further out from Delaware County, but really one that's made an impactful um uh emphasis on our pets. It's a training facility known as Sit Means Sit. And uh the owner of Sit Means Sit is here with us today. Um, let's bring to the stage Zephyr Dipple. Zephyr, welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Hey Bob, thanks. Thanks for having me on today. Happy to uh chat with you.

SPEAKER_02 1:40

Well, Zephyr, I have to say that this is a rare case where you and I actually met at a trade show, and I had been familiar with your brand. I think a lot of people in Delaware County, Montgomery County, Chester County, even Bucks County are because it's a cool name. Sit means sit. I mean, the point really gets across. We can imagine what you do right away. It's dog training, but done with some really specialized tool sets and staff, and it was just so great to meet you at that trade show. And and your your own dog was there and who was really well trained in being able to meet a lot of strangers. It was a fun opportunity to get a chance to talk. I wanted to see you come onto the Good Neighbor Podcast because really, listen, our dogs are our neighbors in our community, and not all dogs are even as well behaved as we would like. Some dogs we want to train to do tricks or we want to be able to just train to be alone by themselves more, and there's a lot to that. So we're going to cover some of that here on the Good Neighbor Podcast. First thing I'd like to ask you is tell us a little bit about sit means sit and how long it's been in business and how successful you are and got that brand so wonderfully known in our community.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Yeah, so sit means sit has been in the area for eight years. Um we were centered in Contrahawkin originally and uh quickly outgrew that facility. So then we moved to a much larger facility in King of Prussia. So even though we're not in Delco, we are uh just above it. So we serve uh you know a lot of clients from Delaware County, Montgomery County, Chester County, Bucks County, like you were saying. Um, and ever since then, we've just been seeing as many dogs and creating obedient pups and dogs of all ages ever since.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

Well, let's unpack that a little bit deeper and say, is it is it does it start primarily with puppies that just need training because all young dogs do? Or is it more like I've I've gotten as far as I could get and I got a problem with this particular dog? I it's probably both, but tell us, what do you see more of when people are your clients?

SPEAKER_01 3:42

So sometimes people are preemptively deciding that they want to get training for their puppy, say they're gonna they're about to get a puppy or they just got a puppy and realize, oh, this is a little more work than I uh you know bargain for. Um other times they have dogs that are a couple years old and um you know they're they're having uh other problems, you know, maybe aggressive, they're pulling on the leash, they're just sick of that, or they develop some kind of anxiety and fear, you know, they might be reactive. So um, you know, we get a mix of that. Uh, I would say it's more of the younger side of dogs that we see, but uh ultimately we can train any dog at any age, any problem, any breed. Doesn't matter. It's just really how much do you want to invest in a dog that's maybe 13 years old versus a dog that's a puppy or one or two years old?

Training Dogs By Training People

SPEAKER_02 4:36

Um, so that's the ultimate well uh well then if if if someone is um uh kind of holding back from getting professional dog training, I I think that it's because they think I can still do this, I can, I I can make this happen. How hard can it be? I mean, a lot of people have dogs and they have better dogs than mine. Why won't this dog behave? Is there any of this that really is is more so around they'll listen to somebody different than their owner more? Or is it really come down to the the tricks of the trade, the training uh professional skills and knowing what really dogs are looking for and what they'll react to? And and when when when someone like you comes in, being able to bring those uh training techniques to an animal, do they adapt quickly, or is it still like you've got a you've got a problem dog? That dog is just not going to get better.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Usually it's a combination of both. Either uh the dog, uh, you know, we we're gonna give you basically the blueprints to dog training. Um, and you pretty much can get that online. You can go on YouTube, you can go on social media, you can find other dog trainers that are gonna give you tips and tricks, you can read articles, and that's kind of just we equate it to like the blueprints of uh, you know, building a pool. You want to put a pool in your backyard versus what we're doing is we're building the pool for you. So, you know, we're we have trainers with years of experience in this, and so ultimately they're going to get the job done a lot more efficiently and then still give you the tools uh so that you can enjoy your dog and continue to train at home so that you can keep the consistency um with the the structure that we provide. Uh ultimately, yes, we are going to get listened to a little more better than your uh the the dog's owner because the dog has gotten away with a lot more at home than uh they probably want them to. For instance, you know, they're they don't have as much structure. So maybe they're they're jumping up and you know it's cute. So that the owner lets it go versus us where we're we're trying to change these behaviors or replace them with good behaviors. So, you know, we're not gonna let that kind of stuff slide. So maybe the dog doesn't like us as much because we don't let them get away with it, but ultimately we are going to uh make those changes.

SPEAKER_02 7:03

When when you make those changes, you've you've made them not just to the dogs, but you've really kind of made some changes to the owners as well. I mean, you could probably see you want to be kind, but you know, that's you probably recognize right away, well, that's not the way to get the dog to sit, or that's not the way to get the dog to come. Um, it's not the way to reward the dog or even to punish the dog. So you're a bit of a train the trainer facility as well, helping us as owners learn how to kind of continually train our dog, it sounds wonderful. Does it go on in our home or does it go on at your facility?

SPEAKER_01 7:40

I would say 99.9% of the time it's happening here at the facility. We do daycare training and board and train. Uh, we also do group classes. So if you've gone through an initial formal training period and then you graduate, then you can uh get cleared for group classes where you can continue all the uh skills and training that that the you as the owner learned in our training program.

Free Evaluation And Custom Training Plan

SPEAKER_02 8:05

Um, so it sounds like you can you you know it sounds like a lot of offerings. Um it's no surprise to me that sit means sit is the top dog training uh facility in in Philadelphia area, and you're located in King of Prussia in the suburbs, so it's an easy stop to find sit means sit uh through any of the local highways. We're we're talking to the owner of Sitmeans Sit Philly. That's the uh brand that carries here in our Philadelphia area as the top dog training facility. Zephyr Dipple is the owner, and he's here with us on the Good Neighbor podcast. Zephyr, if if people would like to learn more information, uh I'm imagining that they can uh you know come to the website, sitmeansitfilly.com, and and even uh get some facts, uh some maybe some pricing. Uh is there a way to kind of uh get contacted or if can they call the facility and speak to someone on your staff?

SPEAKER_01 8:59

Yeah, absolutely. So uh everything we do starts with a free evaluation. So uh ultimately you'd want to set up an evaluation on a good uh date and time that works for you. Um, you know, they can call at 215-593-0539, or they can, like you said, go to the website, submit a form, and Alexis will reach out to them uh so that they can set up time to get that free consultation and see what we can do for their dog and set up a plan that's custom tailored to what you want to work on with the dog, and then start training.

SPEAKER_02 9:32

Sit means sit, that's what the results will be. What a great name for a dog training uh uh company, but really the top dog training uh facility in the Philadelphia area, sit means sit dog training. And as I mentioned, if and and as Zephyr mentioned, uh the phone number is 215-593-0539. If you'd like to talk to Alexa or Zephyr even to learn about um getting your dog trained, and and training really is not sometimes like what we think for tricks and all that stuff, it's behavior modification training. If your dog is aggressive or uh high distraction, distracted, and you can't won't come when you tell them or too overly reactive, and you'd like to be able to walk with your dog off the leash or just have them socialize because they're gonna be around children and all that kind of stuff. I found it was really cool that you know we come to you and we watch the dog get trained, and we get trained, and you know, even bored uh for a while to come home after a nice little um uh vacation for the dog and the owner, and whole new relationship begins thanks to sit means sit. Zephyr, you are really providing uh a great service to pet owners in the Philadelphia area. And if you're someone that lives in this area, um if you've got a dog and you need some training, certainly sitmeanssitphilly.com is your destination location. But tell your friends because we all know dogs that really do need training. And uh a little gentle word about there being a solution, a company, uh a dog trainer. Zephyr Dipple can come to the rescue here for you and the love that you have with your dog. Zephyr, thank you for being a good neighbor business in our community and really thank you so much for being a guest here today on the Good Neighbor Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Thanks a lot, Bob, and thanks for letting Sit Me and Sit Dog Training be a part of the community.

Join The Good Neighbor Team

SPEAKER_00 11:24

Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast, hosted by Bob Lacey. This is Michael Barkan, inviting everyone to get on the Good Neighbor team, nominate your favorite local business to be featured on an upcoming episode by going to gnpdelco.com or by following Bob at 610 557 3745.