Comprehensive Pet Therapy Announces Global Research on Cultural Factors Affecting Canine Social Behavior

Comprehensive Pet Therapy (CPT) announces the evolution of its dog training philosophy, the result of years of international research by owner and Head Trainer Mark Spivak. Inspired by global canine social behavior studies, CPT is enhancing its training and behavior modification programs in Atlanta, GA, and Eugene, OR. The research focuses on how social environments influence canine emotional development, improving outcomes for obedience, socialization, and complex behavioral challenges.
Sandy Springs, GA - January 19, 2026 - Comprehensive Pet Therapy (CPT) is excited to announce the continued evolution of its dog training philosophy following extensive international travel in conjunction with observational and hands-on research into canine social behavior. The owner and Head Trainer of Comprehensive Pet Therapy, Mark Spivak, has spent years studying how dogs naturally interact in both leashed and unleashed environments.

Spivak's research was inspired by principles outlined in Ted Kerasote's book Merle's Door , a well-known work that explores freedom, trust, and communication between dogs and humans and dogs amongst fellow dogs. To better explore applications of canine social concepts in real-world settings, Spivak conducted observational and experiential research across diverse cultures and environments.

These travels included in-depth study trips to Canada, Costa Rica, Panama, St. Martin, Curacao, Ecuador, Argentina, Portugal, Spain, Germany, and multiple domestic locations within the United States. Each destination provided insight into how canine behavior adapts across social structures, landscapes, training norms, handling practices, lifestyles, and environments. The goal is to better understand the impact each preceding factor has on shaping the social and emotional development and resultant behavior of domestic dogs. Ultimately, Spivak plans to practically employ his research findings when innovating, adapting, and improving CPT's highly respected pet training and behavior modification programs in Atlanta, GA, and Eugene, OR.

Services Provided by Comprehensive Pet Therapy

Comprehensive Pet Therapy offers customized dog training services designed to improve communication, confidence, obedience, household manners, and social behavior. Programs include group class, private instruction, in-home private instruction, virtual private instruction, and board training. The services cover puppy training, basic on-leash through advanced off-leash obedience, housebreaking, household manners, socialization, and complex behavior modification. CPT also offers therapy, agility, and competition obedience training and a nationally recognized service dog program. Spivak believes his research will aid all the listed programs, whereby clients receive superior outcomes throughout their dog's lifetime.

Nevertheless, Spivak expects his research to have the greatest impact within CPT's behavior modification programs. Behavior modification improves outcomes for dogs exhibiting abnormal psychology, such as refractory housebreaking, generalized anxiety, state anxiety, out-of-context dog-human, dog-dog, or dog-cat aggression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Employing customized private and/or in-home private instruction, CPT improves each dog's emotional state and emotional regulation, which often underlie undesirable anxious, self-destructive, asocial, or antisocial behaviors. As a trusted dog training company in Sandy Springs, [https://cpt-training.com/dog-training-in-sandy-springs-ga/] GA, Comprehensive Pet Therapy addresses household manners, obedience, leash walking, on-leash reactivity, and off-leash aggression using methods supported by Spivak's global canine interaction studies.

According to Spivak, "The most salient aspect of Kerasote's theories is the effect frequent leashing has on the temperamental and behavioral development of domestic dogs. Especially in urban settings, the only interaction dogs may have with other dogs is when restrained by a leash. Resultantly, without unfettered social exposure, dogs fail to acquire normal social communication protocols. In addition to their deficiency in applying appropriate receptive and expressive communication, leashed urban dogs often exhibit abnormal anxiety, excitability, and frustration upon exposure to unfamiliar dogs and have a high probability of developing leash reactivity as a coping behavior. The leash poses a confound. Laws require leashing for safety. Yet, frequent leashing makes many dogs less safe. In contrast, from my research observations, especially in Caribbean and Latin American countries, regardless of whether the setting is urban or rural, dogs allowed to roam freely develop calm, amiable social skills amongst fellow dogs and amongst cats that share the environment. This information is important for understanding the canine psyche that underlies abnormal behaviors. Most relevantly, this information is essential when developing and implementing behavior modification programs that successfully transform reactive client dogs into happy, compatible community citizens."

* To allay problems early in a dog's maturation, CPT offers in-home and group puppy development programs. These programs focus on early social skills, confidence building, and foundational obedience. Group puppy training classes in Atlanta [https://cpt-training.com/puppy-class/], Sandy Springs, and surrounding areas help young dogs learn obedience while appropriately interacting with people and other dogs. CPT wishes to establish healthy habits from the get-go, during early critical developmental stages.

* Behavior modification services support dogs struggling with fear, anxiety, frustration, aggression, or other social or mental health challenges. Behavioral sessions emphasize owner interpretation of canine communication and body language, dogs learning appropriate nonaggressive communication, and assisting maladaptive dogs in adapting calmly to real-world situations through relaxation and structured guidance.

* Socialization and real-world training programs introduce dogs to controlled environments that reflect everyday life. Drawing from Spivak's international observations, sessions teach dogs how to appropriately navigate leashed and unleashed interactions safely and responsibly.

About the Company

Comprehensive Pet Therapy [https://cpt-training.com/] is a professional dog training company in Sandy Springs, Georgia. The company focuses on eclectic, positive, relationship-based training methods rooted in real-world observation, clear communication, and practical results for dogs and their owners.

Media Contact
Company Name: Comprehensive Pet Therapy
Contact Person: Mark Spivak
Email:Send Email [https://www.abnewswire.com/email_contact_us.php?pr=comprehensive-pet-therapy-announces-global-research-on-cultural-factors-affecting-canine-social-behavior]
Phone: (404) 236-2150
Address:6600 Roswell Road, Suite K-2
City: Sandy Springs
State: Georgia
Country: United States
Website: https://cpt-training.com/

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