Meet the Trainer Loretta Rocco
Loretta Rocco(formerly Cleveland), CPDT, founded The Positive Pooch more than 25 years ago. As its owner and trainer, she has built her business around helping dogs and their families through positive, effective, and practical training. She is a certified professional dog trainer and a member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT).
Loretta teaches group classes and provides personalized in-home training. For over 25 years, she has also been trusted by other dog-training facilities throughout the area to teach classes for their clients. Her extensive teaching experience includes puppy, beginner, intermediate, advanced, and reactive-dog classes.
Loretta tailors her training to the individual needs of every dog and family. She helps owners communicate more effectively with their dogs while developing reliable skills, confidence, and good manners.
Committed to continuing education, Loretta stays current with industry standards and science-based training methods. Her completed coursework includes Living & Learning with Animals by Dr. Susan Friedman and The Engaged Dog with Brenda Aloff.
When she is not helping clients and their dogs, Loretta enjoys running in the woods with her two black Labradors, Isaac and Livvy, and training her parrots, Rue, G, and Annie.
Mason’s Obedience Trial
Watch Mason, Loretta’s black Labrador, compete in an obedience trial where Mason gets first place.
Watch Video
2020 High in Trial 199.5 in Open B
Cleveland All Breed Dog Training Club
2021 High in Trial 199.5 in Open B
Wilmington Kennel Club
2021 High in Trial 200 in Open B
Wilmington Kennel Club
Our Training Philosophy
Our training philosophy is based on very simple common sense. Every dog deserves a well-balanced life, which includes daily exercise, a good training program, socialization, and a lot of love! We at The Positive Pooch train with positive reinforcement. We use food reward, toys, and a lot of verbal praise. Dogs also need to learn in their training that there are boundaries.
We teach the owner how to find this balance between praise and correction. We believe that with obedience training you are teaching the dog who the leader is. They learn to respect you in a fun and positive environment
Testimonials