Comprehensive Pet Therapy

04/11/2026

Meet Orpheus! CPT selected Orpheus as the #1 pick from amongst a litter of 8 well-bred puppies. Starting from 8 weeks of age, Orpheus began training as an autism and psychiatric service dog. During the initial stage of his training, Orpheus lives with CPT Trainer Claire Simms.

Orpheus’s future home contains 6 cats. Therefore, when designing his puppy board train program, CPT felt it was important to acquaint Orpheus with felines. CPT selected Claire as Orpheus’s trainer due to her joy working with puppies and because Claire owns 2 cats.

Claire works daily on Orpheus’s housebreaking, household manners, basic obedience, and socialization. CPT’s puppy socialization program productively exposes Orpheus to people, dogs, cats, and multiple indoor and outdoor environments. Before Orpheus was even 10 weeks old, Claire took Orpheus to CVS, UPS, and Marshalls. While there, Orpheus acclimated to shopping carts, new sounds, new floor surfaces, and unique smells. His confident performance conspicuously confirms the accuracy of CPT’s litter evaluation.

During his board train, Claire makes every moment a teaching moment. This includes educating Orpheus to chew only appropriate chew toys, signal when he needs to go to the bathroom, come when called, sit when asked, and interact appropriately with cats.

The puppy stage of the CPT Service Dog Program creates a solid foundation that CPT builds upon during future training. Most importantly, CPT desires well-mannered, confident, happy puppies who enjoy training, interacting, and cooperating. Although Orpheus is only in the beginning stages of his service dog career, he has progressed quickly.

03/01/2026

Saint is a new Labrador Retriever enrollee in CPT's Canine Companions for Independence Puppy Raiser Class. In addition to operating its own nationally recognized service dog program, for the past 20+ years CPT has administered puppy raiser training for the Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) Atlanta Chapter. CCI is the nation's largest nonprofit service dog entity.

We look forward to working with Saint as he matures from the Puppy Raiser Class into adult service dog training.

02/06/2026

Meet Clover, a service dog-in-training.

Clover was diligently selected by CPT Head Trainer Mark Spivak, using CPT's scientifically supported litter evaluation process. CPT's proprietary litter evaluation protocol has demonstrated a very high rate of longitudinal accuracy. The evaluation protocol assesses temperament, aptitude, structure, health, affiliation, social confidence, environmental confidence, proprioceptive confidence, acceptance of tactile contact, and several other variables pertinent to stellar service dog performance.

Once Clover reached 8 weeks of age, whereby he was old enough for removal from his litter, he began a board train at the home of CPT Trainer Claire Sims. During Clover's 1st Stage Board Train, Claire focused on educating Clover on housebreaking, household manners, interspecies socialization (human, cat), intraspecies socialization, environmental socialization, proprioceptive confidence and competence, imprint obedience, and basic obedience. Clover's training included time inside and outside Claire's residence and road trips to grocery stores, coffee shops, and other relevant public access venues.

Yet, from Clover's perspective, the highlight of his board train was socializing and playing with Claire's cats.

By living with a CPT Trainer, Clover progressed quickly, whereupon he was prepared for immersion in the owner's home. Furthermore, Clover is prepared to commence his 2nd Stage of training, during which the owner and CPT will expose Clover to more environments and higher levels of obedience. Obedience provides the foundation for proficient service dog work.

When Clover is 14 - 16 months of age, he will commence his 3rd Stage of Training, where CPT will focus on teaching him a customized suite of service dog task behaviors that best improves the owner's quality of life.

After his time with Claire, Clover is already a well-behaved, confident dog and a wonderful companion. Most importantly, he has a solid foundation to become an amazing service animal.

10/10/2025

Meet Mattie! Mattie is a 1-year-old, female Sheepadoodle who prior to her board train exhibited excited barking behavior when viewing a person or dog, poor leash walking skills, and unreliable basic obedience, especially amidst distractions. Her owners wish Mattie to calmly and responsibly accompany them to outdoor venues, including restaurants, when they visit their second home in St. George Island, Florida.

To accomplish their objectives they selected a CPT board train solution.

Mattie started a bit distractible and recalcitrant — but after 2 focused weeks living with professional CPT Trainer Claire Sims, Mattie made incredible progress! Moreover, she enjoys learning and her camaraderie with Claire.

She’s now mastered reliable and responsive obedience, a rapid recall, proper leash manners, and maintaining tranquility and focus, even around distractions. We’re so proud of Mattie's transformation!

Most importantly, Mattie's owners can now experience more enjoyment from Mattie's inclusion in their family. And Mattie now experiences a higher quality of life, because she is calmer, more confident, and her owners can take her everywhere trusting Mattie will be pleasant company.

The video below shows Mattie completing a public down-stay near an outdoor festival that included a live band. The still photos display a public sit-stay in Avalon, a head shot, and Mattie's figurative wings she sprouted during her board train- wings that allow Maggie to fly through a healthier and happier life.

08/08/2025

Students in CPT Trainer Robin Puryear's Advanced Obedience class practicing leashing walking proximal to people and dogs.

06/18/2025

A new article on the CPT website. Enjoy!

Understanding inappropriate chewing and implementing effective solutions is crucial for both canine welfare and household harmony.

03/24/2024

CPT Advanced Obedience students Lily and Ponce at their first Happy Tails assignment. Lily and Ponce, along with their Happy Tails team, visited Kennesaw State University. Canine companionship provides students a productive stress relief during mid-term exams.

03/05/2024

Administrative Assistant (Part-Time)


Comprehensive Pet Therapy, Inc.
6600 Roswell Road
Suite K-2
Sandy Springs, GA 30328

Responsibilities include:
• Responding to incoming phone calls,
• Managing client and payment database,
• Scheduling and maintaining training staff appointments and availability,
• Miscellaneous projects assigned by management, and
• Assisting in keeping the facility clean and presentable.

The ideal person should have excellent verbal and written communication skills; enjoy interacting with people over the phone; have the ability to work independent of immediate supervision; have the ability to work both alongside colleagues and alone; and be willing to obtain familiarity with company services, prices, and policies. Some dog training knowledge would be beneficial. The position is three days per week.

Benefits:

Able to bring dog to work and employee discount.

Interested parties should email a cover letter and resume to [email protected].

12/10/2023

Miro Learning the Competition About Turn

In this session, we focused on building precision on Miro’s competition about turn. Goals were to keep him more proximal to the handler, more attentive, and more reliably in heel position as he navigated the 180° movement.

To begin building the exercise, we break it into component steps. Thus, we abbreviate the turn, while rewarding Miro when he meets goals with the shorter movement. We then add one step at a time until Miro can reliably, confidently, and capably perform the entire 180° turn with perfect precision. In this series, we also challenged Miro with distractions by challenging him to perform in both an indoor and an outdoor environment.

11/16/2023