I’ve heard about your Group Classes, but what other training do you offer?

“Whether as a matter of convenience or as a matter of necessity, there are situations when board and train is the responsible choice.”

Our Group Classes are appropriate for ALMOST every dog in ALMOST every circumstance. Aggression can be dealt with more efficiently and more constructively in the group setting. We emphasize safety as much as we emphasize results. Our curriculum is designed to bring out problems and help your dog deal with them, so whether it’s separation anxiety, walking on a leash, overall anxiety, problems being touched, or controlling themselves around squirrels (or any distraction that applies to your dog), our group classes hit on all fronts.

You’ll have completed two exercises of work with your dog prior to coming to class and you’ll have laid a foundation for learning before you’re confronted with a bunch of stranger dogs. You also get the benefit of detailed write-ups of every exercise and videos that recap the lessons. It’s a heavy curriculum, so plenty of support is offered through those resources, as well as over the phone or, if necessary, in-person private sessions to help you keep up (you get a discount on private sessions while you’re enrolled in group classes).

And then what?
In our experience, if you or your dog are just not “getting it” in the group environment, working one-on-one wouldn’t help much; it would only reduce distractions. And as anyone who owns a dog “who’s good, but just gets so excited!” will tell you, it doesn’t mean much if your dog will do it without distractions. Therefore, we recommend that if you or your dog is struggling in the group environment, let us do the heavy lifting for you! You can come back to groups afterwards, where it’ll be much easier to learn how to handle your then-trained dog!
Private Training Options

Board and Train – or B&T – is a service we offer where your role changes substantially. In these programs, we train the dog for you and then teach you how to handle your trained dog. For dogs in class, a 2-3 week B&T, billed at $500/week can be a great way to get issues put on track quickly.

Individual training is also offered in some cases. These are daytime appointments, Monday through Thursday, 9am to 5pm. They’re $80/hour and can cover a range of material. Cancellation Policy.

When does B&T make sense?
When does board and train make sense?

If you have scheduling conflicts, physical or emotional limitations which prevent you from working the dog through training, if your dog is a fighter or biter or you have inter-home aggression, if your dog is over-excited or overbearing, impossibly shy, an escape artist, dangerously ill-mannered, etc…

These are reasonable reasons for why you can’t train your dog, but they are not reasons you should avoid having your dog trained. Overcoming these behavioral traits is what our curriculum is designed to do and we can and do deliver results in spite of these issues.

If you can’t give the time to training, please realize that the chance of you having enough time to MAINTAIN the training is low and your dog may not be the right fit for your home. Any inquiries that begin with “we don’t have the time…” are likely to be rejected, as that, in itself, is a red flag for the future success of your dog. But if you have a problematic situation, or if there’s any other set of circumstance that may prevent you from training your dog, please don’t give up. Contact me so we can put together a gameplan to best help your dog.

Note: there are those who say Private Training doesn’t work and that to have control over your dog, you need to be the one to train it. This advice usually comes from people who are not professional dog-trainers, or from trainers who lack the ability or experience to succeed in this field of training. Without ability or experience, they say it can’t be done. In truth, it can be done. It has been done. We’re doing it everyday with reliable results.

Think of jockeys and horse trainers: the jockey very clearly has control of that animal, but he did not train it. He might have spent only a few weeks or months learning to handle the animal, where the trainer spent years training it. The same is true of dog training. Only here, it takes 10 weeks to train and only a few weeks to learn to handle.

Other examples: police service dogs, assistance service animals, companion dogs, hunting dogs, personal protection dogs, detector dogs, etc. All of those dogs were trained by professionals and then placed into the care of their owner/handlers.

“The next time you hear or read the opinion that privately trained dogs are not reliable…simply smile and remind yourself that the opinion is most likely coming from someone who has not been successful at getting the job done.”

B&T

With B&T, we train your dog while they live with us. We will keep your dog for 6 weeks (depending on the problems they bring to the table). After we’ve instilled a strong foundation, it’s YOUR job to then bring them through classes. This is not optional, it’s mandatory. If you don’t learn to handle your dog, you’ll never have lasting control. For this reason, the cost of future classes are included in the B&T cost. The reason is simple: I got tired of well-trained dogs going to waste with owners who wouldn’t work them after delivery. With this commitment, my clients are much happier (humans AND dogs) and sets us apart in the quality of human training accomplished in our program versus others.

Cost and Expectations
To bring a dog who hasn’t trained with us before up to par, our 6 week program is $3,000 and includes bringing your dog to complete on leash obedience with a foundation that can easily let you accomplish off leash work in your follow up lessons. Your dog will learn to Heel, Sit Stay, Down Stay, Stand Stay, an on leash Recall (foundation for the off leash work you can accomplish afterwards). Your dog will also learn manners in the home and have their bad habits stifled. Aggression, anxiety, and fearfulness rehabilitation is included, as are steps for most other problem solving, including jumping, nuisance barking, and other unwanted behaviors.

Those follow up lessons are included in the price and will teach you to handle your dog as skillfully as we do.