Frequently Asked Questions

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Puppies can start training as early as 8 weeks old. It's important to start early to establish good habits and prevent bad ones from forming.

 We specialize in energy regulation and emotional resilience skills in order to promote relaible obedience, prevent reactivity, and resolve problem behaviors such as anxiety, aggression, separation anxiety and common puppy training behaviors.

Yes, we do both.   

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Board & Train: Your dog will stay at one of our trainers homes for 1-2 weeks. During their stay, they receive multiple daily training sessions where we work on your training goals including obedience, manners, behavior modification, Therapy & Service Skills, Community Access and Socialization. Training always includes enrichment and play. In addition, we will provide ongoing support as determined in the consultation.

Many people choose Board and Train options because they desire to have the dog trained directly by a trainer. In some cases, day training options can also provide direct training without the added expense of boarding. 

Customized Private Lessons: The goal of the first 2-3 sessions is to provide the foundational tools (training protocols) you need to achieve your training goals. These sessions are typically longer - 1.5 to 2 hours. Follow-up sessions are shorter (avg 30 -60 mins) These are primarily used to fine tune your training skills, respond to challanges and facilitate consistent success. Training protocals that dont fit into your daily routines cant be effective. The training team's responsibility is to provide you with solutions that work for YOU, your lifestyle and schedule. Our trainers continue to work with you until your training needs have been met. 

Yes, we offer group classes for socialization and basic obedience training, as well as Canine Good Citizen and working dog classes such as Therapy and Service Dogs. 

We use empathy, positive relationships, and somatic based psychology. In other words, we teach dogs to trust their human partners and any environment their partner(s) approve. In addition, we help dogs reduce their general anxiety as well as trust their own ability to emotionaly regulate. Learning that we can all calm ourselves when stressed is very empowering for dogs and people.

I speak with new clients every day who tell me they are unhappy with the training profession because every trainer wants to use either treats or e-collars. We use relationships, empathy and somatic based psychology. It appears that most trainers believe food or aversions are the only 2 training options. THIS IS WRONG. We strive to be training tool agnostic. This means we are proficient in the ethical use of all available equipment but do not over rely on any one tool. Any tool can be used improperly. We train dogs using the Least Intrusive Minimally Aversive (LIMA) process that is likely to work for your dog. Although we never recommend prongs or e-collars prior to ruling out less aversive solutions, we also recognize that in some cases these options can save lives. We use treats every day but ARE NOT TREAT TRAINERS. Over-relying on “treats as rewards” becomes an impediment to learning and interferes with a behaviors natural intrinsic reward. When this happens, your dog thinks the primary reason to do the “good behavior" is when you have a treat. That poisons the dog’s natural associations with that desired behavior, making training less effective in the long run. Dogs should see people as trusted stewards - NOT as Pez Dispensers.