Learn the basic obedience and communication skills needed to build a better relationship with your dog, or to start competitive dog sports. This class is the foundation for all future training and is perfect for improving the manners of your favorite pooch. It will increase communication and awareness between you and your dog. We will train or improve basic obedience skills such as sit, down, stay, loose leash walking, come and no jumping. Some of the skills we will cover include attention, ability to work around other dogs as well as people and distractions, drive and motivation, and confidence. The focus of the class is on improving manners, gaining skills, and increasing confidence to build a more enjoyable relationship. We utilize clicker training in this class.

This class is a prerequisite to Intro to Agility as well as a great prelude to any obedience class.

At the completion of Focus Foundation the handler should be able to:

• Heel or walk on a loose leash with the dog at the handler’s side
• Maintain Sit/Stay and Down/Stay on command for 30 seconds
• Maintain Stand/Stay for 10 seconds
• Come when called on cue off-leash with some degree of distraction from a distance of 20 feet.
• Leave a treat within reach until released to take it
• Learn to pay attention and “watch” you
• Improve manners such as issues with jumping up

In this 6-week class you will learn:

• How to work at your dog’s level to stay successful;
• How to teach your dog practical, real-life skills such as:
  • Walking nicely on a leash;
  • Meeting and greeting strangers;
  • Giving you attention;
  • Coming when called
  • Waiting at the door;
  • Stay;
  • Settle down;
  • Leave it;
  • Waiting politely for the food bowl
  • Impulse control around items your dog wants (but can’t have at that time)
• What is reinforcing for your dog and be able to use this knowledge to effect positive training results;
• How to use games and have fun in class working on practical, useful skills
• What you need to work on. In week 6 a mock evaluation will be done so you will learn specifically what you need to work on for complete success at this level.

In this 6-week class you will learn:

• How to work at your dog’s level to stay successful;
• How to build practical, real-life skills in your dog;
• What is reinforcing for your dog and be able to use this knowledge to effect positive training results;
• In the M.A. level, dogs will be building skills with distractions including:
  • wait in the car before exiting;
  • walk past several dogs of different sizes, breeds, and genders;
  • do a recall with the distraction of a treat;
  • sit, down, and stand on cue and wait for release;
  • wait before walking through a door while a person walks by;
  • walk on a loose leash and leave two food bowls 10 feet away;
  • stay in a sit or down for one minute with distractions five feet away;
  • allow the owner to handle various parts of their dog’s body.

We are also building the skills needed to take the Canine Good Citizen test, including:

• accepting a friendly stranger;
• walking through a crowd;
• reacting appropriately to another dog;
• calmly allowing supervised separation from the owner.
• In week 6 a mock evaluation will be done so you will understand what you need to work on for complete success at this level.

In this 6-week class you will learn:

• How to work at your dog’s level to stay successful;
• How to build practical, real-life skills in your dog
• What is reinforcing for your dog and be able to use this knowledge to effect positive training results;
• In the Ph.D. level, dogs will be building skills with more distractions and challenges. Here is the Real-Life Relevance of those skills:
  • Loose leash walking is helpful when you need to safely carry an object while walking your dog. Your dog will learn to pass distractions to come to you and sit politely while the leash is attached
  • Back Up can be a useful skill when you want your dog to move away from you or back up with you;
  • Stay is useful when you need your dog to remain in place amid distractions;
  • Coming when called and leaving distractions could save your dog’s life if he gets loose;
  • Meet & Greet: When you take your dog to a veterinarian, groomer, or other similar place, it is important that your dog allows being handled;
  • Attention. When you have your dog’s attention, you can help him focus and give him other guidance;
  • Table Manners. A dog who can calm down on cue around food is more manageable in the home and may be more welcome in other social settings;
  • Does Your Dog Really Know Sit? If he can sit under many challenging and distraction situations he is much more manageable.
  • Hand Target. A dog who has learned to target a person’s hand is less likely to jump up on them or shy away from the hand.

• In week 6 a mock evaluation may be done so you will understand what you need to work on for complete success at this level.

Rally-O (also know as Rally Obedience) emphasizes fun and excitement for the dog/handler team while providing an interactive approach to obedience. Rally is about the most fun you can have doing obedience exercises with your dog! For more Rally information, please click here.

This 2-session class will have your dog building strong patterns of coming when called. The recall is a powerfully important skill for your dog to have.

Does your wonderful dog sometimes make bad choices? You’re probably considering this class either because your dog is generally a little out of control, or can behave better in certain situations. Perhaps you have a social butterfly that loves to say hello but does it by jumping on everyone she meets. Or maybe you have an enthusiastic door dasher. Maybe your dog has trouble remembering what the word “Sit” means. Or perhaps it just feels like everything in the world catches her attention more easily than you can.

In short, if you sometimes feel like you live with a four-legged teenager that acts first and thinks later, good news: These behaviors are annoying and difficult to deal with, but they generally mean you’ve got a dog that can’t wait to be trained. Smart dogs with lots of energy can do great things when that energy is redirected.

This is a single hour-and-a-quarter (75 minutes) class

This single-session class will begin to build this all-important skill.

It is so frustrating when your dog tries to drag you down the street. This 3-session class will begin building important fundamentals to get your dog in the habit of wanting to walk nicely next to you and pay closer attention.