K-9 College: Training your Dog

Our 4-week puppy class gives the new pet owner a good understanding of the most common puppy problems and the best ways to deal with them. Meeting once a week the pet owner will receive detailed information on all aspects of puppy care including housebreaking, crate training, biting, jumping, and more. During class your puppy is encouraged to socialize with other puppies and people. You will receive a complete handout package to take home.

Basic obedience is intended to teach the owner and dog the basic AKC dog training commands necessary to gain control of your dog and establish authority. These commands are – Heel, Sit, Stay, Come, Down, and the use of proper correction. Basic obedience instruction also helps in the correction of bad habits such as jumping and nipping as well as the prevention of new behavioral problems. This type of instruction is available in several different ways.

Hourly Courses - These classes meet once a week for 6 weeks in a small group setting. A new command is introduced each week, in addition to a review of what has been learned in previous weeks. A question and answer session is held at the end of class to help with individual concerns.

Private Lessons – This course provides individual instruction of dog, owner and trainer, which allows greater flexibility in scheduling and more intense instruction.

In-Kennel Training – This unique program is ideal for people who are going on vacation or whose hectic schedules don’t allow time for our weekly classes. Your pet is boarded at our facility for 1 to 2 weeks based on evaluation with trainer. During this time our experienced trainer works with the dog each day. At the end of the course a time is set by the trainer and owner to fully instruct on all the commands learned. You may return to our weekly classes after graduation to practice and reinforce the training as necessary.

During this course the dog owner will expand on the tools and techniques learned in basic obedience. The owner will be taught more handling skills as well as teaching the pet to "wait". More emphasis is placed on recalls and the stay command. This course also prepares your dog for advanced training.

In advanced training basic commands are reviewed and new advanced commands will be added to help you achieve more control of your dog. Your dog will learn off leash commands and off leash hand signals. Intermediate obedience is a prerequisite. This level of obedience is also available in group classes, private lessons, or in-kennel training.

These courses are designed to assist the dog and owner who have successfully completed basic, intermediate or advanced training but whose skills have become rusty. A review of all commands may be done while boarding or on a weekly basis.