Common Questions

Puppies young and dogs old will enjoy training. While I admit it is easier to train a puppy than an older dog, all dogs will learn and benefit with training. Based on science, I’ve began working with puppies as young as 3 days old that were intended to be future working dogs with either law enforcement or as future service dogs.

No, all training is individualized to your dog’s needs physically and mentally according to your training goals. However, your dog will receive socialization in real life situations building confidence and skills you can be proud of.

The Headstart and Elementary courses meet at your home, or other agreed upon location, for the first and second session. Sessions three thru eight meet locally based on your training goals and your dog’s progress each week.

Sessions are one hour in length and held weekly at the same time.

I am always here to help you. Most of the time I can help you over the phone but if necessary I am happy to help with an in person refresher. Clients are encouraged to reach out if they have trouble day or night.

Don’t rush out and buy anything. At the first session I will offer you suggestions and ideas that fit your dog’s needs. Also at the first session I will provide you with some treats to reward your dog and a pouch to hold those treats. Later you will need more treats. Occasionally, I may suggested training equipment but I try to keep equipment to a minimum.

Missed sessions are non-refundable. However, if you inform me of an anticipated absence prior to the first session I am able to fix my schedule around your absence and you will not miss any sessions. I do understand emergencies and will try to accommodate your missed session if possible, but it is essential that you keep training for continued progress. What limits me is that I often have future clients waiting for an open time slot to begin their education and I am not able to adjust those times.

Yes, there are two ways to handle this: One is I help you train both dogs at a discounted rate with sessions being an hour and a half in length. Or two, which ever dog is giving you the most trouble training that is the dog I help you with in our training sessions. Between sessions you can work both dogs and yes I am willing to offer suggestions that can help you with both dogs. Note: If you have a fearful dog training is very different and I recommend you focus on only the fearful dog for training.

This one is harder to answer. While I am happy to have family participate in sessions the actual training is best done by one person, initially. What I recommend is one family member begin the training to allow the dog to learn, cause learning is hard, then in about two weeks the rest of the family can participate in the actual training of the dog.

I accept cash or check. Any other form of payment needs to be preapproved. Do to the high cost of third party platforms I am not able to accept credit cards, nor PayPal and Venmo.

I do offer split payments with half the total cost of the course due session one and the finial half of the cost due session three.

It is best to call or email to book training sessions. I do my best to accommodate your busy life and offer sessions in the morning, daytime, and evenings, Mondays thru Saturdays. Once you are scheduled each weekly session will meet on the same day of the week at the same time.

Yes, however there is a lot of benefit in training in different locations. We can use different areas around your neighborhood as training sites if necessary.

At the end of each session I will suggest skills you and your dog can work on for the coming week. If you work with your dog a few times each day, for about 10 minutes each training session, that will be enough for you and your dog to be successful. Training more often each day is always good but doing longer sessions is not always better. During the course I do not limit you nor your dog to a set of specific skills, the better you and your dog do the more advanced skills I can teach you during the eight weeks. Training is meant to be fun for both of you.