Modern Family Dog

Living in our modern human world is becoming more and more difficult for our dogs. This is a basic class similar to a basic obedience or manners class - but more than obedience, you and your dog will learn how to understand each other to happily share a modern home without driving each other bonkers! You will learn how to best communicate with your dog to build a better relationship, and will learn skills that will help your dog navigate the human world. Class covers cues such as sit/stand/down; hand and object targeting; stay; wait; recall; drop it; leave it; go to mat. Class also covers skills such as loose leash walking, polite greetings, door manners, and attention; and concepts that are essential to having good manners - such as calmness, focus, and optimism. We talk about how dogs communicate, how to meet your dogs’ needs through exercise and enrichment, and practice real life uses of manners / skills, playing games to make training fun. This class is appropriate for adult dogs of any age, and puppies too! It is a great class to take to prepare for Drink With Your Dog® (a class for brewery and patio manners).

Drink with Your Dog

This fun class is held at local, dog friendly breweries, patios, and bars. Learn the advanced manners needed to have a great brewery dog! The best way to keep places dog-friendly is by bringing your well mannered dog there! When you visit with your well trained dog, you are a wonderful example to both other dog owners, who will want to also have a great brewery dog! And to brewery staff, who will see that there are fun, well-behaved dogs out there who are appropriate to visit their business. It is also a really fun way to spend time with your dog!

In DWYD, we work on polite greetings with strangers, polite ordering at a bar or with waitstaff, walking on leash through tight and crowded spaces, settling on a mat at a table, leave it, and more!

The ideal dog for this class is either social or neutral with other dogs and with people; and who has had some basic manners experience. The class requires a pre-screen, click here to get on the list.

K9 Nose Work®

Nose work is becoming a very popular dog sport! It is a sport that is easy to get started in, can be played anywhere, AND is great for both dogs and humans of any age or temperament (including older dogs or reactive dogs). In class we start out hunting for food - teaching the dog how to search, using something rewarding to make it fun; while at the same time teaching the human to learn how to read their dog’s body language to know when they are on the scent! As dogs and their humans gain experience, they can progress onto searching for the target odors used in nose work - birch, anise, and clove. Everything we do in class can be played at home - which makes for great exercise and enrichment when the weather is yucky.
Nose work is a great class for dogs that are reactive to or nervous about other dogs, as each dog searches individually (just the dog and their human in the ring) while the others wait their turn.

Resolving Reactivity (1&2)

Owning a reactive dog that barks and lunges at other dogs or people while on walks can be incredibly stressful. There are many reasons for leash reactivity, from frustration to fear - but regardless the reason, this class will help your dog change your dog’s reactive behavior to something more pleasant for you and healthy for them - from a dog who is over aroused when seeing other dogs or people, to a dog who is calm, comfortable, and able to cope when faced with triggers.

Classes are small in size. In class, we will work with management techniques to prevent escalation of your dog’s reactive behaviors; behavior modification to reduce your dog’s arousal response to triggers; and distraction or emergency techniques to use in emergencies when sh*t hits the fan.

During training, your dog will not only learn new behavior but also change their underlying emotions about seeing other dogs. You will also learn other complementary techniques, skills, and practices to use at home to help your dog’s overall mental health and wellness.

In Reactivity 2 (Resolving Reactivity Redux), continue to work on your skills in new and different settings, and add some more tools to your reactivity toolbox!