FAQ

1. Is my dog too young or too old to be trained?

• • • Puppies can enter our training facility as young as eight weeks of age if they have their second round of shots.
    • Puppies can start a board and train program as young as 14 weeks of age.
    • Training should start the second you bring your puppy home. No dog is too young or too old to learn.

2. Will My Dog Miss Me or Forget Who I am?

• • • We understand that you’re nervous and maybe a little bit afraid to leave your dog with us for four or six weeks. For some of you, this may be your first time doing this. We assure you that your dog will be fine. He/she will not miss you, forget about you or hate you. We keep your dog busy each day through massive amounts of structure. Your dog will be spending his/her time training, exercising, and socializing. We are training your dog to be more calm, confident, less stressed, less anxious, and less aggressive in its own skin.

      We love and care for your dog as if it were one of our own. Providing top-notch care is what we do on a daily basis. You will receive updates once a week and see photos/videos of your dog on our social media. So just know that your dog will be fine, and that he/she is working hard to be the best dog possible.

3. Do We Work with Dogs Who Have Anxiety and/or Aggression?

• • • Through our board and train program, we specialize in behavior modification, anxiety, and aggression rehabilitation. People know us for the work we do with shy, nervous, and fearful dogs. With that being said, we also work with puppies and happy-go-lucky dogs who may just need basic obedience or advance obedience training.

      All ages, all dog breeds, and even the worst dog behaviors are happily welcomed here. Every owner deserves the chance to live a happy life with their dog. Likewise, every dog deserves the chance to learn.

4. Do We Allow Tours or Drop-in Visits?

• • • We fully understand you wanting to tour our property and see how it looks, how we train dogs, where they will be sleeping, etc., before you decide on enrolling your dog in any training/boarding. However, we do not allow tours because not only is this a business, but it is also our place of residence. We must put the security and safety of ourselves, the dogs on our property and you before anything else.

      Some of the dogs we have here are highly reactive/aggressive towards people or highly reactive/aggressive towards other dogs. Having strangers around them can put us and our dogs in a very dangerous situation. Many dogs get distracted at the beginning of their training journey and having strangers around them can set them back in the progress they have already accomplished.

      We also have health precautions in place to make sure all the dogs on our property are safe and healthy. We require all dogs to be up to date on vaccinations and a fecal float must be done prior to being on our property. This is to ensure that we maintain our high standard of health and prevent any outbreaks from happening.

      So, can you come in for a tour? No, you can’t. Why? Because we are advocating for ourselves, you, your dog, our clients, and their dogs while they are in our care.

5. Do we offer Multi-Dog Discounts or Sales?

• • • Boarding – When it comes to boarding, we do offer small discounts for multi-dog households. You may inquire via e-mail.

    • Training – For our 1/1 training and board and train programs, we do not offer multi-dog discounts. The reason for this is because we are working harder to train your two, three or four dog household. We first need to train each dog individually and then we need to train your dogs to work together as a team. This can be extremely challenging depending on your dogs’ individual behavior. When we train two dogs, we are putting in three times the amount of work it takes to train one dog.

    • Sales – We don’t run sales. This is coming from a client loving perspective. We don’t want you to think that if you wait, the price may drop. Unfortunately, everything pricewise is going up in the world and to keep up with that we too increase our prices yearly. This is to ensure that we can keep the lights, heat, and central air on so your dogs are receiving the best care we can give them.

6. Do You Include Training for Owners When We Send Our Dog to You for a Board and Train?

• • • We do include you in the training process as this is the most important part. Every board and train program includes follow-up sessions. Yes, we do all the hard work for you. Yes, your dog will go home well-trained. However, it is up to the owner to maintain their dog’s training once home by doing the homework. We want to be your coach, help educate you so you can be a better owner, and help you succeed so you can live your best life with your dog.

      We encourage you to like and follow our social media pages. After your dog’s board and train is complete, we encourage you to keep in contact with us. We want to know how things are going, if you are struggling, etc. You can send us photos and videos of your dog’s success. Being highly involved will help you stay on track.

      If you need additional training, that’s fine too. We do allow all our clients to purchase hourly 1/1 sessions if they feel they are struggling or need more guidance. We are always here to support you and your dog.

7. Medical Information – What vaccinations does my dog need?

• • • We take medical issues/diseases very seriously. Not only do we have other clients’ dogs here on our property, but we also have our own personal dogs here as well. We have special protocols in place to make sure that all the dogs in our care are safe and healthy.

    • We do require that all dogs who enter our property have a Rabies, Distemper and Bordetella (kennel cough) vaccination.

    • We also require that a fecal float be done because we want to know if there are any parasites in your dog’s poop that could be transmitted to other dogs.

8. Does my dog have to be spayed or neutered?

• • • We absolutely accept intact male and female dogs. What we don’t want, is a female in heat. If your female is in heat, that would not be good, for not only your dog but also the other dogs here on our property.

9. What Type of Tools Do We Use?

• • • When training a dog, it’s important that you understand learning theory and how dogs learn. Tools alone don’t train your dog. Instead, we first understand how dogs learn and then use tools to communicate to your dog whether we are in the kindergarten, high school, or college level. We use tools to leverage our training whether we are close by or far away.

    • Verbal Markers – 90% of the time we use “Yes” to mark good behavior. 10% of the time we use “No” to mark bad behavior, so the dog doesn’t keep repeating the unwanted behavior.

    • We use your dog’s daily kibble to train

    • We clicker train

    • We use flat buckle collars, nylon leashes, slip leads, etc.

    • We use prong collars and remote collars

    • We use toys

    • We use play and activities – the socialization of other dogs

    • We use human contact – verbal praise, physical touch and just being with your dog

10. Do we use corrections?

• • • The nice thing about balanced dog training is our yes/no concept which involves rewards 90% of the time but also corrections for the remaining 10%. The concept of rewards and corrections in any dog training program is so important. We want the dog to fully understands what acceptable behavior is and what is unacceptable behavior.

    • Positive reinforcement rewards (“Yes”) – Encourages the dog to keep doing the wanted behavior

    • Corrections (“No”) – Stops unwanted behaviors.

11. Is the Training Guaranteed to Last?

• • • It’s important to understand that dog training isn’t “dog training” that you only do for an hour a day or when your dog is being naughty. Dog training must become your lifestyle. It’s a partnership between you and your dog. You need to learn why your dog is acting the way they’re acting and actively do things to change their behavior. This may look like routine changes, applying mass amounts of structure into your dog’s life and advocating for your dog. When you and your dog work together as a team, the training can last a lifetime.