Our Training Programs

We have four main programs: Private Training (at our center to start then in-home options), Group Classes, Day Training and Growin’ Up Pups (a puppy-specific program)

Private Training

Starts with initial sessions at our training center where we have an ideal environment to learn/teach important skills (for both dogs and humans). Once you’ve mastered these foundation skills we can put them into practice in-home if you are in our service area. Private training is great for those whose schedules don’t allow for classes,  for those who benefit from individualized attention and lesson plans, for dogs who may only have one or two problem areas, and for dogs who have behavioral issues.

Basic Training

Pre-Puppy Counselling          Puppy Raising
House Training                        Basic Manners
Advanced Manners                Leash Walking
Come When Called               Canine Good Citizen
Public Manners                      Problem Solving

Behavior Modification

Human Aggression                Dog Aggression
Reactivity on Leash               Resource Guarding
Phobias                                   Anxiety or Fear

Group Classes

Most dogs who are comfortable with people and other dogs find group classes the best place to start.  Each class has a broad curriculum to teach many new skills to you and your pup. Our classes are fairly small and range from 4-8 dogs typically. We offer some additional specialty classes not listed below.

Puppy, Basic, and Advanced Manners Classes

Puppy Pre-K   and   Puppy Kindergarten
Elementary,  Middle School, and High School (CGC) Manners
Canine Life And Social Skills (BA, MA, PhD)

Canine Sports and Games

Agility Prep
Trick Classes (multiple levels)
Rally-O  (multiple levels)
Dog Sport Foundations (precision skills for k9 sports)
Scent Work (multiple levels)

Behavior Modification

Keep Cool Reactive Dog 1 & 2
Fabulous Focus and Crazy Control

SJC trainer, Kelly, has day-training student, Mable, out for a training adventure at Petagogy. Mable is very social but is working on being calm around people and dogs she sees in public.

Day Training

Your dog will be trained directly by one of our certified professional dog trainers. Our trainers work one on one with your dog for several sessions each week teaching them the skills and then have a “transfer session” every two weeks with the owner to show them how to keep up the new skills and work on the new manners.

Why Day Training?

Our certfied professional dog trainers are very good at training dogs. We can teach your dog new skills, pracitce those skills in thoughtfully planned real-world situations, and get reliable behavior more quickly because we can troubleshoot if things aren’t going right and try something different. Our goal is always to teach our human students to be great trainers, but the reality is you are learning while also teaching your pup and if something isn’t working as expected you can’t necessarily pivot as quickly and try new things as a professional trainer.

What can it cover?

Basic manners, specific struggles like jumping or leash walking, mild-moderate leash reactivity, cooperative care (for nail trims/grooming), distractability outside, and most anything else.

 

Growin’ Up Pups Program

GUPP (we like to call it our GUPPIE program, Growin’ Up Pups Program Is Excellent) is designed to give new puppies and their families a really solid foundation that provides support through a very critical time in your pup’s life.

This program combines group classes, private lessons and field trips that last for several months.  We walk you through the challenges of house training, support you through the frustration of puppy nipping, and help you start your puppy off right with building up good behaviors!

We know that a good foundation of training prevents long-term problems and we know that raising puppies right isn’t always easy and support is important