BOARD & TRAIN

Our programs provide dogs with an immersive training experience built around consistency, structure, repetition, and real world practice. By living within a structured training environment throughout the program, dogs receive the daily support needed to build a solid foundation and replace unclear or inconsistent patterns with more reliable habits.

This format can be especially valuable for dogs that need a stronger reset than occasional lessons alone can provide. Training is incorporated throughout the day, allowing us to work on communication, engagement, boundaries, obedience, impulse control, leash skills, household manners, and appropriate behavior across a variety of situations. With options ranging from basic obedience to advanced off leash training, programs can be matched to each dog’s current level and long term goals.

An important part of successful Board & Train is making sure the owner is included in the process. Some programs can struggle with long term carryover when the dog learns new skills but the owner does not receive enough hands-on instruction to maintain them at home. Our programs are structured differently. Weekly owner lessons keep you involved as training progresses, giving you the opportunity to learn the same communication, handling, and expectations your dog is learning during their stay.

The goal is not simply to create short-term improvement while your dog is away. We aim to provide the structure and training support needed to establish a strong base, help each dog reach their individual potential, and give owners the knowledge needed to continue that progress long after the program is complete.

Basic Obedience Program

4 Weeks - $2500

Our Basic Obedience Program is designed to give dogs the clear communication, structure, and foundational skills they need to become easier and more enjoyable to live with. Rather than simply teaching a list of commands, we focus on building a stronger working relationship between dog and owner while helping the dog understand how to make better choices in everyday life.

Training focuses on developing engagement, impulse control, confidence, responsiveness, and reliable manners. Dogs learn how to work through distractions, settle when appropriate, follow direction, and better understand what is expected of them both at home and out in the real world.

Who Is This Program Best For?

This program is a great fit for dogs who:

  • Need a stronger foundation in basic obedience and household manners
  • Pull on leash, jump, ignore commands, or struggle with impulse control
  • Become easily distracted or have difficulty staying focused on their handler
  • Know some commands but are inconsistent about following them
  • Need more structure, boundaries, and clarity in their daily routine
  • Are young dogs ready to build reliable adult behavior
  • Need improved confidence, patience, independence, or the ability to settle
  • Would benefit from better communication and a stronger relationship with their owner
  • Need a solid obedience foundation before progressing into more advanced or off-leash training

What Will Your Dog Learn?

Depending on the individual dog and their training needs, the program may include:

  • Engagement and handler focus
  • Clear marker and reward communication
  • Sit and Down
  • Place
  • Stay and duration work
  • Recall
  • Loose-leash walking and introductory heel work
  • Doorway and threshold manners
  • Crate and kennel manners
  • Leave It and Out/Drop
  • Appropriate release cues
  • Impulse control
  • Settling and calm behavior
  • Disengagement from distractions
  • Handling and everyday manners
  • Appropriate behavior around people, dogs, and environmental distractions
  • Increasing duration, distance, and distraction around learned skills

What We Build Beyond Obedience

The goal is not simply a dog that performs commands during a training session. We work to build the qualities that make those skills useful in everyday life.

Throughout the program, we focus on developing clarity, confidence, emotional regulation, independence, engagement, accountability, and trust. Your dog learns how to slow down, think through situations, respond to guidance, and understand both rewards and boundaries.

These foundations help create a dog who is more manageable, more predictable, and better prepared to continue progressing long after the initial training program is complete.

Off Leash Foundation Program

Prerequisite - Basic Obedience

2 Weeks - $1200

Our Off Leash Foundations Program is designed for owners who want more than basic obedience and are ready to build greater reliability, freedom, and communication with their dog.

Completion of our Basic Obedience Program is a prerequisite for this program unless otherwise specified. Dogs entering this level should already have a solid understanding of foundational obedience so we can spend more time developing distance, distraction reliability, advanced communication, and off leash skills rather than rebuilding the basics.

This program takes foundational obedience into more challenging environments and begins transferring those skills beyond the leash. Dogs learn that commands still matter when they have more freedom, distractions are present, and their handler is farther away.

Rather than simply removing the leash, we build the communication, engagement, impulse control, and accountability necessary for off leash reliability. Training progresses gradually from structured leash and long line work into increasingly independent exercises so your dog learns how to make good decisions while remaining responsive to you.

Who Is This Program Best For?

This program is a great fit for dogs who:

  • Have completed our Basic Obedience Program or have otherwise been approved to enter this level
  • Have a solid understanding of foundational obedience but need greater reliability
  • Know basic commands but become inconsistent when distractions increase
  • Have a recall but cannot yet be trusted when given more freedom
  • Pull away, wander, or become overly distracted when given space from their handler
  • Need stronger engagement and responsiveness in real world environments
  • Would benefit from increased impulse control and environmental neutrality
  • Need to learn how to work at greater distances from their handler
  • Have owners who want more freedom for hiking, traveling, outdoor activities, or everyday life
  • Are ready to progress beyond basic manners toward dependable off leash communication

What Will Your Dog Learn?

Training is customized to the individual dog, but the program may include:

  • Stronger handler engagement and communication
  • Reliable recall with increasing distance and distractions
  • Sit and Down with duration
  • Place with increased distance and independence
  • Loose leash walking and structured heel work
  • Off leash heel foundations
  • Distance commands
  • Staying responsive when the handler moves away
  • Threshold and doorway manners
  • Impulse control around environmental distractions
  • Disengagement from people, dogs, wildlife, food, and other distractions
  • Neutrality in public and everyday environments
  • Reliable release cues
  • Emergency recall foundations
  • Greater duration, distance, and distraction around known commands
  • Transitioning skills from leash and long-line work toward off leash reliability
  • Appropriate freedom without losing connection with the handler

Building Reliable Off Leash Communication

True off leash reliability is about much more than teaching a dog to come when called. A dog must learn how to remain mentally connected to their handler even when they have the freedom to make other choices.

Throughout the program, we work on helping your dog understand when they are free to explore and when they are expected to respond, return, hold a position, or remain close to you. As their understanding improves, we gradually increase freedom while continuing to reinforce clear expectations.

What We Build Beyond the Commands

Our goal is to create a dog who can enjoy greater independence without sacrificing communication or reliability.

We focus on developing engagement, confidence, impulse control, environmental neutrality, independence, accountability, responsiveness, and trust.

Your dog learns how to think through distractions, make better choices without constant physical guidance, and remain connected to you even when the leash is no longer directing their movements.

The result is a stronger foundation for the kind of freedom most owners ultimately want, the ability to enjoy more of life with their dog while maintaining clear communication, control, and confidence.

Off Leash Reliabilty Program

Prerequisite - Basic Obedience + Off Leash Foundation

2 Weeks - $1200

Our Off Leash Reliability Program is designed for dogs who have already developed a strong foundation in obedience and off leash communication and are ready to take those skills to a higher level of consistency, control, and real world reliability.

This program adds two additional weeks of advanced training beyond our Off Leash Foundations Program, creating an 8 week total training progression from Basic Obedience through advanced off leash reliability.

Completion of both our Basic Obedience Program and Off Leash Foundations Program is required unless otherwise specified.

Rather than simply introducing off leash skills, this level focuses on making them more dependable under greater distraction, at longer distances, and in more challenging environments. The goal is to strengthen your dog’s ability to remain responsive and connected even when there are competing distractions and considerably more freedom.

Who Is This Program Best For?

This program is a great fit for dogs who:

  • Have completed our Basic Obedience and Off Leash Foundations programs
  • Understand off leash communication but need greater consistency and reliability
  • Perform well in familiar environments but struggle when distractions increase
  • Need stronger recall around dogs, people, wildlife, movement, or other competing interests
  • Need greater responsiveness at longer distances from their handler
  • Would benefit from more advanced proofing and real-world exposure
  • Have owners who want increased freedom for hiking, travel, outdoor activities, recreation, or everyday life
  • Need stronger reliability before being trusted with greater levels of off leash freedom
  • Are ready to move from simply understanding off leash skills to performing them more consistently in real world situations

What Will Your Dog Learn?

Training builds on the skills already established in previous programs and may include:

  • Advanced recall with increased distance and distraction
  • Stronger off leash heel and handler engagement
  • Greater reliability around environmental distractions
  • Distance Sit and Down commands
  • Extended Place and stationary control
  • Increased duration and distance from the handler
  • Reliable responses when the handler is moving or out of close proximity
  • Emergency recall
  • Stronger impulse control around high value distractions
  • Disengagement from dogs, people, wildlife, food, movement, and environmental stimuli
  • Greater neutrality in public and stimulating environments
  • Reliable transitions between structured obedience and appropriate freedom
  • Maintaining responsiveness while exploring or moving independently
  • Advanced proofing of previously learned commands
  • Real world practice in increasingly challenging environments

From Off Leash Foundation to Off Leash Reliability

Learning an off leash skill and being truly reliable with it are two different things.

The additional two weeks allow us to spend more time proofing behaviors, increasing difficulty, exposing your dog to more distractions, and helping them learn that the same expectations apply regardless of where they are or what is happening around them.

We gradually increase the level of challenge while continuing to reinforce clear communication and appropriate decision making. This helps reduce dependence on constant handler guidance and teaches your dog to remain accountable even when they are given greater freedom.

What We Build Beyond the Commands

At this level, we are working toward more than obedience. We are developing the judgment, communication, and reliability necessary for your dog to safely enjoy a greater degree of independence.

Throughout the program, we continue building confidence, engagement, impulse control, neutrality, accountability, environmental awareness, responsiveness, and trust.

The goal is a dog who understands how to enjoy freedom without disconnecting from their handler, one who can explore, experience the world, and make appropriate choices while remaining ready to respond when needed.

For owners seeking a higher level of real world freedom, the Off Leash Reliability Program provides additional time to turn established off leash skills into a stronger, more dependable everyday partnership.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where will my dog stay during their Board & Train program?

Our Board & Train programs provide a unique, in home training experience. Rather than staying in a traditional kennel facility, your dog is welcomed into our home and becomes part of our daily routine throughout their stay.

This allows training to happen in a comfortable, home like environment while giving your dog plenty of opportunities to practice the same types of skills they’ll need when they return home.

Will my dog be crated or kenneled during their stay?

Yes. For safety and to encourage healthy independence, dogs are crated or kenneled periodically throughout the day and overnight.

Appropriate confinement is also an important life skill. Learning to settle comfortably on their own can help build independence, confidence, patience, and healthy downtime between training sessions and activities.

Will I receive updates while my dog is away?

Absolutely. Throughout your dog’s stay, you’ll receive regular updates that may include progress reports, photos, and videos.

This allows you to follow along with their training, see what they are working on, and stay connected throughout the program.

How much training does my dog receive each day?

Training is incorporated throughout your dog’s entire stay rather than being limited to one or two scheduled sessions.

Dogs receive multiple focused training sessions throughout the day, along with opportunities to practice their skills during normal routines such as going through doors, walking, settling in the house, going outside, loading into vehicles, waiting appropriately, and navigating everyday distractions.

This helps training become part of your dog’s lifestyle rather than something they only understand during a formal training session.

Will my dog go on outings during their program?

Depending on your dog, their individual needs, and the program they are enrolled in, training may include outings to public locations.

These outings allow us to work on confidence, engagement, manners, neutrality, appropriate social behavior, and reliability around real world distractions.

Not every dog is ready for the same environments at the same stage of training, so outings are selected based on what will be productive and appropriate for the individual dog.

Will my dog socialize with other dogs?

Socialization does not necessarily mean allowing dogs to freely interact or play with every dog they encounter.

Healthy socialization includes teaching dogs how to remain calm, neutral, confident, and appropriate around other dogs, people, environments, sounds, surfaces, and everyday situations.

Interactions with other dogs are carefully managed and are based on each dog’s temperament, history, behavior, and training goals. Safety and appropriate behavior always come first.

Can Board & Train help with behavior problems?

Yes. Depending on the dog and the severity of the behavior, Board & Train can be an excellent environment for addressing behavioral challenges alongside obedience and communication.

Behavior problems are not always caused by a lack of obedience alone. Issues such as reactivity, anxiety, frustration, poor impulse control, overarousal, or difficulty settling can sometimes be connected to underlying gaps in communication, structure, confidence, or the dog owner relationship.

Because of this, the training plan may not always look like it is directly addressing one specific behavior. Sometimes the most important progress comes from strengthening the underlying skills that help the dog make better choices overall.

Dogs with aggression, anxiety, reactivity, or other behavioral concerns may require a specialized Behavior Modification program rather than a standard Board & Train program.

Why choose Board & Train instead of private lessons alone?

Private lessons can be a great option, but much of the training still has to be implemented by the owner between sessions.

Board & Train gives the dog a concentrated period of consistency, structure, repetition, and professional guidance throughout their entire day. This can create a valuable reset for dogs that need stronger foundations, more intensive training, or a more consistent learning environment.

At the same time, our weekly owner lessons keep you actively involved so the program does not become a situation where the trainer learns how to handle the dog but the owner is left trying to figure everything out afterward.

Our goal is to combine the intensive benefits of Board & Train with the owner education that makes those results practical at home.

Is every dog trained the same way?

No. Every dog is different, and we believe their training should reflect that.

We tailor our approach to your dog’s personality, learning style, motivation, strengths, challenges, previous experiences, and individual needs rather than relying on a one size fits all training formula.

Progress may look different from one dog to another, but our overall focus remains the same: developing clear communication, reliable skills, and practical behaviors that work in everyday life.

What training methods do you use?

We tailor training to the individual dog rather than forcing every dog into the same method.

Our goal is to create clear communication so the dog understands both what is expected and how to succeed. Training may incorporate motivation, rewards, structure, boundaries, guidance, repetition, and appropriate training tools depending on the dog, the program, and the skills being taught.

We also make sure owners understand how the training works so they can communicate with their dog consistently once the dog returns home.

Am I involved in the training process?

Yes. Owner involvement is an important part of every Board & Train program.

One private lesson per week is included so you can become familiar with the training process, understand the techniques being used, and begin practicing directly with your dog before they return home.

We believe one of the biggest factors in long term success is making sure the owner is part of the process rather than simply handing over a trained dog at the end.

Why include weekly owner lessons instead of teaching everything at the end?

Because training has to work for both ends of the leash.

A dog may learn beautifully with a trainer, but long term success depends on the owner understanding how to communicate with their dog once they return home.

Weekly lessons allow you to learn gradually alongside your dog rather than receiving a large amount of information all at once at the end of the program. You get time to practice, ask questions, understand why we are doing certain things, and become comfortable handling your dog before graduation.

Will training change my dog’s personality?

Our goal is not to remove your dog’s personality.

Training should help create clearer communication and give your dog a better understanding of what is expected while allowing their individual personality to remain intact.

A playful dog can still be playful. An affectionate dog can still be affectionate. An energetic dog can still enjoy being energetic. Training simply helps teach your dog when certain behaviors are appropriate and how to regulate themselves when needed.

What happens when my dog comes home?

Coming home is an important part of the training process.

Your dog will be returning to a familiar environment where old routines, habits, and patterns may still exist. Your consistency during this transition plays an important role in helping their new skills become the new normal.

We’ll teach you how to continue the structure, communication, expectations, and training your dog has learned so that the progress made during Board & Train carries over into your everyday life.

Will my dog be perfectly trained when they come home?

Board & Train can create an incredibly strong foundation, but training is not something that permanently ends on graduation day.

Dogs are living animals, and their behavior is influenced by consistency, environment, reinforcement, lifestyle, maturity, and the people handling them. Your dog will still need opportunities to practice and maintain what they have learned.

Our goal is to give both you and your dog the strongest possible foundation and the tools needed to continue progressing together.

Do you guarantee results?

We are committed to putting significant time, structure, and individualized training into every dog we work with, but no ethical trainer can guarantee the future behavior of a living animal.

Training results can be affected by temperament, genetics, previous experiences, health, environment, owner consistency, and continued practice after the program.

What we can provide is a clear training plan, professional guidance, owner education, and continued support designed to give you and your dog the best opportunity for long term success.

What happens after the Board & Train program is complete?

Our support doesn’t end when your dog goes home.

Board & Train graduates receive continued training support to help owners maintain progress, troubleshoot challenges, and continue developing their dog’s skills after the program.

Graduates may also receive additional benefits and discounts on qualifying future services, giving you opportunities to continue training, boarding, and working with us as your dog progresses.

Progressive Training

Each program is designed to build naturally into the next:

 

BASIC OBEDIENCE

Learn the skills and expectations.

⬇️

OFF LEASH FOUNDATION

Learn to maintain those skills with less physical guidance and greater freedom.

⬇️

OFF LEASH RELIABILITY

Strengthen those skills through greater distance, distraction, environmental difficulty, and real-world freedom.

 

Dogs may enroll in the complete 6 or 8 week program from the beginning, or eligible RLK9 Basic Obedience graduates may return later and add off leash training without repeating the entire Basic program.

Returning graduates will be evaluated to ensure their foundational skills have been maintained before progressing into higher level off leash work.