To Love & To Learn
We believe a strong foundation of manners for the family pet is an integral part of creating an enjoyable home environment. Our Basic Manners classes help dog owners achieve harmony in the home by teaching you how to think like your dog and develop the fundamental skills to train your dog and build trust between you and them. Whether a new puppy, rescue, or adult dog, everyone can benefit from the same foundational skills.
Our training philosophy puts an emphasis on teaching your dog to be patient, tolerant of handling, coming when called, and walking on a loose leash. We are proud to offer small class sizes (average of 6 dogs) to give individualized attention and the ability to vary class objectives based on personal needs, while maintaining focus on crucial life skills.
Our basic manners classes follow a sequence of: Puppy 1/ Adult Basic Manners, Puppy 2, & Puppy 3. Advanced & Specialty courses can be attended based on your dogs’ needs and your goals.
Check out our Class Guide to see which class is right for you, and Register your pup online now!
Have A Question?
Who Should Attend? Dogs under 6 months old who need foundational life skills & manners.
Pre-Requisites? Nope! Just age appropriate vaccines based on your Vet’s recommendations.
Class Objectives: Introduction to basic manners — come, sit, down & stay, leave it & drop it; self-control exercises, potty training, management of puppy behaviors & biting, appropriate socialization techniques. AKC Star Puppy exam.
Class Size: Limited to 8 dogs.
Who Should Attend? Owners who want to build upon the skills acquired in Puppy 1/ Adult Basic Manners.
Pre-Requisites? Puppy 1 or Adult Basic Manners at NPAB or instructor approval.
Class Objectives: Ability to add duration, distance & distractions to the skills acquired in Puppy 1/ Adult Basic Manners. Increased focus on impulse control, which includes not jumping, intro to loose leash walking & calm behaviors at doorways.
Class Size: Limited to 6 dogs.
Who Should Attend? Owners who want to apply their lessons in real world scenarios while in a class environment.
Pre-Requisites? Successful completion of Puppy 2 at NPAB.
Class Objectives: Owner to understand how and when to increase or decrease criteria when working on mastering skills. Off leash skills are introduced. Pending weather, several classes may be held outside at different venues on leash.
Who Should Attend? Dogs over 6 months old who need an introduction to basic manners or a dog who needs a refresher of basic skills. This is a great starting point for newly adopted dogs.
Pre-Requisites? Nope! Just age appropriate vaccines based on your Vet’s recommendations.
Class Objectives: Introduction to basic manners — come, sit, down & stay, leave it & drop it. Other skills include manners when on the leash, curbing unwanted behaviors such as counter surfing, jumping on visitors, etc.
Class Size: Limited to 8 dogs.
Our Humans Say It Best
“Beth is incredibly knowledgeable and patient. She brings a huge depth of experience that enables her to suggest multiple approaches to address the problems you may face with your dog. Most importantly, she is able to help you improve your dog’s behavior and manners, while enhance your dog’s confidence and the bond you share. She is great about coming from a judgment-free place, focusing on the positive and not the negative. I would (and regularly do!) highly recommend her to anyone.”
“I hired Beth for my stubborn, fearful, aggressive beagle mix Buster. After many failed attempts with other trainers, Beth gave so many insightful tips to get Buster to relax and to respond to training. Not only is she knowledgeable but she sincerely cares about the animals she trains. I have seen more progress in Buster in the last few weeks after her training than ever before! Beth equipped me for success and I am well on my way to having a well behaved boy. I couldn’t be more thrilled with her service. I highly recommend her!”
“Beth is a wonderful trainer, and truly cares about every dog she comes in contact with. She was able to help us to take our shy, timid puppy Duke and turn him into a loving, affectionate pup! We are still working on the obedience part, but he has come so far because of her two puppy courses. Her training techniques always worked out, and she seemed to have a vast knowledge of all different breeds! I would highly recommend her services to anyone looking for a wonderful and caring trainer!”
“I cannot recommend Beth highly enough. Our very wild and out of control labrador had been to 3 other trainers. From my first conversation with her on the phone, Beth put me at ease. It was immediately clear that she knew her stuff. While I previously considered other trainers as a waste of money, Beth was worth every penny and then some. She replied to me promptly when I had questions about working with Bella and even called a few weeks later to check on her. She was the most kind animal professional I’ve ever worked with, and the success we have seen with our Bella is unbelievable. I would never consider another trainer.”
“The quality of training Beth did with our rescue dog in such short time was incredible. I have recommended her to everyone I know. She was great with our new dog and our children. She made the process very easy and was extremely affordable.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Find below some of our most frequently asked questions. If your question is not here, please email Beth!
We pride ourselves on our small class sizes & individual attention on each dog. Our average class size is 6 dogs. This means we get to know you, your pup, your goals and unique challenges.
Beth really takes pride in finding the best solution for every dog. Some dogs may need a “head start” with private instruction before being in a class with many distractions.
As a general rule, I find many dogs start out best in a basic obedience class. This is a 7 week class that focuses on the basics and introduces many skills at a base level to give you and your dog a nice working foundation.
If your dog has basic skills, but you’d like to increase the difficulty or reliability, our levels classes may be a nice choice for your dog. Here, we work on attentiveness to the owner, speed of commands, duration of positions, increased distractions, working at a distance, and off leash reliability.
Private sessions are best suited for owners who cannot commit to a class and need more flexibility with scheduling, or dogs who have human or dog aggression issues, or behavioral issues in and around the home.
The large majority of training the dog occurs when you are working with the dog in between classes or private lessons. Your results will vary depending on your commitment level to the program, the dog’s natural learning abilities (we can’t all be border collies!), and the severity of the problem behavior. All dogs (and their humans) are treated as individuals and our programs are easily worked into even the most packed schedule. Remember that practice makes perfect, and patience and hard work always prevail!
Because there are so many components of behavior, guarantees are never offered. (And you should be skeptical of any trainer that IS offering a guarantee!) Behavior in general is very complex and even small adjustments can lead to a backslide in behavior. While we can’t guarantee your dog will never bite the UPS man or steal pizza from the counter, we can promise to guide you on the right path with your dog so that you have a great life together.
(And yes, we can tell if you’ve been practicing or not!)
Hopefully! We have had a zero death count in classes over the last 10 years.
More seriously, distractions are a huge component of training and a great benefit to smaller classes. By keeping our classes small, your dog has minimal distractions compared to classes with 20-30 dogs. We put a huge emphasis on attention to the owner, and we do occasionally use greeting other dogs in class as a reward, if appropriate.
Yes, your dog may be barking and excited to see the other dogs. I really enjoy seeing their friendly spirit. We will tone them down and have them greet other dogs appropriately while allowing them to be the social animals that they are.
While many big box stores provide classes that are positive reinforcement based, they are typically not conducted by dog trainers who are nationally certified. These trainers are typically well versed in basic commands, but are not qualified to give behavioral advice.
Beth has made it her life’s work to commit to the BEST and most effective training techniques available and is a certified professional dog trainer. (For more info on that, go to ccpdt.org!) Beth spends thousands every year attending conferences to keep up to date on the best methods available, and is required to have 36 continuing education credits every 3 years. In the last 10 years, Beth has worked with at least 20,000 dog & handler teams and has seen tremendous results.
We accept cash, personal checks, credit cards and PayPal. Payment is due in full upon signing up for a class. You can reserve your spot in a class and pay in full here!
We do not offer refunds for classes once they begin. Your tuition holds the spot for you in class, and we cannot fill that spot once class has started. Under extenuating circumstances, we may offer you a place in another class at our discretion.
We do provide refunds to unused private sessions to clients whose dogs we recommend rehoming.
All phone calls are returned within 2 business days.