We believe that the key to a successful home life with your dog lies in the relationships between your dog and each member of your household. We use positive training methods, and focus on improving your relationship with your dog, and helping you communicate clearly with each other! Our training program is called Seven Steps to a Dog Who Listens to You - for further details, see the About Us page.

For those of you with a new dog or puppy - it is never too late to start training your dog, and it is never too soon! Puppies, like small children, are learning all the time. Even before they are fully vaccinated, although it is not safe to take them to group classes, you can start them on the right path training at home for a successful future.

For most situations, we recommend choosing one of our home training programs. If you have a dog with "behavior problems", and just want recommendations to address them, we suggest we get to meet your dog and understand your needs with an in home consultation.

The services we offer are: Training in your home In home consultation Training at our facility Group classes Other classes Adoption preparation

Training in your home

Does your dog behave well at home, but then seems to deliberately embarrass you in public? Do you feel as though your dog does not listen to you? We know only too well the frustration that these things cause, and they can be addressed. See Jane's description of our training program and how it was developed, on the About Us page.

Training involves more than just showing your dog how to Sit and Stay. It is a bond of communication between you and your dog that is based on all aspects of your life together. Our philosophy is that your dog should be trained by you, in your home. It will strengthen your relationship with your dog, and will give you the tools you need for additional training or behavior changes later on. Our program, Seven Steps to a Dog Who Listens to You, will help you build a relationship of lifelong trust between you and your dog. We offer three packages to assist you in this. 

Mentored Training:  Initial training and in-person follow up. We take you through the elements of our Seven Steps to a Dog Who Listens to You, explaining the key points of communication with your dog, setting house rules so the dog understands you are his or her pack leader, and showing you the basic techniques of training. We also plan out a training program for you (for Sit, Down, Leave It, Stay, Come, and Loose Leash Walking), then come out on two other visits as you train your dog. In these visits, we mentor you, checking on the dog's progress, providing additional hints and tips and techniques, and helping you through roadblocks. We give you support by phone and email throughout the process until two weeks after our final visit. You receive: 

• One 2 hour session in your home, reviewing the current situation and behavior, recommending changes to the house rules, explaining the training plan, and starting the training process.
• A book of printed material explaining the key components, and the instructions for training the specific cues and behaviors (Sit, Down, Leave It, Stay, Come, and Loose Leash Walking).
• Standard training plan to guide you in training and to record your dog's progress.
• Two 1 hour follow-up training sessions reviewing training progress, demonstrating techniques, and helping you with training problems.
• Unlimited phone and email support throughout until 2 weeks after the final session.

The Essentials:  Initial training only. We take you through the elements of our Seven Steps to a Dog Who Listens to You, explaining the key points of communication with your dog, setting house rules so the dog understands you are his or her pack leader, and showing you the basic techniques of training. We give you support by phone and email for two weeks as you put this training into action. You receive:

• One 2 hour session in your home, reviewing the current situation and behavior, recommending changes to the house rules, and starting the training process.
• Printed material explaining the key components, and the instructions for training Sit (or Down), Leave It (or Stay), and Loose Leash Walking.
• Unlimited phone and email support for 2 weeks after the session. 

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In home consultation

For customized recommendations on how to handle your dog's specific problems, we will come and learn about your dog's environment and lifestyle. This visit will take approximately one hour, and ideally all the family will be present. This will give us a chance to meet and observe your dog in their own environment, and see the interactions with different family members. We will then discuss any behavior problems and what type of training we feel will be most suitable for your dog. We will recommend immediate activities and changes for you to start training. We are available to answer your follow-up questions by phone or email. This consultation fee is $135.00 per hour.

(If you live further than 40 miles by road from our location there will be an additional charge for travel - contact us for details)

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Training at our facility

Our preferred solution is to train in your home. Training is better done in the environment where the dog lives, so we can be specific about what is correct and not correct in this house, this yard, etc.  It is also fundamental to our philosophy that the people in the household be involved in the training process - to build the relationship with the dog, and to gain the skills needed to deal with challenges in the future.  In some circumstances, this is not a viable solution for a particular family or a particular dog.  In those cases, we can offer training at our facility, depending upon availability. Your dog will live with us from 3 days up to 3 weeks, depending on your dog's training needs. Your dog will live as part of the family and interact with our dogs. We have a secure 6 foot fence around our exercise and training yards, and dogs are not left together unsupervised at any time. You will be allowed to visit your dog during the scheduled times. Cost will vary depending on the program.

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Group classes

We offer regular group classes in Obedience and Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test preparation, at McKinney Community Center. The Canine Good Citizen certification involves ensuring that your dog behaves calmly when meeting strangers and other dogs, is able to walk well on a leash and Sit, Down, Stay and Come on command, can safely be left with a friendly stranger. It is highly recommended for dogs going into therapy work, but it is a good behavior standard for any pet dog. The next CGC classes run at 10:00 am on Saturday mornings and will start on January 22nd.

Please contact the Community Center to schedule these classes. Their street address is 2001 South Central Expressway, and their phone number is 972-547-2690.

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Other classes

Jane is now conducting classes in Dog Obedience and Canine Good Citizen at Richland College in Dallas, as part of their Continuing Education department.  For details of these classes, or to register, please contact Richland College on (972) 238-6146 or visit www.richlandcollege.edu/ce/.  The next classes start on March 24th.

From time to time we also offer classes such as introduction to agility at our facility.  For more information please contact us.

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Adoption preparation

Before you bring a dog into your home, you need to consider very carefully what you need in a dog (size, age, sex, exercise and grooming requirements, personality) the impact of having a dog (do you travel a lot, or work long hours away from home, do you have small children, how much can you afford for food and vet bills, do you have other pets). You also may need to dog-proof your home, make a decision (and purchases!) on crate training, or make sure all family members are clear on the rules before the new dog arrives.

We offer a dog adoption package, which includes:-

• Advice on selecting the right canine companion.
• Setting up a suitable program to help the new dog learn the rules.
• Support for problems encountered in the early stages.
• Basic training sessions for you and your dog.

Prices for this vary according to the situation and the degree of support you need. Please call us to discuss options.

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