Questions about “Dog Boot Camp”? We have answers…

Written on December 14, 2016

Dog owner’s considering professional dog training with us are faced with two main training options: private dog training lessons or doggie boot camp. We have created this breakdown explaining the difference between the two, as well as the general structure and benefits of our boot camp programs.

Private lessons are great for those who just got a puppy and want help creating structure, expectations, and boundaries in your home. They are also effective for those looking to build a basic obedience foundation and to learn more about communicating with their pup. The biggest factor we always want anyone considering private lessons to understand, is that YOU are the trainer. Our professional trainers are there to help teach and guide you (and ensure you are doing things correctly) but we are teaching you how to train your dog. These lessons are generally held once a week for about an hour; the success of each lesson depends entirely on how consistently you are working with your pup in the time between those lessons. If you don’t have the time to dedicate to practicing, you will end up repeating the same lesson over and over. Though lessons are a lesser financial investment up front, they are a much more significant time investment for you and your family. It is important to us to make this clear to our clients, even though lessons cost less at the time of purchase, if you are unable to follow-through and do your “homework” each week you will not see the results you were hoping for. Private dog training sessions can be an amazing training tool and can accomplish a lot with your pup, that being said, we always encourage anyone struggling with this decision to honestly evaluate the time and energy they have to devote to the training process.

This is where in-board dog training/ dog boot camps come in; with a boot camp program your pup comes and lives at our training facility for a period of time (varies depending on the dog’s age, behavioral issues, and training goals), getting constant attention, playtime and structure from our dog professionals. The structure of each of our in-kennel training programs is custom designed for you and your dog; after learning about your dog’s behavior and your specific needs, we create a training outline that will ensure they are on track to accomplish the goals you have set by the time they go home. Each of our pups sleeps in a private climate-controlled dog run (with AC and heat available as needed); we like to keep music or TV on in the background to help give the pups some familiar background noises and block out ambient noise. Our dogs are happy and tired come day end from a full day of learning and playing…rest assured, they are ready for bed in their room when the time comes.

Aside from plenty of free play time in one of our five training yards (supervised group play for our dog-friendly pups, and one-on-one play with our team for our independent ones), each of our training dogs will work with their trainer multiple times a day. It is important to us to always end any training sessions on a positive note, meaning we take a break when your pup is being successful on the task at hand. If we are working on a command and it takes 20 minutes for that dog to understand and complete the task, then they will get a rest or play break to refocus their mind before moving forward.

We include two private lessons with each of our boot camp programs in order to ensure their training success transfers over to their home-environment smoothly and to answer any questions you may have following their training. Essentially, with an in-board training program, we are training your pup for you, sending home a trained dog and utilizing those two private lessons to ensure you and your family understand how to continue reinforcement to create results that will last a lifetime.

The overall biggest benefit to our boot camp programs is that your dog is being handled 24/7 by dog professionals, who know and understand dog behavior. They are not only working during their training sessions, but their new boundaries and expectations are consistently reinforced. Our staff has the knowledge to work your pup through any difficult behavioral issues and establish global obedience (meaning your dog will learn to respond to a command at all times, regardless of their environment or the distractions in front of them.) This gives you a real-life, practical working relationship with your dog, where he will respond to you consistently (and not just when it works for him.)

Call us today and we can evaluate your dog and your dog training goals via a free phone consultation or an in-person evaluation if needed and give our professional recommendation for their training needs so you can weigh your options and make the decision that works best for you and your family.

Click the icons below, they will take you to our website where you can find more information about our training programs and their costs as well as to our client testimonials and various review sites. We encourage all of our potential clients to read our reviews to see other’s experiences with our professional trainers!