GROUP TRAINING CLASSES

& PUPPY SCHOOL

Building good behaviors in a social environment

Whether you have an eight-week old puppy or an eight-year-old dog, a solid training foundation is key to maintaining a healthy and happy relationship with your pet. Dogs of all ages require continued emphasis on encouraging positive behaviors and ongoing opportunities for socialization. Our group training programs cater to dogs at all stages of life and help ensure your dog maintains good manners in and out of your home.

Puppy Socials

Puppy Socials are for puppies aged between 12-18 weeks old (after their second round of vaccinations), and during our 35 minutes of monitored play, the pups will learn how to interact safely with others ranging in size, energy level, and age. The benefit of this activity is to ensure your puppy gets a vital head start in experiencing new things to set them up for success in future training classes, dog parks, playtime, and everyday situations.

At this age, puppies are still developing their canine social skills and learning how to interact appropriately with other dogs. Vital skills your pup will learn include:

  • Polite dog-to-dog greeting behavior;
  • Being gentle with their teeth during play;
  • Reading social cues to determine whether another puppy wants to play or be left alone.

It is important for these interactions to be with puppies their age as well as puppies or dogs from outside the family. The same result is not achieved with a doggy sibling. Without these skills, many pups grow up to be adults who have difficulty communicating with other dogs which unfortunately can put them at high risk for anxiety or aggression in social situations. This class will set your puppy up for socialization success! 

Puppy Basics (Level 1)

Young puppies are very impressionable, and their earliest experiences can have lasting effects on their behavior. Our trainer uses scientifically proven positive methods to encourage a fun and effective way to communicate with your pet. This six-week class is designed to help puppies grow into well-adjusted dogs. We’ll give you the tools to create a strong foundation of good behavior while focusing on socialization skills, good manners, and confidence-building for a well-balanced family member. This class is open to puppies once they have had their second round of vaccinations (generally 10-12 weeks of age)  and five months of age with at least two rounds of vaccinations, with a focus on:

  • Teaching name recognition and attention skills;
  • The art of saying “please,”
  • Basic commands like sit, down, and an introduction to coming when called;
  • Introduction to walking on a leash;
  • Introduction to Leave it and Drop it;
  • Crate training and potty training;
  • Managing chewing and mouthing;
  • Getting your puppy comfortable being handled and groomed;
  • Addressing jumping up;
  • Learn to prevent resource guarding, leash reactivity, separation anxiety and more as they get older;
  • Socialization with other puppies and off-leash puppy playtime.

Adult Basics (Level 1)

Your dog may no longer be a puppy, but that doesn’t mean their training days are over. This six-week class provides an opportunity to continue developing fundamental skills and good habits also perfect for recent adult dog rescues. We will help your dog understand your expectations, so you can both enjoy your life together. This class is open to dogs six months of age and older, with a focus on:

  • Maintaining and building attention skills;
  • Reviewing basic commands like sit, down, and coming when called;
  • Developing impulse control (leave it, settle, stay, and discouraging jumping);
  • Practicing polite leash greetings and loose leash walking skills;
  • Introduce fun training games for fluency to teach your dog manners in real-life situations. 

Intermediate (Level 2)

Once your dog has completed our Puppy or Adult dog course, it is crucial to apply those skills in real-life scenarios. The Advanced class will build upon everything we learned in the puppy class or the adult class and set them up for success in the city! This class is open to dogs over 6 months of age and is a prerequisite for both Canine Good Citizen course and our Agility Course. We will focus on the following:

  • Getting the dog to focus on the objective through enticing distractions;
  • Expanding on impulse control (Jumping, leave it, stay, grabbing items/treats);
  • Leaving enticing items using ‘Leave It’ while on a walk’
  • Perfect our leash walking with Heel;
  • Polite Greetings;
  • Politely walking past people and dogs;
  • Introduction to Agility;
  • Introduction to Canine Good Citizen

Advanced & Canine Good Citizen (Level 3)

Our Canine Good citizen class will include learning the ten steps of the American Kennel Club’s (AKC) Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test. The Canine Good Citizen is a program that promotes responsible dog ownership and encourages the training of well-mannered dogs. To sign up for this course, you must have completed our Basics and Advanced levels or classes equivalent to a different trainer. Our trainer is happy to talk about finding the perfect class for your pup if you did not complete the basics and advanced training with District Dogs.

The ten objectives are as follows:

  • Accepting a friendly stranger
  • Sitting politely for petting
  • Allowing necessary grooming procedures
  • Walking on a loose lead
  • Walking through a crowd
  • Sitting and lying down on command and staying in place
  • Coming when called
  • Reacting appropriately to walking by a dog and person
  • Reacting appropriately to distractions
  • Calmly enduring supervised separation from the owner 

...And Many More!

  • Class: Discovering Dog Agility
  • Class: Urban Herding
  • Class: Confidence Building
  • Specialty Class: Dog Tricks
  • Workshop: Nipping / Mouthing
  • Workshop: Dump the Jump
  • Come When Called: Recall Workshop
  • Loving Your Crate: Crate Training Workshop

GETTING STARTED WITH GROUP TRAINING

Your first class session is humans-only. That’s right, no dogs! Your trainer will go over the basic goals and expectations for the class before your furry friends join the remaining five weeks of fun. There is no prerequisite for attending group manners classes—for you or your dog.