What is “Doggy Bootcamp?” Sounds like someone yelling a bunch of commands at a dog to whip them into shape. That’s not what we do. We call our board and training process The Immersion Program. We call it immersion, because the dog is immersed in learning or the full term of their stay. This program was designed for dog owners who want a fast and effective way to train their dogs. If you realize that there’s not enough time in the day with kids and work… If your dog needs training and you’re heading out of town and would need to board anyway… If you have an overly aggressive or timid dog, or you just can’t seem to get the results you want doing it by yourself, then you’ve probably considered boarding and training as an option. The question is… will it work?
The Nitty Gritty
Training requires good timing, consistency, repetition, know-how, and patience. Though people can be taught while they are teaching their dogs, there tends to be a lot more room for error. It’s like learning a language and having to teach it to someone else as you’re learning it yourself. You can take some of the stress off of yourself and your dog when you employ a professional trainer to lay the foundation for understanding and control.traing
How Does the Process Work?
Before the training starts, we like to schedule an in-home evaluation. At the evaluation we get to learn about the challenges you’re facing and behaviors that your dog will need to fit in with your lifestyle. Once we have a better idea of where you are with your dog and where you’d like to be, we can give you our best recommendation for the time and money needed to get you there.
Our training programs start with relationship building. From there we jump into basic behaviors like SIT, DOWN, STAY, COME, HEEL, PLACE, and LEAVE IT. Once your dog has a good understanding of these behaviors, we begin to introduce more distractions and durations to their behaviors. We take them out in public and expose them to the things that they will encounter in daily life. In addition to installing behaviors and skills for everyday life, we work on the behavioral problems like dog aggression, people aggression, food aggression, pulling on the leash, barking, etc…
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be the one who initially trains your dog to get the dog to listen to you. Our methods help your dog transition easily. We put the dogs in more than one trainer’s hands so they learn to generalize commands better. We also include multiple private lessons at your home or our facility to teach you how to continue your dog’s training.
Let’s be clear, Immersion Training (Doggy Bootcamp) isn’t magic. When your dog returns, they will not be a robot. You will have to put the work in to maintain the training. After your dog’s time with us, we continue the training with private lessons. We will give you all the information, skills and tools needed to make sure your dog works for you. In addition to the private lessons included in the package, you have access to group classes, and email and phone support for the life of the dog. Most dogs regardless of where they start with us are able to pass the AKC’s Canine Good Citizen Test. The training works.
Having a trained dog is beyond rewarding. No matter how you go about doing it, proper training is a necessity in your dog’s life. It allows you to make your dog a pleasure instead of a problem. If you think you are unable to do it yourself, or you don’t have time, a doggy bootcamp (lol) can give you a major head start.
