A new training evaluation for pet dog owners developed by the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, C.L.A.S.S. is similar to the Canine Good Citizen test but with more true life skills.  Your dog can earn a B.A., M.A., PhD for Dogs™

C.L.A.S.S. is about teaching and appreciating real-life, practical skills, such as walking nicely on a leash, settling down, meeting strangers, attention, wait for food or at the door, and coming when called, just to name a few. Skills are increased in increments of duration, distance and distraction while learning, setting higher criteria per Level of training.  Beyond just the same old basic obedience skills, these are social life skills!
 
 C.L.A.S.S. provides dog/student teams the opportunity to have their skills evaluated by a professional dog trainer.  Our Director of Training, Deana Wolfe, is an approved C.L.A.S.S. APDT instructor with qualified training staff to support ongoing classes for you and your dogs development. Deana is a C.L.A.S.S. Elvauator candidate.

Graduating at a C.L.A.S.S. evaluation is a testimony to the life skills that a student and their dog have developed together. Best of all, by using those skills in everyday situations, a dog can become a well-behaved member of your household and a welcome fur friend to your friends, family and our community.

 This program sets your dog up for success by giving feedback and rewards for behavior you like and by arranging the learning enviroment so that the behavior you want is produced more easily and consistently.  Positive, reward-based training does not mean that your training is indulgent or without restraint.  Clear communication, boundaries and rules still need to happen for the dogs security and human household harmony.  With positive clicker training methods, those rules and boundries can be clearly communicated without a confrontational atmosphere. The dog/student relationship stregthens and a deeper bond is established through these shared activities.

Dog Behavior Education is a part of C.L.A.S.S. learning. We humans need to understand canines and their behaviors.  Dogs are not furry little people and do not think as humans.  Problems arise when humans apply human characteristics to explain a dog behavior.  We need to be able to communicate to dogs what behavior we desire them to exhibit as most of the chewing, jumping and barking is perfectly natural to a dog.  These behaviors are natural for them in their world, they are not dogs behaving badly.  A dogs behavior is driven by needs, not human emotion or morals.  Teaching real-life skills allows the dog to learn alternative behaviors to co-exist in our humane world, politely and with grace.  C.L.A.S.S. is as much about training people as it is about training dogs.

What is Levels Training?

We are offering all three levels of C.L.A.S.S.aka Canine Life and Social Skills. Each level will introduce some new skills to you and your dog. You may move through the levels with or without obtaining a degree as long as your dogs skills are at the appropriate level.

During the Orientation class we will introduce you to the basics of training and how dogs learn. Each level has specific skill requirements that must be met before advancing to the next level. You progress through the levels at your own pace or quite after Level 1.  All levels are taught under the Karen Pryor Clicker training methodology however clickers are optional.

The Levels Program are ongoing classes that offer you the flexibility to attend multiple classes during the week, attend on different days or even skip a week and not be left behind.  

Your purchase of 6 or 8 class sessions for a C.L.A.S.S. level can be used within a duration of 10 weeks up to 12 weeks.  

Benefits of Training with Us and Our Levels Training vs. Traditional Classes

We use no e-collars, choke collars or prong collars!  Our professional science based force-free certified training education from Animal Behavior College & Karen Pryor Animal Training & Behavior is so effective we will show you they're not needed.  Be sure to check out a trainers credentials and their commitment to the profession.  What have they learned about animal behavior lately?  Do they invest in modern science based classes for their own education in order to provide you with the best training?  Can you audit a class to see if their style fits yours?  Our mission has always been to continue to raise the bar in our community for animal care.   

We offer an Orientation Class twice each month on the 1st Wednesday and 3rd Saturday. On-going classes, which means there is no class start & end dates. Instead you have the opportunity to enroll in a class usually within 2 weeks!  No "waiting" for a traditional course to start.  How many times have you called on a class only to find out that it just started and another class won’t be starting again for another 7-8 weeks or even months?  With our Levels Training, this won’t happen to you.

Since all dogs will be working at the same level this will allow our instructors to better assist you and meet your dogs needs.

You can stay in a Level as long as you like or rapidly meet the criteria in each level and progress quickly, the choice is yours!  Discuss your dogs skill level with us.

Once you have moved to a higher level, you can revisit lower levels to brush up on previous learned skills or take a fun class appropriate for all learning levels!

Since dogs move in and out of the Levels at different times, your dog now has the opportunity to work around different dogs which provides new distractions.  You can even take advantage of different certified instructors to broaden your learning.

If you need to take a week off, when you come back to class, you can pick up where you left off.  You are not left behind.  You even have the flexibility to attend class multiple times each week.

Finally, modern dog training for modern times!