Can Day Training help you and your dog? Our dogs bring us joy and happiness, but they also need a lot of our focus and attention. Wouldn’t it be great if someone else could handle the boring, repetitive parts while you get to enjoy all the fun stuff?
What is Day Training?
In Day Training, your dedicated trainer works with your dog directly to teach your dog the skills that YOU have chosen as important to you. About every fifth session, meet with your dog and your trainer for Family Practice sessions to see what your dog has learned and to practice those skills together.
Choose between:
- Day Training @Daycare: Puppies and dogs who enjoy daycare will participate in training during their daycare day, with all daycare and Daycare PLUS activities included in your program.
- Day Training @Home: Your trainer will visit your home during the day to work with your dog.
What can my dog learn in Day Training?
Many skills are well-suited for Day School. Some examples include:
- Foundation training skills: Your dog can learn and rehearse basic behaviors like focused attention, stay, come when called, off / leave it and leash walking—all critical to address problems like counter surfing, barking and jumping on visitors.
- Advanced training skills: Is your dog solid on the basics? We add distractions and difficulty, including field trips to parks or urban centers, and take your dog’s skills to the next level. We can also work on special interest sport skills for like agility, heeling, competition obedience, and tricks and even service dog tasks.
- Behavior challenges: Our trainers have deep experience in behavior modification for more serious concerns. Direct training can improve challenges like reactivity, anxiety and fear.
- Puppy skills: Pups 10 weeks and up benefit from structured socialization to novel sounds, objects, people, environments and more. This is the ideal age to introduce handling skills for general care, veterinary visits and grooming (especially for our poodle, doodle and other silky- or curly-coated friends who will need routine, lifelong care from groomers!)
Is Day Training always the right option?
Day School and Board & Train programs are not the solution for all training challenges. These examples are training challenges that may or may not be a good fit for Day Training:
- House training: House training requires a 24-hour structured plan in your home—we cannot teach house training at the WOOFS! Campus or during short visits to your home. Schedule a Puppy Set Up for Success private training session and we can help!
- Reactivity or aggression toward people, dogs or other animals: In many cases where aggressive behavior is a factor, you are a vital part of the training and behavior modification program. Our behavior consultants are available to work with you in one-on-one sessions where you are included in plans and practices. In some cases, we can do a hybrid program of sessions both with you and without you.
- Fear and anxiety: We love the opportunity to help dogs who are fearful or nervous! However, dogs who are nervous or anxious are not able to learn as quickly as dogs who are comfortable and confident, and this will affect our realistic training goals. Rather than focus on flashy obedience skills, your dog’s Day Training may instead focus on activities that help your dog move through the world with more confidence.
- Any challenge where you can’t be part of the solution – We can do all sorts of training, but you’ll need to be involved to maintain your dog’s new behaviors. Effective training and behavior modification will still require skills for you to learn or changes you need to make. Your trainer is a valuable member of your team, but they can’t do it alone! The good news: WOOFS! trainers are people trainers as well as dog trainers. Your trainer will help you with a plan to incorporate new skills and changes into your regular routines.
Day Training vs Board & Train
Day Training at WOOFS! is typically scheduled for two days a week. In contrast, dogs in typical Board & Train program will leave home to stay with their trainer or training facility for one, two, three or more weeks while they receive training.
WOOFS! offered Board & Train for many years, and we’re proud of the work we did during that time. Along the way, though, we noticed something important: dogs tend to get pretty tired after several days of boarding and training in a row. When dogs come to training fresh, well-rested, and with breaks between learning days, they’re able to learn more and remember more.
Day Training doesn’t have the convenience of training-while-you-travel, but In our experience, 10 sessions spread over five weeks lead to much better results than 10 sessions packed into two weeks, when many dogs are already running low on energy by Day 7 or 8.
Ready to learn more?
The Day Training programs at WOOFS! offer numerous benefits for you and your dog. From convenience and effective results to the joy and enrichment your dog gets from training, our programs can be a terrific investment into your pup’s present and future.
Want to know if we can help with your dog and your specific challenges? Let’s discuss!
WOOFS! Dog Training Center only uses positive, cooperation-based training methods with your dog. We always consider your dog’s emotional well-being, and we never use pain, discomfort or physical force to make your dog perform new skills. Please consider that training “guarantees” are a strong financial motive for a trainer to use inappropriate pain or force with your dog in order to show you results. We recommend to carefully research any trainer or organization who will train your dog when you are not present.
