Training
Private Training
Private Lessons:
$100/hr or $60/half hour*
*Within 15 miles of Black Forest Dog Resort. Outside of this area a travel fee of $1/mile is applied.
Private lessons in your home allow us to focus on the behaviors and skills that your dog needs most. Contact us to discuss availability.
Board & Train
As a supplement to your ongoing training at home, Black Forest Dog Resort is proud to offer positive reinforcement based board and train for adult dogs as well as for puppies as young as 9 weeks old.
A board and train at Black Forest Dog Resort starts with a consultation to discuss the behaviors you’d like to work on most. At the end of your dog’s stay, we may do a transfer session will show you what your dog has learned and teach you how to continue building and developing their new skills. Because every training session is recorded for you to watch, we may skip the transfer session if you feel confident in continuing the training at home.
Our goal with board and train is to evaluate your dog’s behavior, to give your dog a big jump start in learning the behaviors you want them to learn, and changing unwanted behaviors. We unfortunately cannot wave a magic wand and install permanent behaviors or changes; training is lifelong and happens at home. There are some behaviors that cannot be significantly changed in a board and train environment, and private lessons would be most beneficial. Contact us to discuss your goals, and availability for private lessons. Scroll down to see our specialties!
Consultation
We will gather important information about your dog’s behavior and your goals. This may be a brief email exchange or 30 second conversation when you drop off your dog, or may be a more in-depth conversation depending on the behaviors and skills you are wanting to teach, and the behaviors you are wanting to change.
Board & Train Rates
During your dog’s boarding reservation, training is offered as an add-on service. This allows greater customization and accessibility. See our Boarding page for more information about rates and what is included with boarding.
Training is added to the boarding rate. Once we’ve discussed your goals we will make a recommendation for how many daily sessions we would like to do to see significant progress. The number of daily sessions will be your decision.
Individual Training: $40 per 20 minutes
Multi-Dog Training: $50 per 20 minutes
*Includes video with narration.
Every training session is recorded start to finish and is uploaded to our YouTube channel. Videos are Unlisted, meaning you can only access them with a direct link. You can access your videos at any time!
Transfer Session
One of the biggest reasons board and trains are considered “failures” or “not worth it” is because it can be challenging for your dog to apply what they learned here with us to their home life with you, your family, and your guests. Dogs do not generalize well, meaning they need to re-learn skills in different locations and with different people.
For brief board and trains that are not too complicated, if you are comfortable continuing the training at home as guided in your videos we will likely skip a transfer session. We are always happy to demonstrate here before you go home and help you learn what to do at home. If you would like a transfer session here please let us know so we can be sure a trainer is available. We can also schedule a private lesson at your home.
For board and trains that covered more intense, involved, complicated behaviors, we will very likely need to do a transfer session. The transfer session will be completed when you pick up your dog. Pick ups that include a transfer session are typically arranged outside of our regular pick up hours to minimize distractions. You and your dog will have a chance to be excited and say hello before we begin going over what your dog learned. We will discuss what we learned about your dog, show you the behaviors and skills we practiced, and then you and your family will practice. These transfer sessions are typically at least 30 minutes and may take up to 2 hours.
Private lessons are truly beneficial to maintaining and continuing to build what they learned here and in furthering your relationship and communication with your dog. We highly suggest scheduling your first private lesson to be within a week of picking up your dog so we can help you apply their new skills and be successful at home.
Board & Train Specialties
Puppies!
Crazy puppies! While it is crucial to train and bond with your own puppy, we can help you when your puppy is extra out of control or struggling with a couple specific things. If your puppy is turning your world upside-down, we’re here to help.
Working with your puppy while you’re away. If you must travel or are unexpectedly too busy to spend enough time with your puppy and need someone who will be training and socializing your puppy while you’re away, we’d love to help by keeping your puppy on track.
Counseling. Do you think your puppy is not the right one for you? We know that a board and train may be your last attempt. At the end of your board and train we will discuss your puppy’s behavior and what they need to be successful. We will make every effort to help your puppy adjust to your lifestyle but sometimes a great puppy and a great home are not a great match. We will support you no matter your decision.
Basics & Life Skills
Teaching patience and polite behaviors. Sit to greet, take treats gently, wait at doors, no mouthing when being pet, and similar behaviors create a strong core foundation of teaching your dog that good things come to those who wait.
Settle. When people are relaxing, the dog can relax too!
Basic cues including sit, down, come, stay, and other basics depending on your needs.
Leash manners. Walk with you instead of pulling! Proactively prevent leash reactivity or barking on leash, or curtail existing reactivity.
Cooperative handling and grooming skills. This includes touching and manipulating different parts of your dog’s body, holding their collar and leading by the collar, preparing and practicing nail trims, ear cleaning, beard trims, and other skills your dog needs to learn.
Relationship building. Be someone your dog wants to listen to! If your dog ignores you, we will help discover your dog’s motivations and help you form a stronger connection.
Behavior Modification
For dogs who are already showing unwanted or concerning behavior, we will investigate the root of the behavior and develop a customized training plan.
Change your dog’s out of control, unpredictable, wild behaviors.
Build confidence in shy, reserved, worried dogs.
Develop new associations, routines, and training games to teach your dog more appropriate and desirable ways to respond and behave.
Counseling. Do you think your dog’s behavior is too overwhelming or concerning and rehoming or other options might be best? We know that a board and train may be your last attempt. At the end of your board and train we will discuss your dog’s behaviors and what they need to be successful. We will make every effort to help your dog adjust to your lifestyle but sometimes a great dog and a great home are not a great match. We will support you no matter your decision.
Training Methods & Philosophy
At Black Forest Dog Resort, our primary method of training is to reward dogs for desirable behavior. A reward will be what your dog finds enjoyable or wants at that moment which may be a treat, play, affection, or access to something they want such as to sniff or run. Praise is always a great added bonus. Your dog likes knowing you’re proud of them! Here are some of our core beliefs:
Set your dog up to succeed! We take things at your dog’s pace and meet their needs to the best of our ability to create a happy, comfortable dog who is ready to engage and learn. Nobody wants to learn to swim by being thrown in the deep end.
Meet your dog’s needs. Physical exercise needs. Mental enrichment needs. Dietary needs. Breed instinctive genetic needs. Sleep needs. Play and de-stressing needs. Just being a dog needs. Your dog has needs, and it is your responsibility to do your best to meet them in ways you find appropriate and constructive.
Keep sessions short and sweet. It’s easy to spend 10 minutes drilling one skill, especially if your dog is really close to doing what you want or is doing it really well. Resist the urge to keep pushing until your dog quits. Many dogs find too many repetitions to be frustrating and boring. Mix it up! In a 10 minute session you can work on a dozen different skills and have multiple short breaks.
Reward effort, and always end on a good note. If your dog is struggling, do your best to help them understand what you are asking and reward them generously for trying. Be encouraging. Be a cheerleader. When your dog makes progress or finally does what you ask, give that dog a jackpot of treats and lots of praise, and follow immediately with a break instead of asking them to do it again.
Premack Principle. Ever heard your mom say “eat your vegetables, then you can have dessert”? That same idea applies to dog training, and it applies extraordinarily well. The idea is that if your dog does something you like, it grants them access to something they like. We can’t always give dogs something they want, but when we can it proves to be a powerful training tool. We may even give them permission to engage in a behavior we are teaching them not to do such as bark or jump as a means of teaching them they can still engage in the behavior they want to but only when asked to- that will depend on each individual dog. Using Premack is not always practical for every situation with every dog, but it dramatically improves your dog’s patience and self control.
Reward what you like, and prevent what you don’t. Reward your dog for making good choices, and interrupt unwanted behaviors. As best we try to set our dogs up to succeed with environmental management and meeting their needs, sometimes dogs are dogs and need to be told that a behavior they are about to engage in, or are engaging in, is inappropriate. Behavior that we interrupt is any behavior we find to be dangerous, destructive, disruptive, or obsessive. Then, think what you can do to prevent them from engaging in that behavior again. We’re here to help you form a training plan.
Positive is not permissive. You must stop your dog from practicing unwanted behaviors. This is often easy enough to do by interrupting in a cheery tone and then either redirecting to an appropriate activity or changing the dog’s environment. Dogs who are in the process of learning are still learning to control themselves and despite our best efforts they may engage in unwanted behaviors during the training process. We do not rely on punishment, as dogs do not learn what they should be doing instead when faced with a certain situation or object, but we do not ignore unwanted behaviors or allow dogs to engage in unwanted behaviors. If you are constantly shouting at your dog or pulling them away from things, you need a better solution as your dog has not learned what they should be doing. Punishment does not teach an alternative, and without an alternative your dog will become more stressed, frustrated, and sneaky.
We do not consider Black Forest Dog Resort to be “pure positive” or “force free”. We do not utilize shock, choke, prong collars, or leash corrections, nor do we use restrictive harnesses while training. For more information please see our Training Policies here, and you may wish to see our Boarding Policies as well.