PUPPY PRESCHOOL Designed for puppies 8 to 18 weeks of age "All the basics before Basic Obedience". Your relationship begins here! These counseling, socialization and training sessions target this critical formative time in your puppy’s life. We will teach exercises and philosophies that will help to establish the groundwork for the new puppy to grow into the "family's best friend". You will be taught Positive Leadership skills, effective methods for housebreaking, safe and positive socializing skills and fundamental behavior modification. Understanding your puppy's need to communicate, and channeling this need appropriately and positively is the focus of this class. This program consists of: 5 Group Sessions Handout Packets A Copy of Our Book Classes begin and end at scheduled times. Contact the training office or bulletin board section of the website for class schedules. PRIVATE PUPPY COUNSELING Designed for puppies 8 to 18 weeks of age This condensed version of the Puppy Preschool program is for the owners who cannot attend the weekly group classes. This program consists of: 2 In-Home Lessons Handout Packets A Copy of Our Book OBEDIENCE TRAINING / LIFE SKILLS / BEHAVIOR PROBLEM SOLVING Designed for dogs 5 months of age and older. The key to raising a loving and well mannered companion is communication. Obedience training is the language through which we learn to communicate with our dogs. Through patience, understanding and balanced training we can build a loving and respectful relationship. At Tall Tails Training we teach this process in three distinct steps: 1. Teach your dog the language skills. 2. Teach the owner the language skills. 3. Teach team building and life skills to both dog and owner. The basic commands that make up the language we teach are: HEEL, SIT, DOWN, BREAK, NO, COME and PLACE The concepts we teach that make the commands important and useful to both dog and owner are: POSITION HOLDING (Stay), DISTRACTION TRAINING, IMPULSE CONTROL and "LIFESTYLE" Regardless of which of the two program paths you and your trainer take to begin your journey to an obedient lifestyle, the same commands and concepts will be taught. EVALUATION How does the process begin? Each dog / owner's family situation is unique. Prior to recommending a program a trainer will perform an Evaluation. The evaluation is an In-Home Consultation where one of our trainers will ask questions targeted at determining your dog's current life-style, your goals for the training and details of any behavior problems you may be experiencing. After review, the trainer will make recommendations that will most likely include an obedience program. There is a nominal fee for the evaluation but the fee is credited to either program you participate in within one month of the evaluation. After one month, an additional evaluation may be necessary depending on the age of your dog or other circumstances. PRIVATE, IN-HOME LESSONS This program requires the owner to teach the dog the language skills. Your private trainer will teach you the techniques and skills required to teach your dog the obedience commands. Once the skills are taught, your trainer will teach you how to use the commands in everyday life to develop a "respect-based" lasting relationship. This program works best when the owners have both the time and patience to practice the daily repetitions required for effective obedience training. Your dog should be willing and eager to accept directions from the owner. This program is generally not recommended for moderate/severe behavior problems or aggression. This program consists of: 5 In-Home Owner/Family Training Sessions 5 Group Distraction Training/Socialization Sessions RESIDENCE PROGRAM With the Residence program, we are responsible for the first step of your journey to obedience. Your dog receives two weeks of professional obedience training prior to the In-Home owner education portion of the program. During the training period, your dog stays at our state of the art facility and receives daily training, exercise and plenty of TLC. The training is accomplished efficiently, positively and with the utmost respect for your dog, his personality and his needs. The focus of the Residence program is basic and advanced obedience in a precise and positive form, along with an emphasis on building mental discipline through Position Holding and Distraction training followed by owner education and training addressing special needs of the family. The Residence program meets the needs of: 1. The owner's dog that has special training needs that can be better addressed by a professional trainer. 2. Those owners whose schedules would inhibit a consistent teaching environment. 3. The owners who want the precision of professional training for their dog. Since the success of the Residence program depends on the owner’s relationship with their trained dog, the Residence program includes "In-Home" owner training lessons. The lessons emphasize owner handling technique and obedience use in everyday life. This program consists of: 2 Weeks of Residence Training for the Dog 5 In-Home Owner/Family Training Sessions 5 Group Distraction Training/Socialization Sessions BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS BY TRAINING THROUGH UNDERSTANDING