Why Private Lessons?
Private Lessons through Allegiant Canine are coaching sessions primarily for the humans. The dogs always catch on very quickly! As soon as you fill out the training questionnaire, we will reach out by phone to book your initial session, which is 90 minutes. This time allotment allows us to break down some rules and boundaries for the home, review the calendar, book your training, and undergo invoicing. Subsequent private lessons are then booked through Calendly. At your initial session, we are going to send and review the entire training map, which is proprietary and password-protected. This will allow you to orient yourself on where you are in the process while seeing the path ahead leads to freedom! The end goal of a successful private lessons series is complete off leash reliability in the home and in public.
How Long is this Gonna Take?
Typically around 5 lessons spaced out every 2-3 weeks will address any and all behavioral issues in the home and leave you with a fully off leash trained dog, ready to adventure in the real world! A couple Group Classes, Pack Walks, and Training Hikes would be necessary as well.
How to Prepare for Sessions
Please fast your dog for the meal prior to the lesson; do not exercise or socialize them that day; and be attentive and present at the session. Stop sending your dog to doggy daycare and taking them to the dog park, full stop. This is a non-negotiable. Instead, crate them at all times they are unsupervised. We don't mind kids or family members being present at lessons as long as they are an asset to the training. If everyone cannot be there for the session, we can record and send the link to the recording after each lesson. However, we would prefer that every family member who is going to be handling be there for a majority of lessons. When we come for sessions, we will usually ask that you crate the dog while we're coming in the front door. Once the dog knows "place," that's where they should be when someone comes in the front door. Have all your training equipment at hand, charged, properly secured on the dog before the session. At the end of the session, the trainer will remove it.
Pro Tip: If you provide the trainer with a cold bottled water, a seat at the table or bar, and have a notepad ready to take notes, jot down homework, and draw out graphics, they will greatly appreciate you!
Board & Train: The AK9 Way
Board & Trains at Allegiant Canine are for remote clients or for those who are training a working dog. These are done 1 dog at a time, 2 at most if both dogs are in the same household, and are boarded in our homes. If your dog is not friendly to other people or dogs, we will make arrangements to keep them isolated. We do not do open play groups, thus we do NOT have dog fights. Your dog will be introduced properly to multiple trustworthy people and "furiends" before ever allowed to hang out at liberty. There is no open feeding, shared water, or intermingling with the rescue dogs. This prevents the spread of diseases and intestinal parasites. Upon booking, we will send you a waiver to sign that will detail all the preventions, vaccines, and testing you'll need for this. Everything we do is designed to protect your dog so that we can focus on the training.
The reason we have daily and weekly rates for this service is that vacations, moves, family events, and construction can be an amazing time to send your dog for a shorter, more focused bootcamp so that you don't lose progress in the "offseason." Instead, we bring your dog back from B&T further ahead than you were. You will accrue one free handoff lesson for every week of the dog's stay, and we do not send a dog home without a handoff lesson. Learning is associative, which means that we need to show the dog they must obey in the location they formerly were naughty instead of coming back home to relapse into old ways. That said, the initial handoff lesson following a multi-week board & train is for YOU, not the dog. In fact they will probably just fall asleep while watching you learn. My main goal when a dog returns is for you to enjoy them!
During the B&T, your dog will accompany the trainer pretty much everywhere: Chiropractor appointments, private lessons, grocery, hardware, and pet stores, and even on dates! That said, the board & train process is very tiring for a dog. The longest program that we offer for our clients is 3-4 weeks, and usually your dog will sleep for a few days afterword. While in the learning phase, we try to give dogs about 18-20 hrs per day to sleep, 75% of which is done in the crate. This is super healthy for the dog, and anyone who says they do less is doing them a disservice. They need several hours a day where no decisions need to be made, no behaviors rehearsed, and no habits formed. Anyone who claims they do 2-3 hrs per day of 1:1 work with your dog is either lying or over-training. This is not a realistic setup for when the dog goes home. Your homework will last less than an hour per day, even if you have multiple dogs. In fact, most clients report that a 5 minute shaping session in the morning, a 5 minute play session in the evening, and 20 mins of walking before bed completely wore their dog out for the entire day! At Allegiant Canine, we want you to form realistic expectations for your dog, your family, and yourself.
Now, we have heard horror stories about other programs where the dog is locked in a kennel all day, the parents beg for updates and are ignored, they aren't allowed to visit, and where the dog comes back sick, skinny, shut down, and with worse behavior than before. This is the sad reality of every industry. This is why we do everything above board and high above expectations, communicating throughout the process with videos, and we want you to visit at least once during the process. Transparency, good quality training, and preservation of your dog's sweet personality is what it is all about. Anything short of that, you should get your money back! That's why we have a 100% Personal Responsibility guarantee. This means that if you have done everything right, and the dog is still not performing to standards, you are entitled to more free hand off lessons or a full refund (minus cost of boarding $35/day). I've never had to give that refund because while dogs are here, I treat them like my own pets.
Expect nothing less!
Group Classes, Pack Walks, and Training Hikes
Group Classes are an excellent way to get started on your public acclimation exercise with supervision from the trainer and alongside some newfound friends! After your first 3 private lessons, you are welcome to book yourself into a group class by signing up under the registration page. We typically meet from 10-11 on Saturday mornings, at a local park, with light distractions, and a shelter just in case of rain. We try to choose the location based on clientele but also close by a brewery or patio restaurant where we can continue our real-world training afterword for Brunch! Depending on the season and pre-existing adoption events, the meeting time and optional after "pawty" might fluctuate. Upon registration, you'll be added to the group class email list which will confirm your reservation, remind you of the class, and share any last minute details.
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