Education, Coaching, & Training
Cost: Cost will vary based on the class, but as with all our services, we do select pro bono work. Please see the full list of classes and prices below.
Whether you’re an individual, an organization, or a private group looking to expand your knowledge, Canine Consultants offers classes that can help. All classes include handouts for later reference, props where applicable, and demonstrations/hands-on exercises where applicable. Below is a list of classes that we offer. If there is training that you would like conducted and don’t see it on our list, please contact us to discuss the possibility of us developing a class to suit your needs. Please be advised that Canine Consultants does not conduct basic obedience training unless unless it is for dogs with a disability.
Classes
First Time Owner/Pre-Adoption Preparation - $75/hr - If you’ve never had a dog before, it’s been a long time since you have, or you’re rescuing a dog for the first time, Canine Consultants can help you prepare for your new family member. From everything you’ll need to consider, like food expense, vet visits, etc., to how to help your dog adjust to a new home and new people, we can help set you up for success.
New Puppy Class - $75/hr - Think, “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” but for dogs. Puppies are a unique experience, and if you’ve never had one, you might quickly find yourself overwhelmed. Canine Consultants can teach you all you need to know about puppyhood and how to turn your baby dog into a model canine citizen. This class is intended to be taken before your new addition arrives, but shortly after their arrival is also a good time to take it.
Senior Dog Care - $75/hr - As our dogs age, they face unique challenges. As their people, we face those challenges with them and help them overcome them. This class is designed to help you to anticipate what challenges they may face and how to address them. We also discuss end-of-life care, as this is a very difficult thing to face even for the most experienced dog owner. Know when it’s the right time to say goodbye is crucial for your mental health and the physical well-being of your long-time family member.
Foster Preparation - $75/hr. - Fostering for a shelter/rescue can often come with unique behavioral or medical challenges. Whether you’re an individual who has never fostered before, or a shelter/rescue who would like to prepare your fosters for what to expect, Canine Consultants can help you get ready for the challenging but uniquely rewarding experience of fostering a dog.
Caring for Abused/Neglected Dogs - $75/hr - Shelter and rescue work often finds us caring for animals who are brought in emaciated, injured, shut-down, or otherwise traumatized. Canine Consultants, unfortunately, has experience caring for many dogs in this condition. We can teach you how to care for these animals from the moment they walk in your doors, to when they finally find their forever home.
Equipment & Gear - $75/hr - From lights to leashes, and everything in between, Canine Consultants can show you how to properly and safely use a wide range of equipment and gear. Whether you’re an owner looking for the right piece of equipment to better manage your dog on a walk, a trainer looking for gear management solutions, or a shelter/rescue using a wide variety of equipment, we can make recommendations or instruct you on its use.
Polite Greetings - $100/hr - Some dogs are great, except they’re bad at meeting new people and dogs. With assistance from Annie, our Chief Canine Officer, Canine Consultants can show you and your dog what polite greetings look like, and teach you and your dog how to do them.
Behavior & Body Language - $100/hr - Behavior and body language is a very complex subject, full of nuance and fast-paced, easy to miss actions and reactions; especially when it’s dog-on-dog interactions. Canine Consultants can show you how to understand these behaviors, allowing you to have safer interactions, and provide safer socialization and play for the dogs in your care. For demonstrations and hands-on exercises, we will use the dogs in your care to provide an unscripted, unique interaction for ideal learning. This class was designed with shelters/rescues, and other trainers in mind, but anyone wishing to better understand this subject is welcome to take this class.
Basic Care - $100/hr - Providing basic care, like baths, ear cleanings, nail trimmings, etc., seems simple enough, but can be intimidating and difficult if you’ve never done it, or have little experience say, trimming a nail. Canine Consultants can show you how to properly provide for your dog’s basic needs, keeping them clean, healthy, and comfortable.
Basic Handling - $100/hr - Basic dog handling is a skillset that all staff and volunteers at a shelter or rescue should have, as well as aspiring trainers and owners. In this class, we will discuss, demonstrate, and conduct hands-on exercises in a variety of basic dog handling techniques from something as simple as leashing up a dog to getting a dog to take their medicine.
Defensive Handling - $150/hr - Defensive handling is an advanced dog handling skillset and series of techniques that are intended to minimize stress in anxious and fearful dogs, and minimizing the potential for a bite should a dog become aggressive while handling. Demonstrations and hands-on exercises will be done with stable dogs provided by Canine Consultants to allow for safe and effective learning. Whether you’re an individual who wants to improve your handling skills or an organization looking to provide better training for your staff or volunteers, our defensive handling class can help you provide better, safer care for higher risk dogs.
Reactive Dog Handling - $150/hr - Reactive dogs pose unique handling challenges, especially when they’re in a shelter environment. Canine Consultants can help you understand why your dog is reactive, and teach you how to handle them safely, minimizing the potential for reactions, and the likelihood of unintended interactions or redirections onto the handler.
Enrichment - $150/hr - Designed primarily with shelters and rescues in mind, our enrichment class will give you some great ideas for tending to the mental health needs of the dogs in your care. Not only will you get instructions and ideas, but this class often stimulates creativity, and you’ll find that members of your organization will be excitedly coming up with their own creations for months after the class.
Socialization - $150/hr - Socialization is a crucial component when raising or rehabilitating a dog. Canine Consultants can teach you all you need to know about socialization, from key impressionable periods in a dog’s life, to specific ways to help desensitize and habituate your dog to the world and the challenges they’ll face.
Custom Classes - $150/hr - Primarily for shelters/rescues and trainers, Canine Consultants can develop and conduct a class on a wide variety of subjects that fit your organization’s needs, with the goal of helping you to more effectively fulfill your mission.
Socialization with Annie - $200/hr - Annie, Canine Consultant’s Chief Canine Officer, is a stable, socially experienced, role model dog who is perfect for helping your anxious dog become more comfortable, your socially awkward dog develop their social skills, your dog-reactive dog become more trusting of other dogs, and for assisting in a wide variety of other situations.