Growly Dog Classes

growly dogDoes your growly dog frighten your neighbors and embarrass you by barking and lunging at every dog you pass on walks?

Have you joined the midnight dog walkers club to avoid these displays?

Does your friendly dog park or daycare dog become aggressive on leash?

Our Growly Dog classes are for you!

Finding the right environment in which to train aggressive dogs poses a significant challenge even for professional dog trainers.  Working in public with a lunging barking dog can be embarrassing; even dangerous.  That’s why we created our semi-private Growly Dog classes.  These unique classes provide several advantages over private training programs for dog aggressive dogs:

  • Safety: We hold the classes at our training facilities, so there’s not need to worry about scaring your neighbors or running into loose dogs.  We have a strict set of safety policies to make sure that everyone in the class stays safe.
  • Predictability:  To resolve dog aggression, we must work the dogs in scenarios that they can handle without losing control.  We use visual barriers and distance to make sure that your dog only sees other dog when he can handle it.  You start working with our trainers’ calm well-behaved dogs and progress to working with your classmates’ dogs as you progress.
  • Focused attention:  Solving this problem means that you must learn to read your dog and react to situations with good timing and technique.  Growly Dog classes always have a 2:1 dog to instructor ratio.  We often do better than that because our trainers love the class so much that they want to come help.
  • Affordability:  Because we offer the class in a group setting, you share the cost with your fellow students, making Growly Dog class significantly less expensive than board and train or private training lessons.

Growly Dog Class Programs

Initial Evaluation:  All Growly Dog candidates must be evaluated by one of our owners before being invited to attend the classes.  If aggression towards strange dogs is your dog’s only serious behavior problem, then we do a 45-60 minute appointment to evaluate your dog and get you started working on some foundation skills before class.  The fee is $115.  If your dog displays  fear, anxiety, or aggression  in other contexts (including aggression towards other dogs in your home), then we do a more in depth evaluation to determine what your dog needs.  The full behavior consultation will last up to 90 minutes and the rate is $195.

Growly Dog I:  In this 5-week class, we’ll teach your your dog to walk politely on leash while paying attention to you and ignoring other dogs.  We’ll also teach you some skills that will help get your dog ready to meet other dogs in Growly II. About half of our students in this class are “frustrated greeters” who generally like other dogs, but become aggressive only on leash. Most frustrated greeters need only this class to solve their problems.  Once a frustrated greeter can walk up to another dog on leash in a calm relaxed manner, the aggression disappears.  Dogs who get into scraps off-leash usually need additional training. The fee is $350.

Growly Dog II:   In this 6-week class, we help dogs whose aggression goes beyond leash frustration to start interacting appropriately with other dogs.  We’ll show you techniques for introducing your dog to friends’ and family’s well-behaved dogs in a safe manner that your dog can handle.  This class is still mostly on leash, but the dogs interact much more closely than in Growly I.  Mildly aggressive dogs who are aggressive only or primarily upon first meeting other dogs often become comfortable enough during this class that they don’t need Growly III. The fee is $350.

Growly Dog III:   Dogs who get into conflicts with other dogs even after initial greetings need Growly III.  Many of these dogs will never enjoy rowdy free-for-alls like a dog park or day care, but can still learn to have safe friendly interactions with dogs belonging to your friends and family.  Our Growly III dogs learn (wearing muzzles when appropriate) to interact and play in a non-aggressive way.  You learn how to referee that play and to evaluate it properly so that you can recognize and interrupt potential problems before they get out of control. The fee is $350.