top of page

Indianapolis Board & Train Programs

15 Day Board & Train

This program includes:

  • 15 days of boarding with daily training

  • 2 private lessons

  • Slip Lead

  • Place cot or mat

  • Treat pouch

  • Text, photo, video updates upon request

  • Visits upon request

  • Lifetime Support Promise

This program may be suitable for:

  • Puppies 4-6 months old with or without behavior problems

  • Dogs 6 months and older who need obedience training

  • Obedience and manners type behaviors (any age). I.E. jumping, pulling on leash, destructive behaviors, not listening, not coming when called, etc

Investment:

$1,975

20 Day Board & Train

This program includes:

  • 20 days of boarding with daily training

  • 3 private lessons

  • Slip Lead

  • Place cot or mat

  • Treat pouch

  • Text, photo, video updates upon request

  • Visits upon request

  • Lifetime Support Promise

This program may be suitable for:

  • Dogs with mild to moderate behavior problems such as fear, anxiety, OCD, moderate reactivity.

  • Advanced obedience & manners, i.e. staying in one place for longer periods, distraction work, public obedience in stores, parks, other external locations.

  • Off leash hiking/camping goals

  • Sport dog foundations

Investment:

$2,500

30 Day Board & Train

This program includes:

  • 30 days of boarding with daily training

  • 4 private lessons

  • Slip Lead

  • Place cot or mat

  • Treat pouch

  • Text, photo, video updates upon request

  • Visits upon request

  • Lifetime Support Promise

This program may be suitable for:

  • Dogs with moderate to severe behavior problems such as fear, anxiety, OCD, resource guarding, or reactivity.

  • Aggression cases

  • Advanced obedience & manners, i.e. staying in one place for longer periods, distraction work, public obedience in stores, parks, other external locations.

  • Service dog foundations

  • Off leash hiking/camping goals

  • Sport dog foundations

Investment:

$3,450

All of our indianapolis board & train programs are fully customizable to your dog's needs. You may notice that you don't see a "list of commands" here that your dog is guaranteed to learn. We have trained this way in the past, but we ended up feeling that this approach relies on taking choices and options away from the dog, and adding more control. Over time, our mindset shifted to a more freedom-oriented approach to training. We feel that management, as important as it is, eventually fails. We want the dog to be a good dog even without the leash on, without the treats, without the excessive crate time, without the training tools. 

​

So how do we do this? We only take a couple dogs at a time, and we truly treat them as our own. We only take dogs that do not physically harm other dogs, and we gradually introduce the dog to our pack a little bit at a time. We have had lots of success with this method, because not only are we training the dog every day, but the dog is getting all the social learning from our other dogs for the rest of the day. We've seen countless board & train dogs make huge strides in reactivity, human aggression, general hyperactivity, resource guarding, and more this way. Our dogs are experts in welcoming new dogs into the group for a temporary stay, and they teach our board & train dogs an appropriate mix of fun/play, and calmness/respect. 

​

Once the dog is settled into our family and have started to accept their new home-away-from home, we begin training behaviors. This usually just starts with an implied/silent leave-it, a sit, a down, and a "go to xxxx"(bed, cot, mat, etc) cue. Shortly thereafter, we start working on these behaviors with the rest of the group as well. The dog learns things like waiting their turn for training, respect for other dogs' spaces, ability to disengage from high arousal triggers, name recognition and recall, impulse control, and so many more useful skills that can come from working in this environment. We are very proud of the pack we've built and their ability to help us with such an important job as this. Meet the rockstar crew here.

LET'S TALK ABOUT BOARD & TRAINS

A Board & Train Program may be suitable for:​​

  • Basic or advanced manners/obedience

  • Leash Walking

  • Barking at people or dogs

  • Hyperactivity in the home

  • Destructive behaviors

  • Bolting out the door

  • Jumping on guests

  • Fear/Discomfort of being handled/touched

  • Focusing inside or outside 

  • Counter surfing 

  • Digging 

  • Attachment disorders

  • Frisbee training

  • Confidence in new locations

  • Listening to your commands in new places

  • Listening to directions

  • Resource guarding (food/toy aggression)

  • Generalized fear & anxiety

  • Behavior at the veterinarian's office

  • Lack of mental stimulation

  • Dog to dog aggression

  • Dog to human aggression

  • Socialization 

  • Confinement issues

A Board & Train Program may NOT be suitable for:​​

  • Behaviors that are extremely specific to your own home. Example: my dog is afraid of my basement but is confident everywhere else. Or, my dog is quiet most of the time but barks out my front window at pedestrians. 

  • Fence running

  • Severe potty training problems 

  • Stealing food from your children

  • Trouble integrating with the new baby

  • Aggression toward one person only

  • Cat aggression/chasing

  • Separation Anxiety

Why Do Board & Trains Even Work?

As I'm sure you already imagined, there are huge benefits to having a professional trainer work with your dog multiple times a day. We are able to quickly and easily implement new rules and behaviors in the most streamlined way possible. Most of our clients don't have the time that we do to be able to doing several training sessions with their dog per day. We are not miracle workers, but we do have the time and knowledge to be able to teach new behaviors much faster than the average family can. Having your dog live with us for a period of time also allows us the opportunity to create our own relationship with your dog, which allows us to make more accurate recommendations for behavior problems. 

​​

Often, the best thing a dog can experience is a break from the monotony of his/her everyday home life. A dog who has an established routine at home is a dog who is subject to creating habits. Often, those habits are bad ones. When we remove the dog from his home environment, it helps immensely with undoing the bad habits that are connected to that environment. We bring the dog into a new place, and we establish a new routine that involves more rules and structure. It may be strange for the dog at first, but dogs actually thrive quite well in a place of consistency and clarity. Your dog will quickly learn what works, what doesn't work, and which behaviors will earn him the things he wants.

 

We take this time to deeply ingrain new behaviors and habits, and then we give you the instructions to ensure your home can operate in a similar fashion. When we drop your dog off at the end of the program, we spend around 2 hours giving you instructions and teaching your dog that the same rules apply back in his home environment. In the weeks following a board & train, we provide follow-up private lessons and if you continue implementing our recommendations, you will see some really exciting behavioral progress!

What will my dog learn?

Many training companies will give you a list of commands that your dog will be fully familiarized with by the time they return home. We do not operate this way, and here's why:

​

  • Not every dog needs to learn the same commands. Some dogs may have excellent obedience in some areas, and terrible obedience in others. If a dog is already well-versed in some of the commands the trainer will be teaching, this can mean that the trainer can spend less time on your dog than the other dogs in your trainer's care. This can be an effective business model if the training company is focused on quantity. Over time, we have decided this strategy is not best for us or the dogs in our care.

​

  • Think of our our programs more like going to therapy than going to school. Going to school teaches you very specific behaviors, like how to add, subtract, write essays, etc. Going to therapy helps you process repressed trauma, work on your phobias, decrease anxiety, gain confidence in ways that works for you. This is what we strive for in the dogs we work with as well. We listen to your concerns about your dog's behavior, and use our experience and knowledge to extrapolate what methods would teach your dog the concepts they need to learn. We often say "learning 'sit' or 'down' will not make your dog a good dog." However, learning how to cope with stress in difficult situations, how to remain calm when they see another dog, how to listen to you when you ask them to do something, etc. could actually make a big difference in teaching your dog to be a good dog. 

​

  • In short, your dog may not learn many commands at all. We always brush up on the necessities, like sit, down, leash walking, door manners, wait, come when called, etc. These are things that can keep your dog safe, and every dog should have a basic understanding of these commands. These behaviors are often a catalyst for lasting behavior change as well, so we do want your dog to know them, but we will be taking your dog's training further than a list of commands.

Common Fears, Concerns, and Misconceptions about Board & Train Programs

"A board & train program will change my dog's personality, and I'm going to get back a different dog."

  • ​Nope! We don't have the ability to completely change your dog's personality, only influence the behaviors they display. A board & train simply expedites your dog's training, and drastically lessens the margin for error in the training process. ​Your dog will still be her happy-go-lucky self when she comes home.

​

"I've heard Board & Trains can be problematic, and I'm afraid my dog will be abused."​

  • Honestly, this fear is extremely valid. This industry is unregulated, which unfortunately means that there are dog trainers out there who will take your money and mistreat your dog. It's not unheard of for trainers to take large quantities of dogs, stick them in crates, do the bare minimum training, stage a few pictures, and send the dog home worse than when it arrived. We've seen it, experienced it ourselves, and our board & trains are run very differently. Our board & train dogs are integrated with our own dogs as quickly as possible, and the dog lives in our own home with us. We keep a clean living environment, for the safety of everyone. We keep meticulous records of the dogs coming and going from our home, and we always limit our numbers. Our own personal dogs do not require training every day (they appreciate their rest when we're not on the road), so our our main focus is just the 2-3 boarding dogs in our care at that time. We send pictures/video and updates upon request, and we never want you to feel like you can't ask how your dog is doing. We allow visits with a 24 hour request, and we do not limit the number of visits. Visiting your dog during a board & train rarely sets back your dog's training; the training your dog receives should not be so fragile that they cannot handle seeing you (some exceptions can be made for serious attachment disorders). We also welcome you to come check out our home before boarding your dog with us. We recommend always asking to see where your dog will be staying before leaving your dog with ANY third party pet professional.

​

"All of my dog's bad behaviors will be completely fixed when I get my dog back."

  • Sorry, we wish that could happen, but that's not usually the case. Every dog learns at a different pace, just like people do, and we will not put unnecessary pressure on a dog just for the sake of adhering to arbitrary timelines. Think back to your worst subject in college. Chemistry, maybe? Sending a dog to a board & train program could be compared to signing yourself up for Chemistry Camp. You're going to Chemistry Camp because you need a lot of chemistry help, but you are fully aware that you're not going to come back home as an Organic Chemistry MASTER. You're probably hoping that you get home knowing a lot more than before, and you can go back to your Chemistry 101 class feeling more confident about these concepts that were really difficult for you in the past. Now, back to dogs.. As an example, if your dog is struggling very badly with his socialization around other dogs, when he comes home, he will not be perfectly social. He's likely never going to have a large network of dog friends. However, this is the real world, and lots of people have dogs. He will inevitably be exposed to other dogs throughout his lifetime, and he might not love it, but he will now have a toolbox of coping mechanisms that he can utilize anytime he is feeling overwhelmed.

​

"My dog will learn how to behave really well with you guys, but not with me."

  • This is probably the concern we hear the most, and it is completely valid and understandable. If a board & train program is run poorly, this will absolutely happen. However, there are preventative measures that can be taken to prevent this from becoming a reality. First, we do a lengthy private lesson with you immediately when your dog gets back home. We give you a 15-20 page packet during this lesson, and we go through it together. This will have detailed instructions for all of the recommendations and protocols that we need you to begin implementing in your home. Then, we have you practice with you dog, and we don't leave until your dog is working well for you and you tell us that you are understanding all the information you've been given. We're not going to leave you hanging, that's just not our style.

We believe dog training should be accessible to everyone. For this reason, we offer a training option for all budgets. We are working on launching online classes, which will be our most affordable option. In the meantime, we may be able to offer you a payment plan or custom training program that fits your budget. Message us directly with any inquiries.

dog trainer indianapolis, dog trainers indianapolis, indianapolis dog trainer, indianapolis dog trainers, indianapolis dog training, dog training indianapolis
dog trainer indianapolis, dog trainers indianapolis, indianapolis dog trainer, indianapolis dog trainers, indianapolis dog training, dog training indianapolis

Example Board & Train
Schedule

The board & train dogs have a variable schedule from day-to-day. However, here is a pretty average example of what your dog will experience during a typical board & train day.

8:30am - wake up, first potty break of the day

9:00am - into the crates for water and half breakfast

9:30am - play group outside while one of us takes dogs inside one by one for training sessions

11:30am - naptime

1:30pm - play group, exercise, group training

3:00pm - load up into the car

3:30pm - field trip (training @ Lowe's, Home Depot, parks, etc)

6:00pm - rest time. Settling in the house on dog beds with chew toys, treat puzzles, or Kongs.

7:00pm - dinner in crates, nap time

9:00pm - potty break, water, chilling loose in the house for the dogs who can handle it

11:00pm - last potty break, put dogs in crates for the night

Sometimes, we encounter a family that gets really passionate about dog training throughout their time working with us. If that ends up being you, we have several perks you can take advantage of. 

​

  • For families with multiple dogs, we offer a 2nd dog discount of 20% off an equal or lesser priced program. If you have 3 or more dogs, each program after the first is 20% off.

​

  • Some people catch the training "bug" and want to keep learning more and more about what the dog training world has to offer. If you use all of the private lessons that come with your board & train program, additional private lessons are offered to people like you at a discounted rate of $75. If you would like to purchase an additional package of private lessons, we will talk about a custom package rate.

​

  • We stand by our training. If you finish all of the private lessons that come with your board & train program and the original problem you hired us for has still not been addressed, we will continue your dog's training in virtual lessons with you for free. 

​

  • We are occasionally in need of assistant trainers, kennel techs, pooper scoopers, pet supplies, handyman work, and more. If you have usable skills and feel geeky about dog training, the barter system may be for us.

​

  • Sometimes we hold events for our more enthusiastic clients to meet one another, branch out, and learn about different types of dog training.

​

  • We will ultimately be releasing online dog training courses, which will be made available to existing clients. As we continue releasing online courses, we will continue to give free access to these courses to our past board & train clients upon request. 

​

​

Feeling Unsure?

Hey, don't sweat it! Many folks we work with have never hired a dog trainer before. Some have tried before but didn't get the results they wanted. Maybe you've trained your previous dog yourself, but your new furry friend is giving you a run for your money. Whatever your situation, we've seen it all! And whether you're a seasoned dog owner or a total newbie, we're here to make things fun and deepen your bond with your dog. Whether we are your first dog trainers or your 100th, we are committed to being your last! ​

​

A quality relationship with your dog trainer starts with realistic expectations and an appropriate program recommendation. This is why we do consultations! A consultation allows us to meet your family, evaluate your dog, and examine your lifestyle. From there, we can make a program recommendation that suits you and your dog best. Our recommendation is based on years of education, trial & error, and colleague consulting. Our suggestion will include everything we believe will set your dog and your family up for success, and to ensure you have all the appropriate tools moving forward to solve any future problems your dog may encounter.

Consultations Include:

  • 30-45 minutes long

  • Talk to Chris personally

  • Behavior questionnaire

  • Review programs & prices

  • Ask questions

  • Set a start date (if you're ready)

The cost of the consultation is typically free. If you live more than ~45 minutes away from our house, we may ask for a nominal gas fee. 

​

If you choose to sign up for one of our programs during the consultation, you can expect that Chris may give you some preliminary dog training advice to prepare your dog for their first lesson and/or first day of board & train.

bottom of page