Virtual Dog Obedience TrainingPet Dog Prep
Dogs 6 months & older
Pet Dog Prep is our core curriculum for adolescent and adult dogs. Whether you're polishing obedience, working through behavioral challenges or chasing custom goals, your training plan is built around your dog's needs — and taught to you, the owner, so the results stick long after class ends.
Is this your dog?
- Your dog is 6 months or older — adolescent chaos included
- Walks feel like water-skiing and "come" is more of a suggestion
- You've welcomed a rescue and want to build trust and structure
- Guests get jumped on, counters get surfed, doorbells cause mayhem
- You have a specific goal — therapy dog prep, CGC testing, or just a dog you can take anywhere
Sound familiar? You’re in the right classroom.
What’s Included
- Private 1:1 virtual sessions with a teacher-trainer
- Obedience, enrichment and behavior modification
- A socialization guide for real-world confidence
- Homework between sessions (we're teachers — of course there's homework)
- Your own training handbook to keep
Tuition
Plans typically range from $650 to $2,100 depending on length (1–10 months). Schedule a free consultation for a custom plan and exact quote.
The Curriculum
What you’ll actually learn
Loose-leash walking
Walks that feel like walks — turns, stops and passing distractions without dragging.
Reliable recall
A "come" that works at the park, not just in the kitchen. Trained in layers, proofed around distractions.
The classroom classics
Sit, down, stay and place — held with duration, distance and distraction, on the first ask.
Real-world manners
Polite greetings, door manners, settling on cue — the skills that make a dog easy to live with.
Behavior modification
Jumping, barking, counter-surfing, mild reactivity — we address the cause, not just the symptom.
Enrichment that tires the brain
A tired dog is a good dog, and mental work beats mileage. You'll get an enrichment toolkit matched to your dog.
The Lesson Plan
How Pet Dog Prep works
- 1
Free mini session
Tell us about your dog and your goals — the chaos, the wins, all of it. We'll share foundational training tips so you feel the teaching style.
- 2
Assessment & custom plan
Every dog and human pair is different. Your plan targets your goals, and you get a clear quote before starting.
- 3
Live 1:1 lessons + homework
You handle the leash while your teacher guides you in real time — in the environment where the skills actually need to work. Homework between sessions makes it stick.
- 4
Graduation (and maybe a PhD)
Finish with real-world skills and a socialization guide for keeping them sharp. Overachievers continue to PhD Pups.
Required Reading
Adolescence: the age when most dogs lose their homes
There's a reason shelters overflow with dogs between six months and two years old. Canine adolescence is real: hormones surge, the brain rewires, and the puppy who came when called at four months suddenly acts like they've never heard their name. Owners who don't know this phase is normal often conclude their dog is "bad" — when their dog is actually just a teenager.
Pet Dog Prep is built for exactly this moment. Adolescent regression isn't a training failure; it's a developmental stage that responds beautifully to consistent, structured work. The families who train through adolescence come out the other side with the dog everyone else wishes they had. The ones who wait for it to "pass" usually find that unmanaged habits hardened into permanent ones.
And if your dog is well past adolescence — three, five, ten years old — the same curriculum works. Adult dogs bring longer attention spans and an established bond. What they need is an owner with a plan, and that's precisely what we teach.
The problems we solve every single week
Every training plan is custom, but after enough classrooms — human and canine — you learn where students struggle. These are the greatest hits:
Pulling on leash
Usually a reinforcement problem: pulling has always worked, so dogs keep pulling. We restructure the walk so loose leash is the thing that works, then proof it around real distractions.
Ignoring "come"
Most recalls die because they're poisoned — "come" has meant bath time, nail trims and fun ending. We rebuild recall as the best deal your dog gets all day.
Jumping on people
Your dog isn't dominant; they're greeting. We teach an incompatible behavior — four paws or a sit — and rehearse your guests-arrive routine until it's automatic.
Door dashing and boundary problems
Thresholds become cues to wait, not launch pads. This one regularly prevents tragedies.
Counter surfing, trash raiding, chewing
Management first (stop the rehearsal), then training (teach what pays better). Both matter; most owners only try one.
Barking and mild reactivity
We identify what the barking accomplishes for your dog, then change the equation. Serious leash reactivity gets its own dedicated plan.
How we teach: the method behind the manners
Leash & Teach uses a modern, balanced, relationship-based system: clear communication, generous reward for the right choices, humane and fair boundaries, and training plans built around each individual dog. No cookie-cutter obedience drills, no gadget-first shortcuts — and no pretending every dog is the same dog.
What makes our version different is the teaching layer on top. Every instructor spent years in PK–12 classrooms, and it shows in the way sessions run: skills get broken into achievable steps, instructions come in plain language, progress gets measured, and homework is specific enough that you always know what to practice. Dog training fails most often at the human end of the leash — not because owners are careless, but because nobody ever actually taught them. Teaching people is our first profession.
Expect a structure you'll recognize from good classrooms: assess, plan, instruct, practice, feedback, proof. It's not glamorous. It works.
Setting a goal worth training for
"Better behaved" is a wish; a goal is measurable. Part of your first session is turning one into the other. For some families that's purely practical — walks without shoulder pain, guests without chaos, a dog who settles during dinner. For others it's a milestone with a certificate on the end of it.
The AKC's Canine Good Citizen test is our favorite graduation target for Pet Dog Prep students: ten real-world skills, evaluated formally, achievable by any committed team. Therapy dog work, advanced titles or our PhD Pups program can follow. Tell us where you want to end up, and we'll build the syllabus that gets you there.
Office Hours
Pet Dog Prep questions
My dog is 5 years old. Is it too late to train them?
Not even close. Adult dogs often learn faster than puppies — they have longer attention spans and you have an established bond to build on. "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" is the one piece of dog advice we'd like formally retired.
My dog barks and lunges at other dogs. Is this the right program?
Reactivity work runs through Pet Dog Prep with a plan built specifically around it — management first, then structured behavior modification at your dog's pace. Read more on our reactive dog training page, or bring it up in your free consultation.
Are sessions private or group?
Pet Dog Prep is all private 1:1 lessons — your dog, your goals, your home. It's the fastest way to make progress, and there's no lobby full of barking distractions while you're trying to learn.
How much does Pet Dog Prep cost?
Plans typically range from $650 to $2,100 depending on length — anywhere from 1 to 10 months of training. Your exact quote comes after the free consultation, based on your dog and your goals, so you'll know precisely what's included before committing to anything.
What do I need for virtual sessions?
A phone, tablet or computer with a camera, treats your dog loves, and a leash. Your teacher will tell you if a specific lesson needs anything else — no special equipment required.
How long does it take to train a dog?
Basic manners typically take weeks of consistent practice; reliable real-world obedience takes a few months. It depends on your dog's history, your goals and — honestly — your homework habits. What we can promise is a plan with measurable milestones, so you always know whether you're on track rather than guessing.
What training methods do you use?
A modern, balanced, relationship-based system: clear communication, generous reward for correct choices, and fair, humane boundaries — tailored to each individual dog. We're not a one-tool or one-ideology shop. Equipment and technique decisions are made with your trainer based on your dog in front of us, and we'll always explain the why behind every recommendation.
Can you train a rescue dog with an unknown history?
Rescues are some of our favorite students, and an unknown past matters less than most adopters fear. We train the dog in front of us: assess where they are today, build trust and structure, and progress at their pace. Two of our honor-roll dogs — Buddy and Gunner — came to us as rescues with baggage.
Will my dog listen to my spouse and kids too, or just me?
The whole household is welcome in sessions — in fact we encourage it. Dogs learn people individually, so consistency across the family is what makes manners stick. We'll help you get everyone using the same cues and rules, and age-appropriate jobs for kids turn training into a family project.
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