Group Classes

For your safety, we offer classes online, outdoors, or indoors with a lot of social distance. See our COVID policies for our safety measures.

All group classes also include a free orientation training video before the class starts, as well as lifelong access to our client portal of over 100 training handouts and videos.

Online Classes

Helping Hounds 1 (HH1) – Foundation Tricks & Tasks for Service and Therapy Dogs. This mini-course is for any dog or puppy training as a future SDiT, ESA, or therapy dog – from beginner to advanced. This fun 4-week course will train your dog in “tricks” to use for future service dog tasks or therapy dog visits. Trains alerts for psychiatric or medical alert service dogs, deep pressure or “visit,” go under (tables/chairs/legs). Includes paw target/wave, nose target/kisses, under, and lie on the handler/visitor. $125. Four-week class meets for 45 minutes starting October 27, 2021 at 5 PM. Register

New! Helping Hounds 2 (HH2) – Intermediate Tricks & Tasks for Service and Therapy Dogs. Did you LOVE Helping Hounds 1? We have had a lot of requests for the next steps in our task mini-course. HH2 is for graduates of HH1. If your future service dog, ESA, or therapy dog is ready to advance with the “tricks” for future service dog tasks or therapy dog visits from the previous course, you’ll want to sign up for HH2. $125. Four-week class meets for 45 minutes starting October 27, 2021 at 6:30 PM. Register

Indoor Classes

Indoor classes meet at Smithland Supply, 335 Russell St., Hadley, MA 01035. We keep classes small — limit of 4 dogs per class — so there is plenty of room for social distance.

Basic Skills for Therapy & Service Dogs – Is your dog or puppy a future SDiT, emotional support animal, or therapy dog? This beginner level course will start your dog with all the basics for their future career. Fun, helpful, reward-based exercises to train your dog to work happily and eagerly around distractions. $230. Next session starts September 1, 2021 at 5 PM. EIGHT (8) sessions meeting on Wednesdays at 5 PM. Register – 1 space left

Intermediate Skills for Therapy & Service Dogs – This in-depth course covers both intermediate manners and prepares future therapy or service dogs for the particular challenges of working in public. Dogs must have completed at least a basic manners class (a previous intermediate manners class is also a good idea) with At Your Service or another rewards-based trainer with a similar approach. Class covers relax-in-place, leave it, leash walking, attention on handler, stand, tricks (as foundations for tasks), appropriate greeting (ignore strangers or greet on cue), touch, and focus on paying attention and working happily around the distractions of public places or therapeutic settings. $230. Next session starts September 1, 2021 at 6:30 PM. EIGHT (8) sessions meeting on Wednesdays at 6:30 PM. . Register 3 spaces left

Canine Good Citizen (CGC) – Train your dog in the 10 skills tested by the AKC’s CGC and be truly prepared to take the test! Ignore approaching dogs, relax when handler moves out of sight, calmly greet strangers. CGC may reduce homeowner insurance or rent (ask your landlord or insurance company). Essential for therapy & service dogs. Open to any dog that has completed rewards-based basic manners. Previous Intermediate is recommended. 7 classes + test with AKC CGC Evaluator. Seven (7) sessions PLUS CGC test. Contact us about the next class session

Public Access I (for service dogs) – Succeed in public! Advanced training for relaxation in any environment, leash manners in tight quarters, ignoring dropped food and other distractions, advanced targeting, and how to maintain perfect manners while the handler responds to questions from the public or businesses. “Grocery store obstacle course” and other simulations of real-life environments! Other skills include

Handlers report much greater ease in public after completion.  Please contact us to be notified of the next session

Kate took Public Access I with her Goldendoodle, Penny. Afterward, she wrote to Sharon to tell her how helpful the class had been, not just for Penny, but for her, too. Kate said that dealing with approaches from strangers in public was now “soooo much easier since we had practiced it!!!” See what else Kate has to say about PA1.

Public Access I (for service-dogs-in-training)

Are you taking your dog to the next level and beyond? Public Access I is an intermediate-level manners and obedience class for behaviors specific to SDiT teams working in public, including “working dog walk,” eye contact/focus, leave it, settle on mat, etc. The class also provides skills to dog and handler to deal with human interactions around public access issues. PA1 is built around handler focus — your service-dog-in-training (SDiT) focusing on you and offering eye contact, relaxed behavior, and eager working attention. Includes grocery store obstacle course and other simulations of real public access situations.

Are you training your dog as a mobility, psychiatric, medical alert, or other assistance dog? This is the class for you!

This class is designed with the needs of the owner-training service dog handler in mind. Your service-dog-in-training (SDiT) will learn to alternate between active working and active relaxation. As the course progresses, dogs will learn to maintain focus, working around increasing distractions. During “settle” periods, we will also address some common SDiT handler issues, such as how to best deal with questions from strangers, gear and equipment questions, and more. Handlers will get to train their dogs and themselves how to fluidly, confidently answer questions from business owners or the public while maintaining their dog’s focus. This class is appropriate for dogs of any age, from elderly to adolescent. Your dog will learn…

• Eye contact and handler focus
• Conditioned relaxation (chill out in any environment)
• Working Dog Walk (advanced/focused leash walking)
• Leave it
• Touch (nose targeting)
• The foundation behaviors needed for assistance tasks
• To ignore strangers while you answer their questions about service dogs, including how to respond to questions from business owners about public access for service animal teams

Public Access I is perfect for…

• SDiTs that can perform cued behaviors reliably at home but not as well in other spaces
• SDiTs that have some, but not all, the foundation behaviors they need
• SDiT teams that want to build their confidence and teamwork together
• SDiT handlers that want the information and support of a service dog group class

Requirements, Fees, and Schedule:

• Prerequisites: This is an intermediate level class…
  • Dog/handler team must be able to work well around other dogs and people.
  • It is recommended that team have completed our Skills for Therapy & Service Dogs class, but they must have completed at least one (and preferably two) group classes in manners/obedience with At Your Service or Animal Alliances, or equivalent (classes with trainers with compatible methods may be acceptable)
  • Teams that have not worked with Sharon before may be asked to complete a service dog questionnaire before enrolling
  • Dog must be vaccinated and generally healthy
• Course length: 8 weeks
• Class time: 1 hour
• Fee: $230
• spaces available 
• NOTE: Class start dates are contingent on registration. If there is insufficient enrollment, we will wait to start the class until it fills. We will notify you if there is a change in the start date of a class you’ve registered for.
• Doesn’t fit your schedule? Contact us to request days and times that work for you. We’ll do our best to accommodate those we hear from first.
• Register

Assistance Tasks (for Service Dogs)

Is your dog ready to begin training on mobility, psychiatric, or medical alert assistance tasks? Assistance Tasks is an advanced class on some common assistance skills often used by service dog teams, particularly for psychiatric or mobility-related disabilities. The class will cover the foundations for the following assistance tasks:

• Retrieve (foundation for any take/hold/tug tasks, including retrieving dropped or named items, opening doors, covering with a blanket, etc.)
• Guide/take me to (guide handler to an exit, their car, an available seat, a specific person)
• Alert (alert to handler’s behavior or external sound or sight, etc.)
• Chin rest (foundation for deep pressure therapy and shaped retrieve)
• “Get small” (a public access skill — training  your dog to fit in small spaces)

Assistance tasks are complex, take a long time to proof, and are usually extremely important to the handler, so they must be done right. This class aims to reduce handler costs and errors by providing instruction in basics of common tasks in a group setting.

Assistance Tasks is perfect for…

Service dog teams that have solid foundations in trained manners and obedience and are ready to start task training.

Prerequisites: This is an advanced class…

• Starting date: TBD – get in touch
• NOTE: Class start dates are contingent on registration. If there is insufficient enrollment, we will wait to start the class until it fills. We will notify you if there is a change in the start date of a class you’ve registered for.

*Not sure which is the right class for your dog? Contact us to discuss it. We’ll help you pick the best option.

Interested in one of these courses, or another course you don’t see listed? Use the form below to get in touch!