In most cases, over time, we will end up doing both group and private lessons with your dog. Group classes are an affordable option to make sure all your training bases are covered. Private training allows us to tailor your dog’s task and public access training to your specific needs. 

Here’s what to know about where to start:

Group Classes

If you have a puppy, starting at 8 weeks old, or a dog that’s new to training, sign up for PEARL DISC. 

If you’ve done basic training with your dog already, such as a puppy class and basic manners class, we usually also recommend starting with PEARL DISC. 

Once your dog has completed PEARL, Bronze, and Silver DISC classes, we usually recommend switching to private training, either online, in person, or a hybrid, to complete public access and manners training.

Owner Coaching (Private Lessons)

We recommend private lessons when…

• You’re taking DISC courses and feel some additional instruction would be helpful.
• Your adult dog has already done significant training, and you want to move directly into public access training or task training.
• You learn best with one-on-one training for your puppy or young dog.

If your adult dog has not previously trained with us, we will have you complete the Bronze Disc assessment before we begin private training. 

For puppies and current students, we’ll recommend the best option on a case-by-case basis.

Day Training is available for clients in the Pioneer Valley who want more intensive training for their dogs. It can be helpful for a wide variety of training goals.

Board-and-Train is great for advanced or intensive training. It is available for dogs that we have already worked with that are crate trained, house trained, friendly with other dogs and people, and can tolerate occasionally being left home alone (in a crate) for up to five hours.

We typically recommend all teams start in PEARL to ensure all foundation skills are covered. We may cover material that was not included in previous classes because all trainers have different approaches. 

We also want to help you develop your training and handling skills. You actually have a harder job than your dog! Your dog just has to learn their skills, while you have the job of learning it all as well as teaching it to your dog!

This is why there are two primary training goals for Pearl Disc. The first is to give your dog a great training foundation. The second is to give you high-level skills to be a successful trainer for the long-haul. 

These learning goals include how to…

• work at the dog’s level (how to adjust criteria)
• use situational awareness
• use life rewards
• solve problems using known cues or behaviors
• learn and interpret dog body language
• use prevention and management for optimum behavioral outcomes

If you would like to place out of Pearl and go directly into Bronze, you can simply sign up to take the Pearl Assessment. 

The Pearl assessment is $90. (When bundled with the class, it’s half price – $40.)

It has two parts. Part One is a knowledge assessment of the training and handling concepts taught in the course. You simply answer a set of questions.

The second portion is an online training demonstration by you and your dog. For this level, we’re asking for your dog to respond reliably to cues for beginner levels of very basic skills: Name, Sit, Down, Touch (hand targeting), and loose leash walking. We’ll meet online by Zoom. This part is very short, and if you’ve trained the basics with your dog, your team should pass with flying colors. 

It’s absolutely fine to take the assessment just to see how you and your dog do and what you still need to learn, too. Contact us if you’d like to set up your dog’s Pearl Disc assessment.

Although we generally recommend that everyone bring their dog through all our levels, we recognize that teams that have already done a lot of training might benefit from skipping ahead. If your adult dog has completed several manners classes or earned their CGC after social maturity, your dog may be a candidate for skipping PEARL or Bronze classes. To start with Silver or private training intake, your dog will need to pass the Bronze Disc assessment. 

There are two parts to the Bronze assessment. The first part is to answer some questions on your dog’s behavior and training. 

The second part is a temperament test conducted in person with a local trainer who has experience in behavioral assessment. The trainer must also have liability insurance, have been working as a lead trainer for at least two years, and hold one of these certifications: CPDT-KA or -KSA, CBCC-KA, KPA-CTP, CBATI, CTC, CAAB, or CDBC. We can help you find a trainer, or you can find your own. We’ll send the trainer our assessment checklist and get their report. The cost for us to process the assessment is $75.

Absolutely! Some clients train with us exclusively online. Others train primarily online but travel to train with us as needed. Our regional clients (e.g., Boston, Worcester, Albany, Hartford, Brattleboro), typically have great results with this progression:

1. Start your puppy in PEARL DISC and proceed through the DISC levels. 
2. At the same time, ask us for a referral to a rewards-based pet trainer in your area for an in-person puppy kindergarten. (Make sure they have a copy of our handbook on foundation training for future service dogs!)
3. When your dog is ready for private training, we’ll start online private lessons. Periodically, when we feel that hands-on coaching would be helpful, you may travel to us to train in-person.

We occasionally offer specialty classes in Hadley, MA. These are typically either advanced classes for teams that have already trained with us extensively (such as Advanced Public Access, which meets in a different public setting every week) or other classes that will be a good fit for current local clients (past classes have included Fun & Games, therapy dog basics, outdoor manners, and Canine Good Citizen). Contact us for referrals to local group classes or to set up private in-person training. If you want to be notified when we have local classes coming up, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter. 

Depending on which trainer you’re working with and our current case load, we offer in-home training for Amherst, Deerfield, Easthampton, Florence, Granby, Hadley, Hatfield, Holyoke, Leeds, Leverett, Northampton, South Hadley, Sunderland, and Williamsburg. 

You may also come to Hadley to train with us. 

We also occasionally meet in other locations throughout the region (e.g., dog friendly stores, etc.) for training sessions, including on public access or puppy socialization.

Yes, if you are training an ESA or in-home only service dog, the Helping Hounds classes are terrific. We may also recommend private training, online or in-person, depending on your situation and location. 

We typically only offer pet training for previous clients or special referrals, or when the handler’s disability affects training. We are happy to work with disabled dog handlers or consult with their local trainers on adaptive training strategies.

No, we do not provide any dogs. We help people to train their own dogs as potential service dogs. If you don’t have an appropriate dog, we can help you with the process of finding the right dog to train.

If you’re trying to make an informed decision about whether to get a fully trained service dog or train your own, please use our pre-adoption webinar which goes over pros and cons for each, with guidance for different situations. It also makes recommendations about how to search for a good program and avoid scams, and resources for service dogs for children with disabilities.

We help owners to successfully train their own service dogs. We offer board-and-train for current clients whose dog would benefit from the intensive training that is best achieved through board-and-train. B&T or day training are especially helpful for skills that are difficult for the handler to train themselves, due to their disability or because the training requires a high skill level. Examples of situations that benefit from B&T are training a shaped retrieve or a sound alert, public access training, or manners training when the client is incapacitated (e.g., post surgery, etc.). To be accepted for B&T, we must already have worked with the client and dog in classes or private lessons. See Board & Train for more information.

If you decide to look elsewhere for a board-and-train, please use a trainer who trains entirely with rewards. Speak with multiple past clients to check that their dog was not punished. Why is this so critical? Most board-and-trains use punitive methods, sometimes combined with rewards. Trainers feel a lot of pressure to train the dog before it goes home. In the secrecy of the B&T, without the owner present to witness what’s happening, this pressure often results in increasingly extreme punishment that causes behavioral damage and can even lead to the dog’s injury. Sadly, we have known wonderful dogs that died in board-and-trains with other trainers. Never use a trainer that provides a guarantee of training or behavior results. This is a red flag that indicates this trainer does not understand dog behavior and may go to extreme, possibly deadly, lengths to train your dog. Learn more about the ethics that good trainers adhere to and how to find the right trainer. Two databases that tend to have more ethical/safe trainers are KPA and IAABC.