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Maplewood Dog Training has been training dogs since 1993.  Providing services throughout South Eastern, MA, we strive to provide quality care and instruction to dogs of all ages and their families.

All classes and privates are taught using positive reinforcement techniques.  There will be no use of electronic or otherwise corrective collars in our classes/privates.

Dogs may be as young as 8weeks to begin classes/privates.  Dogs must be in good health and structurally sound to begin training of any kind.  Current Vaccination Documentation (or veterinarian exemption note) is required of dogs in all obedience classes.

Please bring a 6' leash, buckle collar and LOTS of treats to any class/privates.

Obedience Class Descriptions

Core Classes:

Puppy Kindergarten (6wks): 

A course designed for handlers with puppies 8weeks-5 months of age.  These lessons will cover the basic obedience commands of sit, down, stay, come, walk on a loose leash as well as address things like house breaking, jumping up, barking, crate training, bite inhibition, chewing etc.  Every class includes a period of off-leash supervised puppy socialization time.

Communications (6wks):

This is a 6 week course open to any dog age 8wks and up.  It is a pre-req for all agility classes and highly recommended for every dog and handler team no matter what their aspirations are- well mannered family pet, agility super star or obedience OTCH.

This class has come down as a break off from our original format of the ABC (beginner agility) course.  The skills dogs and handlers learn in the 1^st 6 weeks of our old-ABC, just kept cropping up in other classes, especially the Manners classes, and were skills that we felt every student could use, not just the agility ones, that we decided to offer it as its own course.

The 1^st class of every Communications session is NO DOG, and MANDATORY for ALL class participants.

The goals of this class are to teach your dog to offer eye contact in every day life, respect body language cues, targeting for easy positioning of your dog in any place, dog body awareness including rear-end awareness and strengthening, teach you to more easily communicate with your dog on a level that he or she understands, for both in the dog/human partnership to learn patience and how to watch each other closely, all through a series of exercises and games that build up for that wonderful Foundation relationship that every dog owner wishes they had.

We have seen some amazing handler and dog transformations with these techniques, but it does take a lot of time and work commitment on the human part.  You will be expected to practice at least 20 minutes per night 1 on 1 with your dog, every night between classes.

Students who have been through the class tell us it is unlike any other dog class of any kind they have ever been in, and in a good way!  You learn a massive amount about communication and meeting your dog ½ way.  But, students also tell us, that it’s also a lot more work than any other class they’ve ever been in.  Hey, nothing in life is free though, right?

Basic Manners 1 (6wks): 

A course designed for dogs over 5 months of age and is suitable for dogs who have been through Puppy Kindergarten, or who have never been through any obedience class and are non-reactive/aggressive towards other dogs and people, or for dogs whose owners would like to take a refresher obedience course.  These lessons will cover the basic obedience commands of sit, stay, down, come and heel as well as address things like jumping up, stealing food, barking, chewing, etc.  Most weeks there is off-leash dog play time for part of the class.

Basic Manners 2 (6wks): 

A course designed for dogs who have already been through Basic Manners 1 with their current owner and would like to explore more with manners.  These lessons will cover higher level obedience with distractions and off-leash obedience work as well as reviewing the basic obedience and manners skills learned in Beginner 1.

Canine Good Citizen Prep (CGC) (6wks): 

These lessons will cover the skills needed to pass the AKC Canine Good Citizen test or the Therapy Dogs International Test.  Dogs and handlers will learn the needed behaviors to be a well mannered team accepted anywhere the dogs are allowed and to learn the skills needed to be a Therapy Dog.  This is a very fast paced course in order to best prepare teams to take the CGC exam on the 6th week of class.

Specialty Classes:

Clicker Training Basics- Heard of this “clicker training” thing, but don’t know how to get started?  Dabbled a little bit in it or even taken a basic “clicker class” but want to learn more or expand your skills?  If so, come on over!  Instructor Julie Garland-Powers will be teaching this 3 week mini-session and covering everything from clicker basics, learning theory, shaping, back chaining and more!  Check out www.clickertraining.com for more details on what clicker training is.  Any dog age 8wks and older who is good in a group setting is welcome in this class.

Tricks, Tricks and more Tricks!- Our elite Trick Trainer, Cat Ostiguy, will help to get you started on the road to some pretty neat tricks, both the usual and the ones that will WOW your friends!  (Recommended that both handler and dog are clicker savvy)

Stimulus Hour- Have a young puppy, nervous adult dog or just want to come out and have some fun?  Stop in at the Stimulus Hour.  We will be working on exposing dogs to many different and varied surfaces, noises, people, dogs, flapping things, etc, helping to give you the skills to teach them that the world is a fun and exciting place, not scary.  Any dog age 8wks and older who is good in a group setting is welcome in this class.

Novice Competition: A lesson plan for those who intend to compete in AKC, CKC or 4-H obedience.  These lessons will focus on teaching the necessary skills to successfully and confidently compete in the Novice obedience ring.