Maplewood Dog Training

Group Classes

Our puppy and adult dog obedience and basic manners classes focus on giving your dog the skills to be a well mannered and welcome family companion and pet. Each class is designed with your training needs in mind, teaching you how to maintain your dog's good behavior for a lifetime.

Our agility classes have a direct focus on safety and agility as a team sport. Time is spent building a solid foundation at each level until teams are working with competition level skills. Though many of our students chose never to compete, all gain the necessary instruction for competition should that be the direction any team chose to take.

Once you've reviewed our class descriptions below and are ready to sign your best friend up for class, view our class schedule to see what classes are being offered in the coming months and send in an on-line registration form to reserve your spot in the class of your choice.  More classes can be added to the schedule if the demand arises and we encourage you to call us at 781 806 5707 with any questions or concerns prior to registering for class.

Obedience & Manners Class Descriptions

Puppy Smart Start
Get Your Puppy Started Off Right.  Register for Puppy Smart Start & a Pre-Class Private Lesson. Call 781 806 5707 for more details. Eligibility: Puppies age 8wks through 18wks
Time: Thursdays or Saturdays Cost: $210 for 7 week session + equipment fee	Start Date: Open Enrollment Location: Maplewood Dog Training

The goal of Puppy Smart Start is to start your puppy’s life socialization, exposure and learning off on the best foot possible and to end your 7 class session with a puppy who is confident in his trust in you and ready to take on the world.  Classes will focus on creating confident, happy, well-adjusted puppies through positive exposures to a wide variety of stimulus, including new sights, sounds, surfaces, people, animals and places.  Classes will also focus on teaching your puppy that the way to gain access to what he wants is through solid self control and a give and take relationship with you.  While the course will cover some basic obedience skills, please understand that obedience is not the main goal of the course; the main goal of Puppy Smart Start is to create a confident, happy puppy who loves interacting with the outside world, no matter what frightening things it may involve, and who loves having a relationship with you.  Class is 7 1hr sessions long with an 8th make up class for those who may miss a week due to other commitments.  Please note there is an additional one time $25 equipment fee per dog for all new students. 

The ideal age to start this course is with an 8 week old puppy, but class will be highly beneficial for puppies up to age 18 weeks.  We recommend that you read the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior Puppy Socialization position statement on why the long term positive benefits of beginning a structured socialization & exposure program during the critical imprint window of 7 to 14wks of age, outweigh the negative risks of starting such a program before completing the puppy vaccination series.  The leading Veterinary source for dog behavior recommends structured early out-of-the-home exposures & socialization, before the last 16wk vaccine, to prevent serious long range fear based behavior & aggression problems.

Basic Manners
Eligibility: Dogs over age 6 months
Time: Saturdays Cost: $150 for a 5 week session + equipment fee	Start Date: Open Enrollment Location: Maplewood Dog Training

This family oriented dog training class is designed for puppies who have completed Puppy Smart Start and for dogs age 6 months and older who have never been in an obedience training class.  Classes will cover the basic obedience commands of sit, stay, down, come and loose leash walking as well as address behaviors such as jumping up, stealing food, barking, chewing, etc. The class has a large focus on teaching your dog age appropriate self-control for polite greetings, and responsive respect around food and door ways. Most weeks there is a period of appropriate dog social greetings.  Class is 5 1hr sessions long with a 6th make up class for those who may miss a week due to other commitments.  Please note there is an additional one time $25 equipment fee per dog for all new students.

Advanced Manners                             (Canine Good Citizen and Beyond)
Eligibility: Dogs who have completed Basic Manners or have instructor permission
Time: Call 781 806 5707 for more info Cost:  $150 for a 5 week session + equipment fee	Start Date: Check the Class Schedule Location:  Maplewood Dog Training

A course designed for students looking to further explore obedience with their dogs. These lessons will cover higher level obedience with distractions, there is a greater focus on loose leash walking skills, we teach some competition level skills and continue to work on appropriate dog social greetings. The class will also focus on preparing teams to take the American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen Test.   Please note there is an additional one time $25 equipment fee per dog for all new students.

Loose Leash Walking
Eligibility: Dogs and puppies age 4 months and older
Time: Sundays Cost: $90 for 3 class session + equipment fee	Start Date: Check the Class Schedule Location: TBD

Held as a 3 or 4wk mini-session, the Loose Leash Walking course will focus on teaching your dog a foundation for appropriate leash manners, staying in position and being attentive to you with distractions. This course is suitable for dogs age 4 months and older.  Please note there is an additional one time $25 equipment fee per dog for all new students.

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.  Please note there is an additional one time $25 equipment fee for all new students.

Agility Class Descriptions

Communications
Eligibility: Dogs and Puppies age 4 months and older
Time: Thursday 6:30-7:30pm Cost: $150 for 6 week class + equipment fee	Start Date: Check the Class Schedule Location: Maplewood Dog Training

This is a 6 week course open to any dog age 4 months and up. It is a pre-requisite 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. The 1st 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 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.  Please note there is an additional one time $25 equipment fee per dog for all new students.

The 5 Directions
Eligibility: Dogs age 5 months and older with successful completion of Communications
Time: Tuesdays 6-7pm Cost: $150 for 6 week class + equipment fee	Start Date: Check the Class Schedule Location: With an E Farm, Franklin, MA

This 6 week course, open to any dog 5 months of age and over after the required Communications course. The 5 Directions is a pre-req for further agility classes. In The 5 Directions, we work on building on the skills taught in Communications, and applying them to the agility field. In this course we use gates, cones, hoops and jumps to introduce and teach the skills of: Get Out, Here or Come In, Go, Tight and Switch.

After many years teaching and competing in agility, we’ve come to realize that there are essentially these 5 Directional skills that any dog must have in their vocabulary and understanding in order to successfully and reliably make it around an agility course. Once a dog has learned these 5 Directional skills, you, as the handler can move your dog in just about any way you wish to get him to go where you need on the agility field.

Please note there is an additional one time $25 equipment fee per dog for all new students.

We would like to encourage students of any level to take and re-take Communications and The 5 Directions as many times as they feel they and their dog might benefit. As always we are available to discuss your concerns on your training goals and directions.

Equipment Foundations
Eligibility: Dogs age 10 months and older with Successful completion of Communications & 5 Directions
Time: Tuesdays 6-7pm Cost: $150 for 6 week class	Start Date: Check the Class Schedule Location: With an E Farm, Franklin, MA

In this 6 week course we introduce low jumps of all sorts (non-wing, wing, double, tire, broad), tunnels both open and close, the 3 contacts (dog walk, A-frame and teeter-totter), and do an introduction to weave poles (the 'real' weave pole training takes place in a course specific to weave training). Our goal for this course is to teach the skills for proper safe, controlled and fast execution of the obstacles. We work on teaching and reinforcing a ‘contact behavior’ from day 1, as well teaching dogs that jumps are just as much fun as the 'other stuff'. Also in this course, we begin to explore the 5 Directions we worked on in the 1st level, on actual equipment.

Putting it Together (Intermediate Agility)
Eligibility: Instructor Permission
Time: Tuesdays 7-8pm Cost: $140 for a 5 class punch card	Start Date: Check the Class Schedule Location: With an E Farm, Franklin, MA

Our advanced beginner and intermediate agility class stresses handler responsibility on sequences of increasing complexity. By this stage your dog should be fairly reliable on the equipment and with understanding of what his job on the course is, now we start fine tuning your job! We work on the various 'crosses' needed on the agility course (front, back, blind), as well as the nuances of handling and working with the needs of your individual dog to allow you both to be successful out there. This class is held on an on-going Open Enrollment Schedule, giving you the flexibility to train your dog on your schedule.

Continuing On (Competition Agility)
Eligibility: Dogs who can successfully weave 12 weave poles & have instructor permission
Time: Tuesdays 9-10am & 7-8pm Cost: $140 for a 5 class punch card	Start Date: Check the Class Schedule Location: With an E Farm, Franklin, MA

This competition directed class focuses on execution of full length courses, and proper handling for longer, more complex sequences. A pre-req for this level is consistent and reliable performance of 12 weave poles. This class is held on an on-going Open Enrollment Schedule, giving you the flexibility to train your dog on your schedule.

Weave Poles
Eligibility: Dogs must be at least 18 months of age (with closed growth plates)
Time: Check Class Schedule Cost: $150 for 6 week class	Start Date: Check Class Schedule Location: With an E Farm, Franklin, MA

Dogs must be at least 18 months of age (with closed growth plates) to be in this class due to the high physical stress caused by frequent weaving. This is a 6 week class with the specific focus on teaching Weave Poles. The current method used for teaching poles at MDT, is the x-pen cages method. It is required that all students have daily access to at least 1 set of 6 (2 sets of 6 is preferred, and highly recommended) competition style weave poles (so no weave-o-matics, no PVC base poles, no stick-in-the grounds, etc. Channels that can be closed completely and have rigid pole holders will usually work ok) and at least two 36" 8 panel x-pens that can be taken apart. Some weave pole builders are listed here and fairly inexpensive x-pens can be bought at www.petedge.com. We teach weaves systematically in this class, with the dog learning various entrances, speed, and foot work appropriate for the dog's size. You will need the time to practice at home at least 1x EVERY day for the entire 6 weeks of this class. People who do, see excellent results and progress, people who don't, have trouble progressing. It is really not fair to your classmates if you are not willing to put the needed time and energy into weave training at home, so that you come to class prepared to go onto the next step in the process.

This PDF is the document that all students receive in Weave Pole class to aid them with their homework. The homework is based on the PDF document and students are expected to work through the exercises independently at home. During class meeting times we will be working on sequences and courses involving weave poles, tunnels and jumps teaching the dogs how to find proper entries into the weave poles and successfully negotiate weave poles in an agility course setting.

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