Is It Better To Participate In Training With My Dog, Or Do A Board and Train Program With My Dog?

When many people are looking for an obedience training program in Northern Virginia, they always ask us, “Is it better to participate in the training with my dog, or do your 2-week board and train intensive obedience training program?”

I always tell people, when it comes to which dog training program is right, there is no correct answer; however, we can tell you which one would be the most beneficial based off of your lifestyle.

When doing our dog training lessons at our facility in Northern Virginia, the sessions are set-up as one lesson per week for 4-weeks (for basic) and one lesson per week for 8-weeks for basic and advanced. With our lessons, we require a commitment from the owners of practicing at least 30-40 minutes per day (minimum) with their dogs in the week in-between sessions. If based off of your lifestyle, this is a very feasible and realistic training goal, than you would reap great benefits out of our lessons. Then, it’s on you to take your dog out, practice with distractions, etc.

If you are a busy person, always on the move, and you know that you cannot realistically practice every day, then I would recommend doing our 2-week board and train program in Northern Virginia. With our 2-week board and train program, we train your dog for about 3-4 hours per day, 7 days per week, for 14 days. As you will see in our numerous YouTube Videos, we practice and work your dog with every distraction possible (cars, trucks, people, dogs, noises, etc).

Many people have a huge misconception that when doing a training program where you drop-off your dog, that the dog is only being conditioned to the trainer and will not listen to them when they pick the dog up, this is simply untrue. If you are on our Facebook page, we post screenshots of emails on a daily basis that owners send to us of how amazed they still are with their dog, etc. When a board and train program is properly done with your dog, the trainer should have numerous people doing the training, that way your dog learns that he/she has to listen to everyone, and not “just” focused on a single trainer/person.

Then, when you pick the dogs up, we do a 3 hour turnover with you, explaining in-depth how to control the dog, how to properly correct and praise the dog, and how to maintain the same level of obedience and precision. Then, we have YOU do all the commands outside, off-leash, with distractions numerous times so we both feel comfortable that you know what to do and how to do it.

So, there is not really a right or wrong answer as to which is better, dropping your dog off for training or doing lessons with your dog. It’s really more about what program is best suited for your lifestyle.

If you are a busy person and you know that you don’t have time to invest in training your dog on a daily basis, I would definitely recommend a board and train program similar to ours in Northern Virginia. If you know that you have the time on a daily basis, then I would recommend doing our training lessons.

Hopefully this will help you decide which dog training program is better for your dog, doing dog training lessons or doing a 2-week board and train program with your dog.