Board & Train -

Going on vacation, and want to brush up on your dog’s obedience while you’re away? Or perhaps you want help giving your new dog or puppy the very best head-start possible? Board & train is the program for you!

During a board & train program, your dog lives with one of our professional dog trainers in their home, and is integrated into aspects of their family life. We treat your dog like one of ours, alternating play and training sessions with nap time and lots of snuggles.

Note: Paws Abilities Dog Training does not offer board & train programs to treat aggressive or anxious behavior. In our extensive experience treating these behavioral issues, we’ve found that they are simply too context-specific to resolve satisfactorily through board & train alone. We highly recommend private training lessons, Family Dog Mediation, behavior consultations, or Canine to Five to address complex behavioral issues such as aggression or anxiety.

Our skilled trainers make training very easy for your dog to understand, add challenges appropriately, and get your dog to a level of proficiency in a shorter amount of time than the average owner.

I know what you’re thinking: it doesn’t benefit our family to have a dog that listens well to the trainer they stayed with, but not to us! That’s why our board & train programs are a bit different than most other training companies.

Instead of living with your trainer all week, your dog will stay with your trainer from Sunday evening through Friday evening each week. You will then pick your dog up on Friday evening, and receive a training lesson covering the skills your dog has been working on from the past week. Expect to have about 10-15 minutes of homework to do each day on Saturday and Sunday, so that you can become comfortable working with your dog on their new skills. If you run into any problems, your trainer will help you to trouble-shoot on Sunday evening when you drop your dog back off, so that we can make sure that each step of the training process works for both you and your dog! And let’s be honest: you didn’t want to be away from your dog for weeks at a time anyway, did you?

Board & Train is offered on a very limited basis, due to our board & train dogs living in our homes with us.

We currently have trainers offering board & train in Ada with Stevie, Saint Michael with Jaceil (puppies only), and Burnsville with Sara (dogs 35lb or under for training with Sara, limited whelping/litter-raising is also available with sufficient advanced notice).

Please email us for more information on board & train options, or to check on the availability of a trainer.

Puppy Jump-Start: for puppies 16 weeks or younger.

$1250/week, minimum program length of two weeks (longer programs available).

Start your puppy off with a pro! If you’re dreading middle-of-the-night potty trips on a work night, not sure how your puppy will handle being alone during the workday, or worried at all about the needs of a new baby puppy, we’ve got you covered!

We love starting puppies off on the right paw. Your program includes:

Jump-starting crate or puppy pen training with the same puppy pen or crate you will be using at home.
Jump-starting potty training (yes, including those middle-of-the-night trips outside!).
Preventative training for separation issues (we help your puppy learn that it’s safe to be alone for short periods of time).
Preventative training for guarding issues (we’ll teach your puppy that good things happen when people approach her food, toys, and spaces).
Acclimation to a head halter (a Gentle Leader is included at no charge in the cost of your program).
Drop it/trade (we’ll show you how to handle normal puppy exploration without conflict, so that you can get your socks back without a chase).
Leave it (puppy self-control at its finest).
Socialization to noises (we’ll provide a happy and fun intro to thunderstorms, fireworks, gunfire, traffic sounds, dogs barking, kids playing, crowd noises, constructions sounds, sirens, beeps, and other common noises that dogs find frightening).
Introductory training for easy handling and grooming, based on your dog’s breed and coat type (this includes foot handling, toenail trimming, ear cleaning prep, brushing your puppy’s coat, and more).
Problem solving/intro to puzzles and shaping (by exploring new challenges, your puppy will become more confident and learn more quickly).
Proprioception/intro to surfaces and puppy-safe obstacles (by exploring puppy-safe physical challenges, your puppy will gain confidence and learn how to use her body).
Socialization to people, dogs, and new places (this is one of the most important things for puppies, so we provide lots of safe and fun intros to new experiences).

Tweeners Jump-Start: for older puppies between 4-12 months of age

$1250/week for puppies who are still working on their crate- and potty-training; $1200/week for puppies who are comfortable in a crate or puppy-pen and who haven’t had an accident in your home for at least the last three weeks. Minimum program length of two weeks (longer programs are available).

Adolescence is a tough time for puppies and the people who live with them! We’re here to help with anything adolescence throws at you, whether you need assistance with training manners or would like to catch up on socialization for a timid teen.

Tweener programs can be customized to include a combination of our adult dog manners and puppy jump-start curriculum, depending on your unique dog!

Adult Dog Manners: for dogs 8 months of age or older

$1250/week for adult dogs who are still working on their housetraining; $1200/week for adult dogs who are fully housetrained. Minimum program length of two weeks (longer programs are available). Adult dogs must be comfortable and relaxed in a crate to be eligible for board and train programs (not quite there yet? Start with a private training lesson to teach this piece!)

Is your dog friendly to people and other dogs, but in need of some polite manners? We can help! Your program will include:

Acclimation to a head halter (a Gentle Leader is included at no charge in the cost of your program).
Polite leash manners (we’ll teach your dog how to walk without pulling on the leash, check in with you on walks, and pass others politely in public).
Polite door manners (this includes waiting politely at doorways until released, reorienting to you after passing through doors, and waiting calmly instead of rushing when the door is opened).
Mental exercise and enrichment, including intro to puzzles and shaping (we’ll teach your dog how to problem-solve, offer behaviors to you, and entertain themselves).
“Say Please” protocol (one of the cornerstones of politeness is learning how to ask for things they way! We’ll teach your dog to sit and look at you when they want things, a great way to eliminate demand barking, pawing, whining, or grabbing at things).
Place/go to your spot (this includes going to a special rug or mat and staying there until released – useful when you’re inviting guests into your home, eating at an outdoor restaurant with your dog, or doing anything else where doggy assistance is just not desired).

Problem Solving: for all ages

$1500/week; program length varies.

Need help with a behavioral issue? We provide limited board and train programs for behavioral issues that are unrelated to aggression or anxiety. Common issues that we can address in board and train include reactivity on leash related to overexcitement/enthusiasm (for example, dogs who are totally appropriate with other dogs off-leash, but get amped up and noisy when they meet other dogs on-leash), general self-control issues, puppies who guard food or toys, teaching wiggly dogs to cooperate for nail trimming or brushing, and other similar cases. Please email us to see whether your training goals would be appropriate for a board & train package!

Puppy Nanny: whelping & litter-raising for pregnant moms and their puppies

$8000 package price for uncomplicated pregnancy/litters of 2-8 puppies. Additional charges apply for puppy emergency care (for example, if a litter of puppies needs to be bottle-raised or otherwise supported 24/7 by a team of puppy nannies) or for larger litters.

Need a puppy nanny? Sara is a Certified Veterinary Technician who has extensive midwife and puppy-raising experience with a wide variety of breeds and mixes! Your mama-to-be will move in with Sara at least two weeks prior to her due date to become comfy with our surroundings.

Your dog will give birth in a private birthing area in Sara’s office, located right outside her bedroom (and yes, of course you’re welcome to be there for the magic moments, and to visit daily for the entire time your dog and her puppies are here). Puppies stay with us until 8-10 weeks of age, depending on breed, size, placement needs, and developmental milestones.

Note: During the time when your litter is here, we take extensive biosecurity measures, including withdrawing our personal dogs from all training classes/trials (so as not to bring any bugs home), taking a hiatus from classroom teaching, daily (okay, often as much as hourly – puppies are messy!) cleaning with Rescue disinfectant, and requiring that visitors to the home follow “best practices” to make sure they’re not exposing your puppies to any potential diseases. For these reasons, whelping spots are limited (generally only once a year).

Puppies are raised with Avidog and Puppy Culture protocols, including:

Early Neurological Stimulation (Super Puppy Protocol)
Early Scent Introduction
New socialization items introduced into the whelping pen daily from the time eyes open until the time puppies go home.
Individualized training/socialization/grooming sessions for each puppy from the time ears and eyes open until the time puppies go home.
Puppy recall training.
Potty training to a litterbox.
Crate training (initially as a group, then individually).
Nail trimming (every three days while puppies are nursing in order to keep mama’s underside from getting scratched up, then typically every 5-10 days as needed after that).
Puppy weights (twice a day for the first two weeks, then dropping down to daily and later weekly as puppies grow).
Supplemental puppy feeding (with a bottle or tube) for puppies who need it.
Puppy-safe socialization outings to introduce car rides, new people, new places, etc.
Extensive, customized socialization to new sounds, sights, surfaces, puppy-safe obstacles, people, other puppy-safe/friendly animals, handicap accessories, wearing coats/collars/capes/boots, and more.
Introduction to shallow water/puppy pool parties!
Introduction to play skills for future sports puppies (this can be customized for different breeds: for example, early/safe intro to a flirt pole for future coursing puppies, recalls to a tug for future flyball puppies, intro to fetch for future retrievers or obedience prospects).
Stacked pictures at seven and eight weeks for structure analysis.
Veterinary visits within half an hour’s travel distance of our home (note: if your regular veterinarian is located outside of this travel area, we will require that you transfer care of your dog and her puppies to our veterinary clinic while they are at our home for safety in case of emergencies).
Guarding prevention exercises between 6-8 weeks of age.
Introduction to walking on a leash between 7-8 weeks of age.
Extensive notes on individual puppies, including developmental milestones, personality traits, observations, training, and more.
Avidog APET evaluations for each puppy, and optional help matching puppies to new owners if you wish.
Ongoing litter support via a private Facebook group, even after placement!

Please email Sara directly for more information on Puppy Nanny services.