At Happy Dog Institute, we want you to feel successful, relieved and supported. We want you to develop lifelong skills that you can use over and over again for a whole host of behaviors and issues you encounter, both now and in the future. We want you to be able to take said skills home with you, and on the road, and on vacation and wherever life with your dog takes you.
To support this goal, we have a whole host of services to help you with your dog. Our team is here to help, and our goal is to give you real-life solutions and practical, common-sense tools. We look forward to working with you!
Group Classes for Adolescent & Adult Dogs Over 23 Weeks
Focus & Control for Teens: In-Person Orientation + Five Weeks of Class
(23 Weeks to Nine Months old)
$240
WHO THIS CLASS IS FOR (Age requirements)
Dogs between five months (over 23 weeks) and nine months old.
WHERE & WHEN
Tuesdays, Thursdays & Saturdays at HDI Headquarters in Tumwater, WA.
Click here to see the schedule and to register.
ABOUT CLASS
Is your dog behaving like a teenager? Ignoring you? Suddenly you’re not so cool anymore? Want to work on your training relationship, teach your dog to listen better, and have some fun with them in the process? Maybe they’re not QUITE ready for a super serious “obedience” class, but you still need better manners. We hear you! Puppy 3 is designed to help you survive the “terrible teens”!
This class is designed to funnel into our field trip class “About Town“, which you can take once you’ve completed this six-week class. It’s also the prerequisite for our Agility Series.
CURRICULUM & GOALS
In this class, you’ll:
- Learn how to get better, reliable behaviors
- Work on new manners and skills each week. Weekly topics include:
- Go lay down
- Come!
- Get down
- Stay with me (loose leash walking and stays)
- Leave it
- Learn new and effective ways to wear your dog out, including mental stimulation
- Get continued support with other common behavior problems during your dog’s adolescence
What you get:
- An in-person orientation followed by five weeks of in-person class sessions
- Access to written materials in PDF format via our homework portal
- A customized Happy Dog Institute clicker + wrist coil
- An interactive food toy
- Starter treats
Foundation Skills for Adults: In-Person Orientation + Five Weeks of Class
(Over Nine Months Old)
$240
WHO THIS CLASS IS FOR (Age Requirements)
Dogs OVER nine months old.
WHERE & WHEN
Tuesdays, Thursdays & Saturdays at HDI Headquarters in Tumwater, WA.
Click here to see the schedule and to register.
ABOUT CLASS
Does your dog jump on other people, bark for attention or get into things they’re not supposed to? Are they easily distracted? Do they have a hard time coming when called? Do you need better strategies to help communicate with your dog? Then this class is for you!
We’ll help you bring out the best in your dog by showing you how to use positive methods to teach them the basic manners and life skills every dog should have. Best of all, we’ll teach you HOW to train your dog so what you learn will transfer outside of the classroom!
CURRICULUM & GOALS
In this class, you’ll build:
- Tools to help your dog focus better in the face of distractions.
- Strategies for getting rid of behaviors you don’t like (jumping on people, play biting, demand barking, running away, etc).
- Help with training manners and obedience, including: sit, down, stay, go to your bed, jumping on people, recall, loose leash walking, leave it.
- Help addressing real-world activities and events with your dog, including: meeting other people and dogs, settling at home, walking in the neighborhood, having guests over, going on an outing and kitchen and mealtime strategies.
- You’ll leave this class knowing HOW to train your dog, not just WHAT to train your dog. We know we already said this but feel it’s worth repeating!
What you get:
- An in-person orientation followed by five weeks of in-person class sessions
- Access to written materials in PDF format via our homework portal
- A customized Happy Dog Institute clicker + wrist coil
- An interactive food toy
- Starter treats
About Town: Four Week Field Trip Class
(Graduates of Focus & Control or Foundation Skills)
$175
WHO THIS CLASS IS FOR (Prerequisites)
Graduates of Focus & Control for Teens or Foundation Skills for Adults.
WHEN & WHERE
Saturdays. Locations are around Olympia & Tumwater. Specific locations are TBA (you’ll get access to the locations in your homework portal). Location examples include Marathon Park, Downtown Olympia’s Boardwalk, the PetWorks, Matchless Brewing, etc.
ABOUT CLASS
Do you want to have a dog you can successfully take everywhere? Feeling like you need some extra practice after Focus & Control for Teens or Foundation Skills for Adults? Still needing additional help with loose leash walking, getting that reliable recall, and working around distractions? Want to keep up your momentum and try some real-world applications? This class will help you “proof” the skills you learned in previous classes in an open-enrollment field trip context. Join anytime when there is room in class, and take four consecutive field trip classes.
CURRICULUM & GOALS
This four-week class will solidify the skills you learned in the above classes. You’ll work on the following skills (field trip locations will depend on the season): loose leash walking, stays, coming when called, meeting other people and dogs appropriately, relaxing in public spaces, handling distractions with ease, and more.
In this class, we will:
- Learn about the rules of recall and other strategies for helping your dog come to you in the face of temptation
- Practice working around numerous distractions (think: other dogs, yummy smells, food, etc.).
- Boost your confidence – and your success rate – in getting your dog to respond to you
- Help you learn to take your dog for a walk without them walking you
- Discuss the ins and outs of using – of course! – reward-based training, including reward removal and environmental reinforcers.
- You’ll also get written class materials in PDF format.
Walkabout Loose Leash Walking Class: Three Weeks of Class
(Graduates of Focus & Control or Foundation Skills)
$150
WHO THIS CLASS IS FOR (Prerequisites)
Dogs who have completed Focus & Control for Teens or Foundation Skills for Adults.
WHERE & WHEN
Days vary, starting at HDI Headquarters in Tumwater, WA. The last two classes are field trip classes Pioneer Park and Percival Landing Park, respectively. Click here to see the schedule and to register.
ABOUT CLASS
Does your dog drag you around by the leash everywhere you go? Or maybe they are perfect angels on walks until they see a distraction? Maybe EVERYTHING is a distraction (squirrel!), and maybe you’re worried they will dislocate your shoulder someday.
Enter: Happy Dog Institute’s Loose Leash Walking Class. Let us help you build on the skills you learned in your core class and solve this frustrating problem!
We are also offering a Total Recall (coming when called) class, and you can purchase both classes as a package to save some money.
Total Recall Class: Three Weeks of Class
(Graduates of Focus & Control or Foundation Skills)
$150
WHO THIS CLASS IS FOR (Prerequisites)
Dogs who have completed Focus & Control for Teens or Foundation Skills for Adults.
WHERE & WHEN
Days vary, starting at HDI Headquarters in Tumwater, WA. The last two classes are field trip classes Pioneer Park and Percival Landing Park, respectively. Click here to see the schedule and to register.
ABOUT CLASS
Tell us if this sounds familiar: “Fido, come!” “Come Fido!” Fido, come!” “Come here Fido!” and…crickets. If they even dane to look up, they go right back to what they are doing afterwards. Or, they take off in the opposite direction. Or maybe they’ll come if there are zero distractions, but all bets are off in other scenarios.
This is where our Total Recall Class comes in. Let us help you problem solve this and practice in real life, as it’s one of the trickiest behaviors to train for folks!
We are also offering a Walkabout (loose leash walking) class, and you can purchase both classes as a package to save some money.
Advanced Manners Class: Six Weeks of Class
(Graduates of Focus & Control or Foundation Skills)
$240
WHO THIS CLASS IS FOR (Prerequisites)
Dogs who have competed Focus & Control for Teens, Foundation Skills for Adults or who have instructor approval.
WHEN & WHERE
Fridays at HDI Headquarters in Tumwater, WA.
Click here to see the schedule and to register.
ABOUT CLASS
Do you want to know what’s beyond a “sit”, “down” and “stay”? Do you have a dog that struggles with “down time” in performance or pet friendly venues? Maybe you were impressed with the skills of a service dog and want to see if your dog can get there?
- Tools to help your dog progress beyond the basics and build your skills to meet training your goals
- Strategies for managing your dog in closer proximity and for longer time in distracting situations
- Help preparing for the AKC CGC test; including polite greetings, grooming skills, loose leash walking, stay and coming when called.
- Learn Control Unleashed pattern games to help navigate challenges and progress your dog’s training skills.
- Support you to further your training in dog sports, obedience trials, and more!
- You’ll leave this class having solid skills to continue your training journey for years to come.
For those wanting to continue on to CGC testing, there will be a separate workshop scheduled after this class.
Packages for Adolescent & Adult Dogs Over 23 Weeks
Focus & Control for Teens OR Foundation Skills for Adults + About Town Field Trip Class
$395
Whether you’re at home, on a walk, at the park or at the vet, it feels great to have a happy, well-mannered pup who listens and responds to you. This package ensures that you and your canine companion will have the important skills you can use no matter where you go.
What’s included:
- Focus & Control for Teens OR Foundation Skills for Adults Class: Learn how to teach your dog basic manners and build problem-solving skills.
- About Town Class: Proof your skills in real-world contexts with our four-week intermediate manners class.
- Homework portal & PDF materials for both classes
- A customized Happy Dog Institute clicker + Starter Kit
Please note: once you purchase this package, you’ll have credits on your account to use for each class. You’ll get an email with details.
Focus & Control for Teens OR Foundation Skills for Adults + Agility Fundamentals 1
$395
If you’re hoping to get your adult dog into our Agility Program, save some money by purchasing the prerequisite – Focus & Control for Teens OR Foundation Skills for Adults – in conjunction with our Agility Fundamentals classes.
What’s included:
- Focus & Control for Teens OR Foundation Skills for Adults Class: learn about positive reinforcement and clicker training to prepare for your Agility program. Also, develop the skills you’ll need to keep your dog engaged with you in a distracting environment.
- Agility Fundamentals 1
- Homework portals & PDF materials for both classes
- A customized Happy Dog Institute clicker + Starter Kit
Please note: once you purchase this package, you’ll have credits on your account to use for each class. You’ll get an email with details.
Loose Leash Walking + Total Recall Class Package
$275
We’ve created two “topics” classes that help problem solve some of the hardest behaviors to train, and then packaged them so you get a discount AND lots of practice working on these tricky behaviors.
What’s included:
Please note: once you purchase this package, you’ll have credits on your account to use for each class. You’ll get an email with details.
“We now can go into stores without any issues. He LOVES Home Depot, mainly b/c everyone there gives him cookies. But he does so, so well, walking right with us and not pulling on his leash or jumping at everyone….Thank you, thank you for all of your help and tips and tricks!! I always recommend you to everyone I meet.”
— Shannon & Zeus