.png)
Core Skills & Manners Board & Train Program
This program is designed for older puppies who are ready to refine their manners and take their skills into the real world. It emphasizes leash walking, polite greetings, impulse control, recall, and staying focused around distractions. Puppies in this program also participate in structured outings to pet-friendly stores, patios, and other public spaces, ensuring they can succeed in everyday environments with confidence.
Program Information:
The Core Skills & Manners Program is best suited for puppies between 4 and 12 months of age. It is designed to help your adolescent puppy transition from the basics into a well-mannered, reliable companion in everyday life. By this stage, many puppies are entering their teenage phase, where testing boundaries, pulling on leash, and struggling with impulse control are common. This program provides the structure and consistency needed to move beyond the foundations and ensure your puppy develops the skills to thrive in real-world environments.
In this program, we focus on refining manners and building reliability around distractions. Training includes leash walking without pulling, polite greetings with people and other dogs, impulse control around food, toys, and guests, and a stronger recall. Puppies also work on stay and place with increasing levels of difficulty, so they can remain calm and focused even when the world around them is exciting. To ensure these skills translate beyond the home, we include structured outings to dog-friendly patios, stores, and neighborhood settings, giving your puppy practice in real-life situations.
Just like our Foundations Program, every dog stays in the home of one of our professional trainers, where they receive individualized care and daily structured training. Families receive resources before, during, and after the program, detailed report cards to track progress, and ongoing support after graduation. This ensures the skills learned with us can be consistently reinforced at home.
The Core Skills & Manners Program begins at three weeks, but many families find that four or more weeks provide the best balance of progress and reliability. Four weeks is our most popular option, as it allows enough time for strong leash skills, dependable obedience, and impulse control in a variety of settings. Families who choose six or eight weeks often do so to achieve a higher level of reliability in public and minimize the risk of regression when their dog transitions back home.
It’s important to remember that no matter the length, consistency is the key to lasting results. The more time we have to proof and reinforce skills in different situations, the stronger your dog’s manners will be and the less likely they are to slip back into old habits.
What is Covered:
​The Core Skills & Manners Program is designed for adolescent puppies who already have some foundations but need more structure and reliability as they enter their teenage phase. At this stage, dogs are often testing boundaries, pulling on leash, and struggling with impulse control. This program gives them the skills to become well-mannered companions both at home and in public. This is also a great option to get ahead of these behaviors and ensure consistency as they mature.
Reinforcement of Potty & Crate Training
We continue to maintain potty and crate routines during your dog’s stay. However, if your dog is still struggling in these areas, we may recommend the Foundations Program, the Specialty & Behavior Program, or a longer Core Skills & Manners stay to ensure we can meet your goals effectively.
Distraction Proofing
We gradually increase the challenge level so your dog learns to stay focused no matter what’s happening around them. Whether it’s recalling when other dogs are nearby or holding a stay command in a busy setting, this step ensures reliability in real-world scenarios.
Leash Training
We strengthen leash skills by teaching your dog to walk calmly at your side without pulling. Training begins in controlled settings and progresses to neighborhood walks and structured outings, building confidence and reliability in real-world environments.
Socialization & Desensitization
We expose your dog to new people, environments, sounds, and handling in a safe and structured way. Outings to dog-friendly patios and stores give them opportunities to practice calm, confident behavior in the real world.
Commands
We build on your dog’s foundations by working on essential cues such as sit, down, place, stay, drop it, leave it, recall, and touch. At this stage, your puppy’s attention span is longer, so we emphasize reliability and duration — teaching them to hold positions, respond even with distractions, and follow through consistently.
Obedience & Impulse Control
We address the everyday manners that matter most at home. This includes calm greetings without jumping, not counter surfing, leaving food alone in the kitchen, respecting furniture boundaries, reducing excessive barking, and preventing inappropriate chewing. These lessons help your dog practice self-control and develop the calm, polite behaviors you want to see at home.
Program Lengths:
Every puppy is different, and the right length of stay depends on their age, goals, and your household’s needs. In general, the longer your puppy is with us, the more time we have to build strong habits, reinforce consistency, and minimize the risk of regression after graduation. Shorter programs are a great way to introduce skills, while longer programs allow us to solidify routines and prepare your puppy for more complex situations. Regardless of length, it’s important for families to continue reinforcing what their puppy has learned at home, since consistency is the key to lasting success.
Three Weeks
Minimum
A solid starting point for adolescent dogs who already have some foundations. We focus on leash manners, impulse control, and reinforcing obedience, while beginning structured outings to introduce skills in the real world.
Four Weeks
Most Popular
The sweet spot for families who want reliable improvements in both home manners and public skills. Four weeks gives us time to refine obedience, strengthen impulse control, and practice calm, consistent behavior in a variety of settings.
Six Weeks
Extended Progress
A great fit for families with busier schedules or dogs who need extra time to overcome challenges. Six weeks allows us to layer in more advanced distraction work, build stronger reliability in public outings, and reduce problem behaviors like jumping or counter surfing.
Eight Weeks
Comprehensive
Our most immersive option for Core training. Eight weeks provides the structure needed to solidify manners, expand command reliability, and ensure your dog can confidently handle real-world distractions. This program is especially helpful for dogs with higher energy levels or families who want their dog to return home with deeply established skills and routines.
