All About Day Training

Wondering what day training is all about? We’ve put together this page to highlight what is involved with day training, and answer some of our most asked questions.

Personalized Service

At Dogs in the Park, we believe in giving you and your dog the best service possible. We keep our day training numbers small, to ensure the safety of the dogs in our care. Our day training program has a maximum of three dogs per staff member, and we make sure to spend one on one time with your pup each day.

In addition, we provide dogs in our day training program with multiple training sessions every day, supervised by our team of experienced Certified Professional Dog Trainers. We tailor our training sessions to your dog’s needs, so we can work on helping you meet your goals for your dog.

When you pick up your dog, you’ll get a report on how your dog did during the day. We track your dog’s progress over time, so if they are continuing to struggle with a behaviour we can adjust our protocols to meet their needs. Just like people, dogs are individuals, and we make sure to treat them as such!

Structure

Routine and structure are an important part of keeping dogs happy and relaxed. That’s why as much as possible, we stick to the same day training schedule each day. In the morning, dogs are dropped off and join our group down stay, where they practice settling around other dogs. After down stay, dogs are given a chance to toilet outdoors, and then are settled in crates for a nap. Mid-morning, the dogs get another chance to toilet, and then work on skills specific to their needs. After another nap, the dogs go out for a midday walk with friends.

Post walk, we give the dogs another rest period, before their afternoon training session and toilet break. Typically dogs then have another rest time before pickup. Why do dogs spend so much time resting at day training? In programs where dogs are active or playing all day, most dogs become overstimulated and overtired, leading to a cranky dog who may show an increase in undesirable behaviours. At day training, we provide lots of rest time, so your dog arrives home tired, but not exhausted or frantic.

Exercise and Social time

Our daily group walks are the highlight of the day for our day training dogs and staff! We believe off-leash exercise is the best way to meet most dogs’ exercise needs, and that is what we strive to give your dog at day training. If your dog is not reliable off leash, that’s okay! Every dog in day training starts on a long line of 25 feet or more, so we can practice teaching them off leash skills while keeping them as safe as we can. The more experienced dogs on walks often help teach newer dogs how to stay with the group, practice group down stays, and play appropriately.

We do our very best to ensure your dog is not only safe on walks, but also has a good time! Some dogs are too much for others, so we have a size or temperament mismatch, we run two separate group walks. From time to time, we may not have a dog that is an appropriate match for your dog. In that case, your dog will have a solo walk where we can really focus on building recall skills and engagement.

Is Day Training right for your dog?

There are lots of dogs who can benefit from day training!

• Older puppies who need to build self control and social skills

• Dogs who need practice settling around other dogs and in a crate

• Teenage dogs who need to work on manners, loose leash, and recall

• Dogs who enjoy learning new things and spending time with friends

Day Training is not suitable for dogs with behaviour challenges such as reactivity, aggression, anxiety etc. If your dog needs extra help, our Good Dog Program is the place for you!

Want to get started?

You can sign up for an Intro to Day Training package below, which includes two days of day training, as well as a 30 minute intake where we see if your dog is suitable for day training, assess their training needs, and go over any questions you may have. Please email admin@dogsinthepark.ca if you have any questions about our day training program!