Now Accepting Dog Boarding School Reservations for the Holidays!

With my kennel building adventure coming to a conclusion (at last!), we will soon be ready to accept happy campers for boarding and training services.

We will have seven indoor/outdoor suites, and also a private bedroom suite attached to my office for tiny dogs and those with special care needs. In order to offer the ultimate in personalized attention to your dog, we will only accept a total of eight campers at any given time.

I thought it might be a good idea to offer the opportunity for anyone with holiday, vacation, business trip, or other travel plans to make early reservations, since we are operating on a first-come, first-serve basis. If you know your dates, let me know! I am already booking well into next year, but plenty of spaces are still available.

As for rates, we charge $72.00/ day ($500.00/ week), for full service care, play, cuddles, and customized one-on-one training. We offer a round-trip chauffeuring service, and also offer follow-up in-home training. We charge $60.00/ day ($420.00/ week) for a second dog coming for the same dates. If you send three or more dogs all at the same time, the second dog rate applies to the rest of them, as well. Sorry I cannot give a better break, but it is a lot of work (and Im charging less than I charge for a one hour private lesson to give your dog 24 hours of my dedicated care and attention).

If you need routine boarding without training, our rate is $48.00/ day/ dog regardless of the number of dogs you send. Your dog will still get lots of love, attention, and playtime, just no individualized training.

You are welcome to come out for a visit anytime. Just give me a call to make sure Ill be available when you plan to come.

Read More..

Finally Back to School!

Thanks to all of you, for your patience while we waited out "Outbreak 2014".

I am going to do a deep cleaning of the training room tomorrow, in preparation of reopening on Wednesday. Please do remain alert to possible cold symptoms in your dogs, such as sniffles, runny noses, eye discharge, and of course coughing, and if you notice any of these, please do not bring your dogs back to school yet! Also, it bears repeating: if your dogs ever have any health issues at all, such as loose stool, vomiting, etc., please keep them home for at least 48 hours so we can be sure classmates remains healthy.

Read More..

Countdown to Dog School Moving Day!

Big changes are coming, and preparations are keeping me very busy. Most of you know I am living in Manteno part time, switching off with Dave who stays in Lemont while I am at our farm. Once our new kennels are built, we will hopefully sell our Lemont home and live out here full time. In order to continue to offer my training services in the Chicago suburban area, on May first I am moving my training business into a storefront in Bolingbrook on Boughton Road, subletting space from a dog grooming boutique called Bellas.

Despite the excitement about new opportunities, Im feeling a little nervous about the whole thing. I am not used to sharing space. It will be weird, and will take some getting used to!

And despite our Lemont house being a "knock down/ handyman special", I am going to miss the familiarity of the old place and especially the ease of walking from bed to work. Luckily life on our little farm is so wonderful I wont spend much time looking back.

As part of all of my planning, Ive been designing and ordering signs for the store; but I have not been sure how to decorate inside. I cant get too creative, because I have to stay within the style boundaries of my new host, the owner of Bellas. The place has a sort of upscale boutique feel (yeah, that sounds like me...not even a little!).

I had the thought it would be nice to feature photos of my students dogs. Id want all the pictures to match in some manner, and I was thinking about those photos on canvas, that wrap around a base so they dont need a frame. If any of you want to donate an image of your dogs, past or present, to our decor, feel free to create a canvas photo of your dog, any size, which I will proudly display. If you do so, please be sure to use a high-quality image so it maintains its resolution, and Id prefer portrait style photos. You can get these things made at either Walgreens or Walmart, and there are also some discount companies online. Dont feel obligated, but if you want to do it Id love to feature some of my star students on the walls!

See you soon at our Grand Opening; stay tuned for more details :)

Read More..

Back to school!

How exciting! I was just hired to take over the dog training classes here in Ventura through the Ventura College Community Education program! I start this Thursday! The class is similar to my course I teach at my own studio - all positive reinforcement - focusing on the behaviors we want from our dogs (not what we dont want...) I cant wait to get started!

Read More..

Back to Dog School!

Attention Students: I am updating this post to ask each of you to update your pets health records for my files. You can get the veterinary history form here: Veterinary History Form. Thanks for helping me keep everyone healthy!

Yes, we are all clear and its time for your dogs to pack their school bags, gather their lunch boxes, and get ready to bone up on their training skills! Classes resume Sunday 8/26. See you soon--unless your dog is sick, in which case please stay home!!

Read More..