
Puppy Preschool is a 3-week long hybrid style board and train program where your puppy will stay at TCD for training Monday-Friday and then return home on the weekends. This is by far our most popular training program and we have had countless success stories of sending home rowdy little puppies with some manners, as well as helping shy puppies come out of their shells and enjoy the world around them! We only take on two students at a time so that our time is truly devoted to your little one, but because of this there is often a waitlist. Be sure to get in touch with us asap to get on our books!
We cover all basic obedience commands like sit, down, coming when called, leash walking, polite greetings with no jumping, appropriate play behavior with no biting, and more. These are automatically included in your puppy's program, but we can make adjustments as requested.
Potty training, crate training, car rides, grooming skills, veterinary handling, dog socialization, exposure to kids, and more. Our goal is to help your puppy become a well rounded member of society and a dog that people outside of just your immediate family enjoy spending time around!
Socialization is not just about letting your puppy play with other dogs or people - its about showing them the world around them in doses they can digest and teaching them the appropriate way to behave in social settings.

Contact us to begin the process! You will be asked to fill out some paperwork that gives us the necessary basic info about you and your pup. We will discuss the basics about what we will do with your pup while he/she is with us, talk about any personalized goals or issues you are having, and develop a training plan that is unique to what you actually need for your specific puppy.
Once we've received your paperwork and have discussed your goals, we will set a start date based on our availability for new students and we will send your first invoice for half of the cost of the total program. Reservations are not secure until all paperwork is completed and the first payment is received. Since we only take two students at a time, your desired start date may become unavailable if these things are not completed in a timely manner. The remainder of the amount due will be collected at the end of the program.
New Preschool Puppies are dropped off on Sunday evenings so that they can get comfortable with our space with the goal of beginning training on the following morning. We recommend not feeding them dinner so our trainers can feed them and start building a relationship with them right away. Please bring enough food for them for 1 week and any medications/supplements they have on a regular basis. You are welcome to bring beds, blankets, special toys, treats, etc. to decorate their sleeping space as well as long as your puppy does not tear them up or destroy them.
Each day your puppy will receive 5 dedicated training sessions, tons of play time, healthy dog and human socialization, and at least one "field trip" outing per week. We cater their training sessions to whatever is established in your personalized training plan, but we will always work on the basics like crate training, leash walking, sit, down, stay, coming when called, discouraging biting, discouraging jumping, etc. We will periodically send photos to let you know how they are doing, and you will likely see them appear on our social media in reels and photos too!
On Friday evening we will bring your little one home to you! Your trainer will sit down with you to discuss what was worked on during the week, what your puppy excelled at, what they need some more work with, and what our plan for the next week will be. We will assign you a few exercises to work on over the weekend with your puppy, and then we will be on our way!
Have fun re-acquainting with your puppy, bonding, playing, and enjoying them! Practice the homework we assign to you and let us know what is/isn't working so we can adjust our approach. Puppies are only puppies for a short while, so we want to make sure that you get to enjoy them and make memories even though they are in training!
On Sunday evening, bring the pup back to us! We will begin the next week of training and do it all over again! This is a three week program.
Did you know that your puppy will receive 10% off of regular boarding with TCD for life after completing Preschool? We spend a ton of time building a bond with your little one and want to see them again in the future! It makes us so happy to get to see our little scholars grow up into mature, well behaved dogs.
If in the future you are interested in refreshing their training or teaching some new skills with another obedience-based board and train, we offer our graduates 50% off of any future program!
Puppies can start training as early as 8 weeks old and are welcome in preschool until they are 8 months of age. We find the best time to start a puppy with our program is around 16 weeks/4 months of age, but can absolutely take younger if needed.
We require that puppies have all vaccinations appropriate for their age. For example, an 8 week old puppy will likely only have 1 DHPP vaccine with two more already scheduled, however a 20 week old puppy should be completely finished with their DHPP vaccines. Please review the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) website for the most up-to-date recommended vaccination schedule.
We prefer that puppies come to us entirely finished with their puppy series vaccines, however we also recognize the reality of needing to start training early to prevent bad habits.
For the safety of our staff, other guest dogs, and the dogs that live here on our property we require standard vaccination procedures. We are willing to accept legitimate titer results from a veterinarian that prove immunization in lieu of annual vaccines.
Nope! TCD does not require sterilization for any of our programs.
Absolutely, but you must make an appointment with us to do so. We host lots of events, care for other people's dogs, have private training clients, etc. throughout the day and we are not able to accommodate unexpected drop-ins. We would be happy to have you swing by but we need a heads up first.
We proudly follow the LIMA model of dog training, which stands for "Least Invasive, Minimally Aversive." While 90% of what we do is through positive reinforcement, we recognize that some behaviors that we as humans do not appreciate are self-reinforcing for a dog, so corrections to their behavior may be required. We will work to find the lowest level of correction required for the dog to stop pursuing that unwanted behavior and then immediately reward them for making better choices.
Your choice! You are welcome to come pick them up to take them, or if the appointment is local to us we would be happy to bring them as well! If doing the latter please let whatever service provider it is know that their trainer will be bringing them to their appointment and has permission to do so.
Of course! While we do our best to integrate the family during the training process, we understand that sometimes life just doesn't work out that way. We are very flexible with the schedule and can accommodate lots of variations to meet your needs. Puppies staying with us over the weekends during their preschool program will be charged regular boarding prices ($55 per day) for their extra days.
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