Good to Know

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything dog owners in Bakersfield and Kern County ask us about board & train, private lessons, puppies, the e-collar, pricing, and how to get started.

Puppy Training Obedience Board & Train Aggressive Dogs Rattlesnake Avoidance Plans & Pricing Santa Clarita San Fernando Valley Tehachapi Shafter

Getting Started

How do I get started? Start with a free phone consultation. Tell us about your dog, what is going well and what is not, and we will tell you which program fits. Use the form on this page or call (661) 655-8787. Every program and price is listed on our plans and pricing page.
Where does the training happen? Do you come to my house? Training happens at our facility at 1450 Olive Drive, Unit A, on the north side of Bakersfield just off Highway 99, and it is by appointment. We do not run in-home training here. There is a good reason for training away from home: it is easy for a dog to listen in its own living room, and much harder in a new place full of distractions. A dog that works well at our facility works well anywhere. See what we cover in obedience training in Bakersfield.
Which towns do you take dogs from? Most of our clients are in Bakersfield itself, and we regularly take dogs from Shafter, Wasco, Delano, Buttonwillow, Taft, Arvin, Lamont, Porterville, Tulare, Lindsay, Exeter and Farmersville, from Tehachapi up the hill, and from Santa Clarita, Fillmore and the San Fernando Valley south over the Grapevine.
I live 80 or 100 miles away. Is that practical? It is, and board and train is usually the reason why. From Santa Clarita or the San Fernando Valley a lesson package means driving the Grapevine every week, while a board and train is one drive to drop your dog off and one to pick them up, with a handover session at the end so you can run the commands yourself. Full details on the Santa Clarita and San Fernando Valley pages.
How much time do I need to spend training every day? You do not have to set aside a block of time. We teach you how to work the training into what you already do with your dog: feeding, walks, going out the door, having people over. The commands get practiced in the middle of ordinary life, which is also where you need them. See the lesson breakdown on our obedience page.

Programs and Pricing

What does dog training cost in Bakersfield? Our lesson packages start at Basic Marker Mastery at $550 and Basic Obedience, four private lessons, at $700. Board and train runs from one week at $1,600 to two weeks at $2,800. Everything current is on the plans and pricing page.
What is the difference between lessons and board and train? With lessons, you and your dog come to us and you do the training, with a trainer coaching you through it. With board and train, your dog stays with a trainer for one, two or three weeks and works every day, and you get a handover session at the end. Lessons build the obedience you practice; board and train is what we use when we are working toward off-leash reliability or a real behavior problem.
Which program do most people pick? The two-week board and train. Across Off Leash K9 it is the most popular program by a distance, and it is the one that gets the strongest results, because the dog works every day with a professional instead of once a week. Compare it against the rest on our board and train page.
Do you offer payment plans? Payment plans are available. Call us today to learn more about payment options.
Do you train aggressive or reactive dogs? Yes. Aggression and reactivity are the reason for our three-week board and train for aggression, which runs $4,200 to $5,000 depending on the dog and what it is going to take. It is a longer program on purpose: this work is about changing how a dog responds to the thing that sets it off, and that takes daily repetition. Read what is involved on our aggressive dog training page.
Do you prepare dogs for the AKC Canine Good Citizen test? Yes. We run an AKC Canine Good Citizen program, and we are a certified CGC evaluator, so the test can be taken here. Call us for current pricing on it.

Puppies

How young can a puppy start training? Twelve weeks, as long as your puppy has had two sets of vaccines. There is no reason to sit on your hands until six months: the habits your puppy is forming right now are the ones you will be undoing later. See what a young puppy actually works on in puppy training in Bakersfield.
Which program is right for a puppy? Most people start with Puppy Fundamentals and Obedience at $499, which covers the early work: potty training, crate training, socialization and an introduction to obedience. If you would rather talk it through with a trainer first, a Puppy Training Consultation is $150. Basic Marker Mastery at $550 is the marker-based route for a puppy that is still too young for e-collar work.
At what age can e-collar training start? Five months. That is the age we start e-collar obedience on any dog, and it is a separate question from when training can begin. A twelve-week-old puppy is not too young to train; it is too young for the e-collar. The puppy training page explains how the two stages fit together.
What if my puppy is not five months old yet? Then we use the marker and treat method instead, which is exactly what Basic Marker Mastery and Puppy Fundamentals are built on. Your puppy gets a real foundation in basic obedience and house training now, and the e-collar work comes later when the age is right.

Our Methods and the E-Collar

What is an e-collar and how does it work? An e-collar is a collar with a stimulation mechanism, controlled by a remote the handler holds, working at ranges of up to 400 yards. It is not a shock collar and it is not a punishment. It produces a subtle electrical pulse between two contact points, closer to a phone on vibrate than to anything painful, and we teach the dog that the tap means "I am trying to get your attention." It is the same tool the top law enforcement agencies, the military and federal patrol, detection and search and rescue programs use.
Will the e-collar hurt my dog? No. At your first session we put the e-collar on your own arm so you can feel the level of stimulation for yourself, and we will use it on ourselves too. It does not burn skin and it is nothing like a taser. We are dog trainers because we love dogs, and we will not do anything to a dog that we will not do to ourselves.
Will my dog have to wear the e-collar forever? No. Inside your home your dog will be listening to you without it very quickly. We do recommend putting it on before your dog goes outside off-leash, in the same spirit as a seat belt: you never know what is going to catch your dog's attention on the day it matters, and without the collar you have no way to call them off it.
Will my dog hate wearing it? Almost everyone is surprised by the opposite. An e-collar beeps when you switch it on, and dogs learn that beep fast, because the collar means going outside to run, play and work. Most dogs come running and sit down in front of you waiting for it to go on.
What is marker training? A marker, often a clicker, is a distinct sound that marks the exact instant your dog does the right thing, immediately followed by a reward. The precision is the point: the dog learns faster because there is no guessing about which part of what it just did earned the treat. That is the method behind Basic Marker Mastery, and the route we use for puppies under five months.

Results, Dogs and Local Questions

Will my dog really be reliable off-leash? Off-leash reliability is what our board and train programs are built for, because it takes daily repetition around real distractions, not one lesson a week. What we can tell you is what we aim for on every dog: obedient, off-leash and steady with distractions, at the obedience level of most police and military working dogs. Dogs are living animals and every one is different, which is why the honest answer starts with a conversation about yours.
My dog is tiny. Does this work on small dogs? Yes. E-collar training works on a dog of any size, any shape and any age above five months, and the small dogs are often the ones nobody ever bothered to train. Same programs, same prices.
What is a two-week board and train, day to day? Fourteen days at our facility, working every day toward advanced off-leash obedience and on whatever behavior needs changing. It is $2,800, in two versions: Community K9 and Urban K9. Full detail on the board and train page.
We hike and camp around Kern County. Can you rattlesnake-proof my dog? Yes, and in this part of California it is worth doing. Our Snake Avoidance Foundations Program is $349, or $599 with a Mini Educator e-collar included. It teaches your dog to recognize a rattlesnake and get away from it rather than investigate it. More on our rattlesnake avoidance page.
It gets brutally hot here. Do you still train in summer? Yes, and the heat is part of why the work matters. Bakersfield summers push walks into the early morning and the evening, which is exactly when the Kern River Parkway Trail and The Park at River Walk are busiest with other dogs, bikes and strollers. A dog that ignores you at home will ignore you there. Sessions and board and train days are planned around the temperature.
Will my dog benefit from this, honestly? Most of the problems people call us about, biting, chewing, jumping, pulling, come out of boredom and a lack of exercise and structure. Training gives a dog all three at once: something to think about, the freedom to run and play off-leash, and clear rules. If you do not give your dog a job, it will find one, and you will not like the job it picks. Have a look at the programs and call us.

Still have a question about your dog?

Ask us. The phone consultation is free, there is no script, and if a different program suits your dog better than the one you called about, we will say so.
Call (661) 655-8787 See plans & pricing Send us a message