Dog Training Courses
Basic Training -6 week courses
Elementary School
Perfect for dogs of any age who need to start — or restart — with foundational training skills.
Elementary School helps you and your dog build the skills that make everyday life together easier. Whether you have a puppy just getting started, a newly adopted dog who needs a fresh start, or an adult dog who “knows it at home” but struggles to use those skills in the real world, this class is a great place to begin.
We focus on building communication, confidence, and practical skills in a positive, supportive environment — while helping you learn how to continue strengthening those skills outside of class.
What This Class Covers:
- Attention & Focus: Building engagement with you, even when distractions are present
- Recall: Building reliable come-when-called skills
- Loose-Leash Walking: Teaching your dog how to walk with you without pulling
- Stay: Introducing the foundations of staying in place until released
- Leave It: Building impulse control around things your dog wants
- Place: Teaching your dog to settle on a designated spot
- Sit & Down: Building reliable foundational behaviors
- Cooperative Care: Target work and body handling to help make everyday care easier
- Real-Life Skills: Learning how to take the behaviors your dog knows at home and use them when life is happening around you
Of course, Puppy Behaviors Are Welcome, Too!
Puppies come with their own set of challenges! We’ll also address age-appropriate behaviors like biting and nipping, house training, appropriate socialization, and other common puppy behaviors.
AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy: Our Elementary School graduation assessment incorporates the AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy test, with a few additional skills. Successful graduates can earn their AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy award and certification.
We use positive reinforcement (R+) and Fear Free methods. Our training is science-based, humane, and designed to help dogs and their people build skills they can use in real life.
Small Class Sizes: Classes are intentionally kept small so there’s plenty of room to learn, practice, and receive guidance along the way.
Cost: 6 classes: Credit $275; Cash $250
Middle School
Welcome to Middle School — that slightly awkward stage between learning the basics and figuring out how to use them in the real world.
Your dog learned foundational skills in Elementary School. Now it’s time to start putting those skills into practice outside of the classroom.
For many dogs, simply working in new environments around different sights, sounds, smells, people, and dogs is challenging enough. Middle School helps you understand what your dog is communicating and how to support them as you begin navigating the real world together.
What This Class Covers:
- Real-World Training: Taking foundation skills out of the classroom and learning how to use them in everyday environments
- Recall: Continuing to strengthen come-when-called skills while learning when your dog is ready to practice successfully
- Sit, Down & Stay: Applying familiar behaviors in new environments and situations
- Leash Skills: Continuing loose-leash walking and learning how to navigate the world together
- Attention & Focus: Helping your dog reconnect with you when the environment becomes more interesting
- Thresholds & Triggers: Learning to recognize when your dog is comfortable or becoming overwhelmed and needs your support
- Polite Greetings: Practicing appropriate interactions with people while respecting your dog’s comfort level
- Cooperative Care: Continuing body-handling skills for grooming, veterinary care, and everyday handling
- Confidence Building: Helping your dog safely experience unfamiliar environments, surfaces, objects, and situations
From Knowing the Skills to Using the Skills
Middle School is where we start bridging the gap between “my dog knows this at home” and understanding what happens when you ask your dog to use those same skills out in the world.
You’ll learn how to recognize when your dog is ready to work, when the environment may be asking too much, and how to adjust so you can help your dog succeed rather than simply repeating a cue they aren’t able to respond to.
Small Class Sizes: Classes are intentionally kept small so there’s plenty of room to learn, practice, and receive guidance along the way.
We use positive reinforcement (R+) and Fear Free methods. Our training is humane, science-based, and focused on helping dogs and their people learn to navigate real life together.
Prerequisite: Successful completion of Elementary School or passing an entry assessment.
Cost: 6 classes: Credit $275; Cash $250
High School
You’ve built the foundation. You’ve learned how to use those skills in the real world. Now it’s time to build reliability.
High School brings everything you and your dog have learned together and begins raising the bar. We’ll work toward greater reliability by intentionally adding distance, duration, and distractions while continuing to strengthen communication between you and your dog.
The goal is to build reliable skills you and your dog can demonstrate together — not just in class, but in everyday life.
What This Class Covers:
- Recall: Strengthening come-when-called skills around increasing distractions
- Stay: Building longer duration and greater distance while maintaining success
- Loose-Leash Walking: Strengthening leash skills in more challenging environments
- Attention & Focus: Maintaining connection and responsiveness around distractions
- Impulse Control: Strengthening Leave It, Wait, redirection, and other skills for everyday situations
- Real-Life Manners: Practicing door manners, leashing up, polite greetings, and other everyday skills
- Settle: Building the ability to relax and remain calm when life is happening around you
- The 3 Ds: Building reliability by gradually adding distance, duration, and distraction
Putting It All Together
High School is about taking everything you’ve learned and developing greater reliability and confidence as a team. You’ll continue learning when to increase difficulty, when your dog needs additional support, and how to maintain the skills you’ve built long after graduation.
Canine Good Citizen Graduation
Our High School curriculum prepares dogs and their handlers for the AKC Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test. The CGC test serves as our graduation assessment, and dogs who successfully meet the AKC testing requirements will earn their CGC.
Small Class Sizes: Classes are intentionally kept small so there’s plenty of room to learn, practice, and receive guidance along the way.
We use positive reinforcement (R+) and Fear Free methods. Our training is humane, science-based, and designed to build reliable skills while supporting the relationship between dogs and their people.
Prerequisite: Successful completion of Middle School or demonstration of equivalent skills.
Cost: 6 classes: Credit $275; Cash $250
At Naughty Noodle Academy, we are passionate about making dog training fun, meaningful, and effective. Explore our courses today and see how we can support your dog’s training journey! Get started by registering for free here.
