What happens in a dog training assessment, minute by minute

Before I knock

The Initial Assessment Visit is 45 minutes, in your home, and it costs $125. If you adopted your dog within the last six months it is free. Prices are on the pricing page, and there is nothing hiding behind them.

But by the time I knock on your door, we have already talked. The free 15 minute phone call happens first, and it is where I ask about the vet, the history, what the dog does, and what you want. I also ask you to do a few things before I arrive.

Do not feed the dog a full meal in the two hours before. A hungry dog is an honest dog.

Have his usual leash and collar or harness out. I want to see what you use, not what you bought for me.

If he is reactive to strangers at the door, crate him or put him in another room before I arrive. We will get to the door later, on purpose.

Text me a couple of short videos if you can. The pull on the walk. The thing at the window. It saves us ten minutes of “he never does it when you are here.”

Minutes 0 to 5: the door

I am watching from the moment the door opens. Does the dog charge? Bark? Hide behind you? Ignore me entirely? What do you do with your hands and your voice?

I do not greet the dog. I come in, sit down, and let him figure me out on his own schedule. A lot of what I need to know I get in these first minutes, because the dog has not had time to be managed yet. He is just being himself.

If you have crated him, we talk for a few minutes first and then let him out to meet a stranger who is already sitting quietly. Most dogs do fine with that. The ones who do not tell me a lot.

Minutes 5 to 15: the conversation

We sit and talk, and the dog does whatever he does. I ask the questions from the phone call again, in more detail, and I watch.

When did this start? What have you tried? What happened when you tried it? Who in the house does what? Who walks him, who feeds him, who does he sleep with, who does he ignore?

I ask about the vet again. Last visit, what was checked, any medication, anything that changed. If nobody has looked at him in over a year and the behavior is new, I will say so, and I will say it before you spend money on me.

Meanwhile I am watching what the dog does while nobody is paying attention to him. Can he settle? Does he pace? Is he glued to you? Does he go check the window every time a car passes? What does he do with his mouth, his tail, his ears when a doorbell rings on the TV?

You learn more about a dog from ten minutes of him being bored than from ten minutes of him performing.

Minutes 15 to 25: the house

Then we walk through where the dog lives. I want to see the crate, if there is one, and where it is. The food bowl. The window he barks from. The back door. Where he sleeps. The spot where the thing happens.

This is not a judgment of your house. It is where most of the easy fixes are. A crate in a hallway where everyone walks past is a crate the dog cannot rest in. A window with a clear view of the sidewalk is a barking machine.

I also try a couple of small things here. Can I ask him to sit, and does he? Does he take food from me? Does he take food from you when I am there? Will he go to a mat if you send him? Does he give up a toy? None of this is a test he can fail. It is me finding out where we start.

If there are kids, I want to see how the dog is with them, from a distance, with the dog on leash. If there is another dog, same.

Minutes 25 to 40: the walk

Then we go outside. A short leash walk, ten or fifteen minutes, on your street, with you holding the leash and me watching. I do not take the leash unless I have to. I am here to see how the dog is with you, not with me.

I am looking at how the leash is held, whether the dog checks in with you or has forgotten you exist, what he does at the mailbox, how he responds to a car, a squirrel, a person across the street. If another dog shows up, I get to see the real thing, and I make sure we have enough distance for it to be useful instead of a mess.

Near the end I take the leash for a minute, if the dog will allow it, and try a couple of things. A change in leash handling, or a food lure. I want to know how fast he responds to a small change, because that tells me how long the job will take.

With a big dog, this is also where I find out whether the equipment is safe. A seventy pound dog on a retractable leash is not safe. I will say that out loud, and I will probably say it twice.

Minutes 40 to 45: the honest part

Back inside, I tell you what I saw. Plainly.

Sometimes the answer is: this is a training problem, here is what I would do, here is roughly how many sessions I think it takes, and here is what you can start doing tonight.

Sometimes it is: I want you to see your vet before we do anything else, and here is what to ask them.

And sometimes it is: you do not need me. You need to move the crate, throw away the retractable leash, and do two short walks a day instead of one long one. Come back in a month if it is not better.

I say that last one more often than you might expect. I am a one man business and I do not have a quota. If I book you for six lessons you do not need, you will figure that out by lesson three and you will tell your friends. Honest is cheaper.

What you get afterward

Within a day or two you get a written plan. Not a brochure. A page or two with what I saw, what I think is going on, what to change in the house, what the first two weeks of homework look like, and what I recommend next, whether that is private lessons or nothing.

If we go ahead, private lessons are 75 minutes and $175, in your home or wherever the problem lives. The assessment fee does not come off that, and I am up front about it. How many lessons you need depends on the dog and on how much homework gets done between visits; I will give you my guess at the end of the assessment and I will tell you again if it changes.

What I carry

People ask, so: a treat pouch with kibble, freeze dried liver, and string cheese. A six foot leash and a slip lead as a backup. A long line. A basket muzzle in a couple of sizes, which nobody should be offended by. A mat. A notebook, because I still write things down.

How to book

Start with the free phone call from the contact page. If it sounds like a fit, we pick a time for the visit. I cover Mooresville, Statesville, Davidson, Cornelius, and Huntersville, and the sooner I see the dog in the house, the shorter the job usually is.