Puppy Foundations
Includes AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy Evaluation
Raising a puppy doesn’t have to feel like you’re negotiating with a tiny, furry tornado every day.
Puppy Foundations is a 6-week group class designed to help puppies and their people build confidence, communication, and real-life skills from the very beginning. Through small class sizes and hands-on coaching, you’ll learn how to create focus, engagement, calmness, and good manners that carry over into everyday life.
Designed for puppies 12 weeks to 6 months old, this class focuses on building a strong foundation while helping owners understand how puppies learn, communicate, socialize, and navigate the world around them.
Class Dates
February 13, 2027
February 20, 2027
February 27, 2027
March 6, 2027
March 13, 2027
March 20, 2027
Class Details
Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM
Maximum of 5 puppies per class
6 consecutive weeks
Designed for puppies 12 weeks to 6 months old
AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy Evaluation included
Small group coaching for individualized support
Owner education, homework, and support between classes
Class Syllabus
Week 1: Learning How to Learn
We’ll introduce marker training, engagement games, focus exercises, luring, free shaping, and the communication systems that make training clear and fun. We’ll also talk about how puppies learn and how to start reinforcing the behaviors you actually want to see more of.
Week 2: Puppy Basics
We’ll begin building foundational skills including sit, down, recall, leash walking, and name recognition. We’ll also introduce cooperative care and handling so everyday things like grooming, vet visits, and touching paws don’t become a wrestling match later.
Week 3: Proper Socialization & Confidence
Socialization is about much more than meeting as many dogs and people as possible. We’ll work on appropriate exposure to people, dogs, surfaces, sounds, environments, and new experiences while teaching puppies how to confidently navigate the world without needing to interact with everything they see.
Week 4: Raising a Puppy You Can Live With
We’ll work on calmness, settling, impulse control, polite greetings, place work, and everyday household manners. Puppies will begin learning that sometimes the assignment is simply to hang out and not be the center of every party.
Week 5: Taking Puppy Skills Into Real Life
Now we start putting the pieces together. We’ll increase distractions and work on leash skills, recalls, engagement, neutrality, handling, and maintaining learned behaviors when the environment becomes a little more interesting.
Week 6: AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy Evaluation & Graduation
We’ll review what we’ve learned, troubleshoot any remaining puppy challenges, complete the AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy Evaluation, and celebrate 6 weeks of progress. You’ll also leave with guidance for what to continue working on as your puppy moves into adolescence.
Investment: $295
K-9 Guardian Members: $249
Your discount code is available inside the Facebook Group.
Whether you’re raising your first puppy or your fifth, this class gives you the tools, structure, and support to help your puppy grow into a confident, well-mannered companion while strengthening the relationship between you and the dog at the other end of the leash.
After registration, participants will receive an onboarding email with additional class information and required intake and liability paperwork to complete before the first class.