After much work and preparation (as well as acute neglect of this blog and my separation anxiety series - for which I profusely apologize) I can finally announce that group classes are a go!
I partnered up with Samantha Aguilar of NYC Pet Services who very recently opened up Astoria's first day care. She has a nice foyer at the front of her store that we're going to use for group classes! The space is limiting (hello, NYC) so classes will be small - but that means clients get a LOT of teacher attention. For now we're only offering three classes a week - puppy class, indoor manners, and outdoor manners on Saturday evenings. A mandatory orientation is held every other Sunday for newly enrolling students. As interest grows we will expand our offerings. We're also trying to keep to a modular format to make it easy and convenient for everyone. This Sunday will be our first orientation. I'm expecting everything to go smoothly - so that I can get back to my usual routine and back to blogging! Also - I'm lucky enough to be able to attend the Denise Fenzi seminar on using play as motivation in obedience work this Saturday and I'll try to post about my experience. Denise is an incredible trainer who I regard highly and I can barely wait for the seminar! And finally - if you haven't yet - PLEASE buy Leslie McDevitt's Control Unleashed: Puppy Program. It is simply amazing and can help any and every dog - but is specially tailored to the prevention of reactivity in puppies (hello curriculum for puppy class!
319 Comments
|