board & train

We use positive reinforcement training techniques with your dog. Our training follows the guidelines from the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, ASVAB, as described here. The exact techniques we use with your dog (luring, shaping, capturing, etc) will depend on your dog’s preferred learning style! Rewards will include treats, toys, playtime, affection, or whatever your dog is motivated by!

We will not use any form of “training tool” on your dog, e-collars, prong collars, choke chains, etc. These types of aversive tools are never used at Metro Dogs. As a positive reinforcement facility, aversive tools go against our philosophy. Aversive tools can unknowingly and unintentionally create negative associations to things dogs encounter, and we never want a dog to associate the Metro Dogs staff with something negative. 

While it may seem tantalizing to use one of these “training” tools on your dog to see “instant results” just like that video you saw on social media, these tools are NOT humane, safe, or effective ways to transform your dog’s behavior. In the short term, they lead to behavior suppression, meaning it appears like your dog is well behaved. Often, they create additional problem behaviors from your dog or can have damaging effects on their mental wellbeing in the long run. Overall, they just don’t make for lasting behavior changes for a better behaved dog.

If you have been thinking about using these types of tools, use them currently, or have used them in the past, and want to make a change — you may reach out to our General Manager via email for a steeply discounted training consultation to discuss how to make the move!

Boarding school will not cover severe behavioral issues such as aggression, severe fear, severe reactivity, severe stranger danger, resource guarding, etc. While we would love to help with behavior concerns, no board and train facility is able to fully, appropriately address behaviors rooted in fear, anxiety, or stress. This means behaviors like resource guarding, dog to dog or dog to people aggression, or destructive/self-harming behaviors. These types of concerns need to be addressed with a certified behavior consultant or veterinary behaviorist, not through boarding school. If you need help connecting with one of these professionals, let us know.

We’ll chat about your personal goals for your dog, their history and previous learning experiences, and talk about a training plan for the boarding school experience. You give us the quirks, the things that need work, and we’ll whip up ideas to address that! This is a time for us to collaborate on how to best acheive results for you and your dog. 

Boarding School is not a “cure all” or a “quick fix” — you must continue the training at home afterwards to see lasting change. This doesn’t mean it’s not effective. We will put in a ton of foundation work for your dog, but in order for behavior change to occur, training needs to continue. Remember when you learned algebra? Can you still do algebra? Maybe if you continued using it! But for those who didn’t, it’s real rusty!

We aim to use the introductory session and go home session thorough and informative so that you know exactly what you need to do after boarding school! Plus, the follow up training session ensures that you feel progress is being made!

By the end of the program, you will receive multiple detailed report cards, videos of their training sessions, follow-up training instructions, and any resources deemed pertinent to your dog’s training plan. After one week of your dog being home, our trainer will meet with you to discuss progress since leaving the program to ensure you are finding success following through with the training plan we created with you. We will also address any further questions or topics that may have come up after they go home!

Yes, throughout their board and train stay you will receive training and well-being updates from our staff to keep you in the loop about how they are doing while staying with us! This includes picture updates and report cards with health updates, play group updates, and training updates. You’re also welcome to pop in and check on the webcams anytime! If you’re like us, being away from your pup can be REALLY difficult, reach out to us anytime to check in. Know that we will reach out to you immediately if any concerns arise.

We will continue practicing the basics during every dog’s stay to maintain reliability and generalization of these skills, but our training program is built around the individual needs of each dog – we can have a primary focus on different skill sets – such as loose leash walking, recall, and more! Knowing a behavior isn’t as simple as learning it once and then succeeding every additional time — it takes learning the skill once and practicing in increasingly more challenging environments to proof the behavior. Metro Dogs can help fast track the proofing process for you, meaning your dog will be more reliable with the skill in the real world!

We use positive reinforcement training techniques with your dog. Our training follows the guidelines from the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, ASVAB, as described here. The exact techniques we use with your dog (luring, shaping, capturing, etc) will depend on your dog’s preferred learning style! Rewards will include treats, toys, playtime, affection, or whatever your dog is motivated by!

We will not use any form of “training tool” on your dog, e-collars, prong collars, choke chains, etc. These types of aversive tools are never used at Metro Dogs. As a positive reinforcement facility, aversive tools go against our philosophy. Aversive tools can unknowingly and unintentionally create negative associations to things dogs encounter, and we never want a dog to associate the Metro Dogs staff with something negative. 

While it may seem tantalizing to use one of these “training” tools on your dog to see “instant results” just like that video you saw on social media, these tools are NOT humane, safe, or effective ways to transform your dog’s behavior. In the short term, they lead to behavior suppression, meaning it appears like your dog is well behaved. Often, they create additional problem behaviors from your dog or can have damaging effects on their mental wellbeing in the long run. Overall, they just don’t make for lasting behavior changes for a better behaved dog.

If you have been thinking about using these types of tools, use them currently, or have used them in the past, and want to make a change — you may reach out to our General Manager via email for a steeply discounted training consultation to discuss how to make the move!

Boarding school will not cover severe behavioral issues such as aggression, severe fear, severe reactivity, severe stranger danger, resource guarding, etc. While we would love to help with behavior concerns, no board and train facility is able to fully, appropriately address behaviors rooted in fear, anxiety, or stress. This means behaviors like resource guarding, dog to dog or dog to people aggression, or destructive/self-harming behaviors. These types of concerns need to be addressed with a certified behavior consultant or veterinary behaviorist, not through boarding school. If you need help connecting with one of these professionals, let us know.

We’ll chat about your personal goals for your dog, their history and previous learning experiences, and talk about a training plan for the boarding school experience. You give us the quirks, the things that need work, and we’ll whip up ideas to address that! This is a time for us to collaborate on how to best acheive results for you and your dog. 

Boarding School is not a “cure all” or a “quick fix” — you must continue the training at home afterwards to see lasting change. This doesn’t mean it’s not effective. We will put in a ton of foundation work for your dog, but in order for behavior change to occur, training needs to continue. Remember when you learned algebra? Can you still do algebra? Maybe if you continued using it! But for those who didn’t, it’s real rusty!

We aim to use the introductory session and go home session thorough and informative so that you know exactly what you need to do after boarding school! Plus, the follow up training session ensures that you feel progress is being made!

By the end of the program, you will receive multiple detailed report cards, videos of their training sessions, follow-up training instructions, and any resources deemed pertinent to your dog’s training plan. After one week of your dog being home, our trainer will meet with you to discuss progress since leaving the program to ensure you are finding success following through with the training plan we created with you. We will also address any further questions or topics that may have come up after they go home!

Yes, throughout their board and train stay you will receive training and well-being updates from our staff to keep you in the loop about how they are doing while staying with us! This includes picture updates and report cards with health updates, play group updates, and training updates. You’re also welcome to pop in and check on the webcams anytime! If you’re like us, being away from your pup can be REALLY difficult, reach out to us anytime to check in. Know that we will reach out to you immediately if any concerns arise.

We will continue practicing the basics during every dog’s stay to maintain reliability and generalization of these skills, but our training program is built around the individual needs of each dog – we can have a primary focus on different skill sets – such as loose leash walking, recall, and more! Knowing a behavior isn’t as simple as learning it once and then succeeding every additional time — it takes learning the skill once and practicing in increasingly more challenging environments to proof the behavior. Metro Dogs can help fast track the proofing process for you, meaning your dog will be more reliable with the skill in the real world!