Dog Training

Puppies must be 8-18 weeks old at the start of class.

Give your puppy a positive start with Puppy Playschool! These one-hour, drop-in sessions combine basic puppy training, supervised play with other puppies and practice staying calm around other dogs — all important skills for growing puppies. Puppy Playschool offers a safe, structured experience designed to help puppies build healthy social skills without becoming overwhelmed or overstimulated.

Each Puppy Playschool session has two parts:

1. Learn a Skill: We’ll start with a short training activity while your puppy gets comfortable in the space. Skills rotate from session to session and may include helpful foundations or fun tricks.
2. Practice Play: During the second half of class, puppies will take turns playing with carefully selected playmates based on their personalities, play styles and comfort levels. While other puppies play, you’ll help your pup practice watching and relaxing nearby.

Our trainers carefully supervise each session to help create a safe, positive experience for every puppy. Like all East Bay SPCA training classes, Puppy Playschool uses positive reinforcement. We do not use punishment or punitive training tools, including prong collars, e-collars or choke/slip collars.

Prerequisites: None.

Price: $25

Puppies must be between 8 – 16 weeks old at the start of class.

Bringing out the Einstein in Your Puppy: Start your puppy off right in our cutting edge puppy socialization class. We’ll provide positive exposure to people, dogs, and novel stimuli; help you prepare your pup for grooming, vet care, and other handling; teach you foundation training skills such as relaxation on a mat, sit, recall, leash walking, and targeting; and we’ll focus on puppy-specific topics, such as resource guarding prevention, crate training, potty training, and teething. This class is everything you need to know to raise a puppy!

Prerequisites: None.

NOTE: If your puppy is OLDER than 4mo/16wks at the start of class, we will have to transfer you to a different class if one is available

Price: $250 for 6 week class ($225 adopter price—if pet was adopted from a non-profit welfare organization)

This is the class to start with if your dog is over 4months old, and you are looking for a strong training foundation! This intro class is designed to build a framework of communication that you can use to teach your dog any behavior. We focus on several key exercises which you can then turn into skills like recall, calm greetings, loose leash walking, and focusing in distracting environments.

Prerequisites:

None! Come with your dog, your treats, and your enthusiasm for training! Note: if your dog barks consistently or uncontrollably at other dogs from within a 10-20ft distance, you may consider taking our Calm Cool and Collected specialty reactivity class, or a private training session before taking Freshman to make sure they have the skills they need to be comfortable and non-disruptive in a group class environment. Not sure about your dog’s needs? Sign up for a free behavior helpline to chat with a trainer about what class fits your dog best!

Price: $250 for 4 week course ($225 for adopted animals)

In this class you start to take your training to the next level! Once you and your dog have a good grasp of the basics and have had some practice learning in a group environment, we can start pushing the envelope. Want to be able to send your dog to a station and have them wait until released? Want a controlled environment to proof your dog’s new recall cue? Looking for a place to practice heel position past distractions? Sign up for Sophomore!

Prerequisites:

All our East Bay Canine College classes are designed to build directly on one another. If you are signing up for Sophomore class from another organization, we require that you have at least completed our Clicker Training 101 webinar, and that you and your dog be fluent with the following skills:

• Clicker training basics (using your clicker to “mark” then reward the moment your dog performs the desired behavior)
• Nose targeting (+ verbal cue)
• Relaxation on a Mat (as detailed in this handout)
• Stay (+ verbal cue/release cue)

If you feel your dog is not fluent in the above, please sign up for our Freshman class before enrolling in Sophomore.

Price: $250 for 4 week course ($225 for adopted animals)

This is where we can really start getting fancy! Junior class will help polish up and add levels of difficulty to the skills you already know, while introducing additional behaviors for more complex applications like “cooperative care,” where animals participate in their own husbandry, and prep skills for tests like Canine Good Citizen.

Prerequisites:

All our East Bay Canine College classes are designed to build directly on one another. If you are signing up for Junior class from another organization, we require that you have at least completed our Clicker Training 101 webinar, and be fluent in the following skills:

• Solid clicker training background
• Nose targeting
• Heel position
• Consistent recall
• Paws up
• Go to Mat
• Stay

• • All behaviors on a verbal cue

If you feel your dog is not fluent in the above, please sign up for an earlier class before enrolling in Junior.

Price: $250 for 4 week class ($225 for adopted animals)

Senior class allows you to use the training techniques that you and your dog have perfected to conquer a curriculum of impressive and challenging behaviors! Senior class behaviors can be used to build foundations for things like competition obedience, freestyle, agility, and other advanced certificates such as Canine Good Citizen. And they’re a fun and aerobic way to engage your dog’s mind, and impress your friends!

Prerequisites:

Completion of EBCC Junior class. All our East Bay Canine College classes are designed to build directly on one another. If you are signing up for Senior class, you must have taken at least our Junior class. If you came to our Junior class directly (without having taken Freshman/Sophomore) your instructor will need to sign off on you moving up to senior class. Please note that if you sign up for Senior class without these prerequisites, you will be asked to transfer.

Price: $250 for 4 week class ($225 for adopted animals)

For puppies and dogs that are 6 months and older by the first day of class.

Does your dog bark and lunge on walks, from behind gates, or at the windows in your home? Are walks and outings frustrating, embarrassing, or even a little scary? Reactive behaviors are our most commonly requested behavior topic, and our Calm, Cool, and Collected class offers a unique class experience designed with the needs of the dogs in mind.

Price: $300 for 6 week class ($275 for adopted animals)

Awaiting an opening in our Private Training or Calm, Cool, and Collected class, or want to get a head start on the course material? Purchase our 40-minute Dog Reactivity Basics introductory webinar for a preview of what you will learn in week 1 of class (available in English and Spanish). You can also attend an upcoming Learning Lab seminar or workshop at our Oakland or Dublin campuses.