Product Description

Leerburg’s Puppy class will combine our own puppy program with that of the AKC STAR Puppy program. At the end of the 7 weeks, your puppy will earn his/her STAR Puppy Certification from the AKC. This class is for puppies 8-20 weeks old.

At the end of the 7 week class, you will have a good understanding of Marker Training, and your puppy will have a great foundation for the following behaviors: crate training, settle (go to bed), walk on leash, sit, leave it (YUCK), down, come when called, OFF, and grooming (touching of ears, feet, body).

Read more about the AKC STAR Puppy program.

Please note: class requires a minimum of 5 students to run.

TENTATIVE CLASS OUTLINE

• Week 1 - Intro to marker training
• Week 2 - Crate training, Settle (go to bed/place), Walk on leash, Management
• Week 3 - Sit, Leave it (yuck)
• Week 4 - Down
• Week 5 - Come when called (restrained recalls), Off
• Week 6 - Grooming (touch ears, feet, etc.)
• Week 7 - Review of skills, Graduation

About the instructor, Kelly Franks

"I have worked for Leerburg since early spring of 1999. I started in the kennel working hands on with the German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois that were bred there. The dogs taught me a lot about canine body language, psychology, and earning respect. I am also lucky to have learned training techniques directly from some of the best trainers in the world, including Michael Ellis, Ed Frawley, and Cindy Rhodes.

In 2002, I became a “weekend” dog groomer. As a new groomer, I often had dogs referred to me that were too anxious or aggressive for other groomers to want to work on. As a result, I worked closely with owners to help their dogs become desensitized to the grooming process. By making grooming a positive experience for the dogs, we were able to eliminate those problem behaviors.

I started seriously training my own dogs when I acquired my first Belgian Malinois, Toni, at 8 weeks old in 2004. It became clear early on that she was going to require much more time and energy than any of my previous dogs had. Toni and I learned many sports together including Agility, flyball, Mondio Ring, tracking, and scent discrimination. As a distinguished lady of 12, Toni still goes to training with me and shows the new Agility pups what it’s all about.

When Toni’s sister, Caterina, joined our pack in 2007, she expanded my horizons even further with learning about the CGC and Therapy Dog certification, as well as Rally Obedience. Caterina and I were working towards our DSRD (Disaster Stress Relief Dog) certification when she was diagnosed with an Auto-immune disease, and I made the choice not to take her further in training as the stresses of training made her disease more pronounced."

- Kelly Franks