It is decidedly NOT a prerequisite for the Packworks BH course that your dog have existing obedience skills. Neither is it a perquisite that your dog be comfortable with strangers or that it get along with other dogs; in fact, we consider our BH course to be the perfect opportunity for you to address these very issues.

As you look at the pictures from the Spring courses, note that at the beginning of the course/work, these dogs were UNable to be calm and controlled at the sight of, much less in close proximity to, strange people and/or other dogs--not to mention GOATS!!  Further, the notion of a calm sit or down in high stress situations was unfathomable to their handlers when they began the Packworks BH course.

We understand the four hours a week, for 16 weeks is an intense time commitment, especially when compared to the usual six weeks for one hour a week courses. We appreciate that some of our students may need to miss a few sessions of the course. Please note that there should be no concerns about being left too far behind and unable to catch up (provided, of course, that you keep up with work outside of class!).  When we structured the course, we contemplated this very concern and effectively added class/course time to account for it. Life happens.

 We have formatted the course to combine the benefits one gets from private lessons (high degree of individualized attention) with the benefits one gets from attending training seminars - which is the opportunity to learn by watching other dogs being worked.  Week to week there will always be overlaps in the issues being worked and consequently there will be many opportunities to learn the lessons this course offers. 

At our Packworks facility, we can always provide, as the stage of the work with dog/handler objectives indicates, real-life distractions such as skateboarders, bike-riders, horseback riders, other dogs (controlled and appropriate for the dog being worked); goats, ducks, chickens, "strangers", cats, cars going by, a large diesel truck that rumbles and growls and revs just like a UPS truck, people on crutches, wheelchair, etc. etc.  We know of no other trainers/behaviorists or facility that offers the panoply of challenges that we can present in a controlled, safe, successful outcome "manufactured" manner.

 We believe this course will provide exceptional value even if you have to miss several of the scheduled 16 sessions.