C.L.A.S.S.

canine life and social skills

Developed by the APDT based on input from both dog owners and non-dog owners, shelter workers, and professional dog trainers, C.L.A.S.S. benefits pet owners, dogs of all ages, and everyone in the community!

The C.L.A.S.S. curricula offers benefits to both new and experienced dog owners by offering a unique 4 level comprehensive program that every person and dog team can easily follow.

Experienced dog owners will find the CLASS curricula offers fun and creative ideas to spice up their training with new behaviors or games.

Class cirricula

  • A woman with long hair wearing a wide-brimmed hat is gently petting a golden retriever. The dog has its eyes closed and appears content. The scene is lit with warm sunlight, suggesting a serene outdoor setting.

    This curriculum contains a puppy, basic, intermediate and advanced level with weekly homework handouts. Also, S.T.A.R. Puppy, Canine Good Citizen and Therapy Dog Prep are compatible with each level.

    Each C.L.A.S.S. level is designed with several goals:

    - Demonstrate skills with real-life relevance.

    - Teach and encourage students to properly manage so called “unruly” dog behaviors so that dogs are welcome in more social situations.

    - Generate a mindset among pet parents to incorporate skills that they learn in dog training classes into daily living with their dogs.

    - Raise the bar in pet dog training and manners using a high standard curriculum with four levels of achievement.

    - Improve relationships between dogs and pet parents through education and promotion of positive reinforcement and ongoing training.

    - Reinforce responsible pet parentship by teaching puppy&beginner, basic, intermediate and advanced manners.

    - Provide dog pet parents with opportunities to hone their dogs’ real-life skills and to receive feedback on developing those skills with their dogs.

    - Provide real-life tools so that pet parents can include their dogs fully in their lives; this is much easier when the dogs are given boundaries and skills with real-life relevance. Increase awareness for pet parents of additional training resources available, including helping to find the right professional dog trainer for their needs.

    Puppy&Beginner curriculum meets the requirements of AKC’s STAR Puppy program.

    Basic, Intermediate and Advanced curricula can be used as an AKC CGC prep course.

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