Classes Offered at OTCH

• Puppy Kindergarten - 8 weeks up to 5 months old. Puppies can graduate into Level 1 or Manners, depending on instructor recommendation. Discover that your pup can become a welcome addition to your family and not a disaster waiting to happen. We will teach you how to train your dog to come, sit, down, stop eating your house and to stop jumping up on all your visitors. We give basic health care and grooming tips along with leash and collar suggestions to help you maintain a happy, healthy member of your family. This is done while socializing with other pups and people.
  
  
• Manners - Age 5 months and up. This class is for PK graduates, rescues, older dogs with no training, dogs with special needs. Focus on the handler dog relationship and how human/ canine interactions can affect dog behavior. Leadership skills will be taught through a basic understanding of dog psychology, communication, and confidence building. Basic obedience, house manners, and socialization will be addressed, as well as, how to establish and set rules, boundaries, and limitations. Class content may vary according to the needs of the participants. Whether the dog is a rescue or has been with the family from puppy-hood, Manners Class sets the foundation for having a life long companion.
  
  
• Beyond Manners - Must be 6 months or older with previous training, such as, PK or Manners. The CGC ( Canine Good Citizen) test is given at the end of each session for those students who are interested. This class can be considered as a precursor to Level One, but is not required in order to take Level One. You will be taught to fine-tune your dog’s good behavior and good points. You will be taught to recognize unwanted behavior and learn how to change it. Some beginning agility is introduced at the end of each class to end it on a fun note.
  
  
• Level One Obedience - Level One picks up where puppy class ended. This class can be used as a stepping stone to higher levels of Obedience, but doing so is not a requirement. The dog learns to respond to hand and verbal commands, walk on a loose lead, sit and down stay in place on command, come when called. The goal is to build a strong relationship with between handler and dog.
  
  
• Level Two Obedience - In this level of obedience handler and dog will learn the attention necessary to communicate with each other using subtle commands so the dog will walk willingly and heel and stay when and where the handler chooses. Off lead work and recalls over a jump are introduced.
  
  
• Open - This is a class for serious obedience handlers who want to earn their CDX. The dogs must have a CD, UCD, or CD-H in order to participate Open class will prepare handlers and their dogs to enter AKC Open level obedience trials. Most of the class is conducted off lead and it involves retrieving, jumps, and longer group stays.
  
  
• Preparing for an Obedience Trial - This course will help the neophyte take that first step toward entering an obedience trial to compete for the AKC, UKC, and/or CDSP Companion Dog title. The forms to register the dog in each chosen venue and the application forms for entering a trial will all be presented, along with the current rules for Novice for each of the three venues. The dog/handler teams will work on attention, heeling, figure eight, stand for exam, recalls - straight, over a bar jump, over a high jump - and honor and group stays in preparation for earning the CD, UCD, and/or CD-H.
  
  
• Agility - Dogs must be at least one year old, have a reliable recall and stay and have passed Level One obedience. Handlers Must arrive 15 minutes before class to help set up and stay after class until all equipment is put away We offer Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced Agility. Teams will learn how to use the agility equipment safely and how to send the dogs through a course. You can do this for fun or with a goal of entering agility trials in a number of different venues.
  
  
• Rally - Must be 6 months or older and are required to pass Level 0ne or Beyond Manners Rally is a type of obedience for the average dog owner who is put off by the strict one command formal dog obedience. Handler and dog follow a trail of commands at numbered stations and arrive at the finish line together. The handlers are encouraged to talk to their dogs the entire time. OTCH instructs in AKC, UKC, C-Wags Rally.
  
  
• Breed Handling -OTCH offers both an Advanced Breed Handling class and a Drop in Breed Handling class. The Advanced Breed Handling class takes the novice handler through the basics of how to enter and exhibit in conformation classes at an AKC dog show. The drop in Breed Handling Class is more informal, because students choose to attend on a week-by-week basis. This class is very good for socializing dogs in a show-like environment with other dogs and having an unfamiliar individual going over them.                                  
• Intro to Canine Musical Freestyle - Like music? Love to dance? Why not put all these together! Canine musical freestyle combines music, your dog's tricks and obedience skills into choreographed routines designed by the owner and performed by both dog and owner. It's great fun for any dog, young or old, big or small. A great way to bond with your dog and even us with 2 left feet can do it. Join the instructors from the Steppin' Woofs to learn how to teach your dog clever moves and cute tricks, pick music that suits you and your dog, and more. It's great fun!
•  Scent Class - This class allows your dog to use his most powerful sense – smell.  Your dog will be taught to recognize and find birch, cypress, clove bud, lemongrass, anise.  You will be taught to recognize your dog’s cue to you that he has found the scent, which can be hidden in a box, container, anywhere in the room. This can be a stepping stone for you to enter trials and earn titles in scent work.
  
  In addition, Canine Good Citizen and Therapy Dogs International (CGC/TDI) tests are given at various times during the year.