Cultivate your dog’s good manners, build new skills, and strengthen your bond with your dog in a fun, safe, and encouraging environment!

Whether you’re looking to teach your dog foundational behaviors like loose leash walking, stay, and coming when called, improve your dog’s ability to calmly approach and greet other dogs, or help your dog (and yourself) relax when their excitement or stress level gets a little too high, we have a class for you!

At Birch Bark, we believe that group classes, in addition to being educational and enjoyable for both dogs and people, should be focused on real life. Our practical approach to training for the real world will give you and your dog the tools you need to navigate this world together with greater confidence, ease, and joy!

Basics Classes

Foundations

Our 6-week introductory class covers everything you need to lay the groundwork for a positive and connected relationship with your dog: basic obedience cues, foundational principles of canine learning, troubleshooting common behavior problems, and more!
Appropriate for dogs ages 4 months and up.

Location: Buena Vista Park
Registration fee: $225

Specialty Classes & Workshops

Butt Sniffing 101

A 5-week series that focuses on setting you and your dog up for success when preparing to meet other dogs on leash. In addition to developing good handling skills and teaching new cues, we will take a closer look at canine body language so you can better support your dog during introductions.
Dogs attending must be known to be social, friendly, or at least tolerant of other dogs. Over-the-top enthusiasm is welcome, but aggression or intense reactivity won’t be appropriate here.

Location: Buena Vista Park, Vista OR Buddy Todd Park, Oceanside
Registration fee: $225

Butt Sniffing 201

The next level of the Butt Sniffing series will advance your dog’s social skills and etiquette of 5 weeks of class.  We will focus on more and lengthier nose-to-nose greetings, build skills to keep your dog calm when it’s not the right time to play, and discuss troubleshooting when things go wrong, always with a strong emphasis on safety and consent.
Dogs must have previously completed BS101.

Location: Buena Vista Park, Vista
Registration fee: $225

Zen Dog

Our 5-week signature course is designed to teach your dog skills to increase their ability to relax and calm, even in stressful situations. This class will elevate your relationship with your dog by giving you deeper insight into the intricacies of what your dog needs to feel safe and at peace with the world while diving deep into what mindful dog training really is.

Location: Buddy Todd Park, Oceanside
Registration fee: $250

Connected Walking:
A loose leash walking workshop

This 3 part series is a crash course on making walks with your dog less like a game of tug-of-war and more like a team activity that both you and your dog can enjoy together.
We’ll cover: the basics of loose leash walking training, dealing with distractions, maintaining engagement in the face of other dogs, and more!

Location: Buena Vista Park, Vista CA
Registration fee: $145

Open Enrollment & Field Trips

Our open enrollment classes are perfect for dog parents who are looking for help in a few specific areas, have super busy schedules, or just like the extra flexibility the format allows for!
Filed Trip adventures give you and your pup the chance to practice what you know and learn new skills on the fly in the real world. Field trips take place at various locations around North County and we are always open to location suggestions!

Dates & topics are subject to change and may be affected by weather

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