When somebody books our 4-week board and train, they usually picture their dog in a kennel doing "training stuff" for a month and coming home magically fixed. That's not what happens. Here's what actually happens — week by week, day by day.
Before any dog enters the program, we do an in-person evaluation at the free assessment. I want to see the dog. I want to see the owner. I want to know exactly what we're working with — temperament, baseline obedience, any aggression history, medical issues, food preferences, fears, and the home environment they're going back to.
Drop-off day starts with paperwork (release forms, vet records, food and meds), a final walk-through of the dog's daily care needs, and a thirty-minute conversation about realistic outcomes. I don't promise miracles. I tell owners exactly what's achievable in 28 days for their specific dog.
Then we say goodbye. Most owners cry. That's normal. The dog is fine within an hour.
The first three days are pure observation and decompression. The dog has just left their entire world. They're stressed, even if they don't show it. I am not "training" yet.
What I'm doing instead:
By day three or four, the dog has a routine. The adrenaline has settled. Now we can start.
I introduce the markers — the words that become the language of all future training:
Then we start the foundation skills — sit, down, threshold control at doorways, and the early stages of place command. These are taught indoors, in a low-distraction environment, with high-value food rewards.
By the end of week one, every dog can do basic obedience indoors. They're not proofed yet. They're not reliable around distractions. But the language is installed.
Week two is where the real work starts. I begin introducing the leash, the collar tools (prong, e-collar, or both depending on the dog), and the concept of pressure and release.
This is the core of how balanced training works. Slight pressure on the leash means do something different. The moment the dog complies, the pressure is gone. The dog learns: I control the pressure with my behavior. This is not punishment. This is communication.
By day 10, most dogs are walking on a loose leash. By day 14, they're holding a place command for 10–15 minutes around minor distractions. The recall is starting to come together.
I start taking the dog into low-stress public environments — quiet parts of Coral Gables, early-morning Coconut Grove, an empty parking lot. Not to "prove" anything. To start generalizing the skills outside the training space.
This is the week dogs transform. The skills are installed. Now we test them under pressure.
We go to:
Every outing is structured. The dog isn't running around socializing. The dog is working — heeling, holding place, recalling, ignoring triggers. We are intentionally choosing hard environments because that's where proofing happens.
This is also when we start the e-collar conditioning for off-leash work, if the dog is a good candidate. By the end of week three, most dogs can hold an off-leash heel and a reliable recall in a fenced environment.
Week three is also when I'm aggressively addressing the dog's specific behavior issues. The reactivity, the resource guarding, the door dashing, the counter surfing — whatever the owner brought them in for. The foundation work makes the behavior modification possible because we now have a clear language and a reliable off-switch to anchor it.
Week four is finishing work. We:
Meanwhile, I'm preparing for the most important part of the entire program — the handoff.
This is what most board and train programs get wrong. They train the dog, hand them back, and the owner has no idea how to handle them. Within 30 days, the training erodes. Within 90, the dog is back to baseline.
We don't let that happen. The 4-week program includes three private transfer sessions where:
Session 1: I demonstrate everything the dog can do. Then the owner takes the leash and learns the basic mechanics — how to hold the leash, how to give commands, how to mark and reward, how to enforce structure.
Session 2: We take the dog into a real environment together. The owner runs the dog through their paces with me coaching every move. Real corrections, real timing, real outcomes.
Session 3: The owner is largely independent. I'm watching and adjusting. We troubleshoot the home environment. We talk through the new routine. We talk about what to do when things slip.
After the third session, the owner has the dog, the system, and the confidence to maintain it.
When owners come to pick up their dog at the end of the 28 days, they always say the same thing: "Is that the same dog?"
It's the same dog. It's just a dog with structure, with a clear language, with a reliable off-switch, and with the capacity to be calm in environments that used to overwhelm them.
The training ends. Real life begins. The dogs that hold their training long-term are the ones whose owners:
The dogs that lose their training are the ones whose owners "give them a break" the first week home and never restart the structure. The dog isn't broken — the environment changed, and the environment is what holds the training.
If you want a 4-week reset for your dog, the next step is a free assessment. I'll tell you if your dog is a good candidate, what we can realistically achieve, and exactly what your specific 28 days will look like.
Text 786-755-5857 or book through the site. Spots are limited — usually 2–3 dogs per month — so the calendar fills out 4–6 weeks ahead.
Structure creates calm. Calm creates reliability. 28 days is enough to build both — if the work is real.
Book a free assessment to evaluate your dog's behavior, discuss your goals, and find the right program. No pressure — just honest answers from a working trainer.
Book Free AssessmentUnleash'd K9 | North Miami, FL | unleashdk9.com | 786-755-5857
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