Welcome to High School! You’ve built the foundation. You’ve learned how to use those skills in the real world. Now it’s time to build reliability. High School brings everything you and your dog have learned together and begins raising the bar. We’ll work toward greater reliability by intentionally adding distance, duration, and distractions while continuing to strengthen communication between you and your dog. The goal is to build reliable skills you and your dog can demonstrate together — not just in class, but in everyday life. White Short Coated Dog What This Class Covers: Recall: Strengthening come-when-called skills around increasing distractions Stay: Building longer duration and greater distance while maintaining success Loose-Leash Walking: Strengthening leash skills in more challenging environments Attention & Focus: Maintaining connection and responsiveness around distractions Impulse Control: Strengthening Leave It, Wait, redirection, and other skills for everyday situations Real-Life Manners: Practicing door manners, leashing up, polite greetings, and other everyday skills Settle: Building the ability to relax and remain calm when life is happening around you The 3 Ds: Building reliability by gradually adding distance, duration, and distraction Putting It All Together High School is about taking everything you’ve learned and developing greater reliability and confidence as a team. You’ll continue learning when to increase difficulty, when your dog needs additional support, and how to maintain the skills you’ve built long after graduation. Canine Good Citizen Graduation Our High School curriculum prepares dogs and their handlers for the AKC Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test. The CGC test serves as our graduation assessment, and dogs who successfully meet the AKC testing requirements will earn their CGC. Small Class Sizes: Classes are intentionally kept small so there’s plenty of room to learn, practice, and receive guidance along the way. We use positive reinforcement (R+) and Fear Free methods. Our training is humane, science-based, and designed to build reliable skills while supporting the relationship between dogs and their people. Prerequisite: Successful completion of Middle School or demonstration of equivalent skills.