About Canine Avenue

Canine Avenue is a one-trainer dog training business in Weirton, West Virginia, in the Northern Panhandle. It is run by Madison, who introduces herself on the About page in her own lower-case style: "Hi, i'm Madison! Dog Trainer & Photographer". She works as both, and the photography is not a sideline detail – the galleries on the site are her own work.

How she trains

Her philosophy page is unusually specific about method, and refuses the usual either/or: "my technique of dog training is called balance training, i include all four of the training quadrants and apply which one works best with the dog in front of me". She grounds that in reading the individual dog rather than in a house style, writing that every dog is different, unique and personal in the way its thought process works, and that she has worked with other trainers since 2018 to learn each of the four quadrants alongside research in psychology before deciding which method fits.

What she offers

The training page is a short, priced menu with no padding.

Private training is $90 per session – in-person lessons tailored to you and your dog, described as "providing guidance to teach you how to build a better relationship with your companion".

Board and training is $1,500 for two weeks or $2,400 for four, and the dog stays in the home with the trainer; the program "includes a going home lesson, teaching you what your dog learned during their stay".

Day training is $80 per day and is pitched as "a great alternative to dog daycare" – the dog is dropped off, trained through the day while you are at work, and you get the handover at pickup or a detailed written report.

AKC testing is $25 per test, plus AKC's own processing fee, covering Trick Dog titles, CGC, CGC Community Canine, CGC Urban and Virtual Home Manners.

A service dog program is offered as well. It is structured for handlers working with their own dog rather than being handed a finished animal: the description is that it "is designed to give handlers the opportunity to work with their own dog at an easy pace", with professional training assistance along the way, and pricing is by inquiry.

Puppies

The business has run an AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy course – six one-hour Sunday classes with a test at the end, open to dogs up to 12 months, purebred or mixed. The page describes it as an organized course to teach an owner how to communicate with a puppy, with socialization in a positive environment along the way. Registration for it was closed when this profile was written, and the page says future classes will be announced, so ask about the next intake rather than assuming it is running.

Background worth knowing

Madison writes that she has struggled with her health for years and is helped by a medical alert service dog, and that she trained her own siberian husky as a service dog before that. That is her own account of how she came to the work, and it is also the most honest signal on the site about why the service dog program exists.