About New Hope Dog Training Center

New Hope Dog Training Center operates from its own facility at 719 New Hope Church Road in Chapel Hill and serves the Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill area. The owner and head trainer is Gene Lonsway, who trades under the name Mister Obedience; the site states he has been a Certified Professional Obedience Trainer since 1985 and has worked with dogs for more than forty years.

Who it is for

The center names its specialties as family pets and multi-dog households, and frames the work in terms of ordinary domestic problems rather than sport or competition: a dog that is gentler with children, that can answer the door without losing control, that walks politely on an afternoon stroll. It states it has worked with everything from Chihuahuas and wolf hybrids to German Shepherds and Labradors, and takes any age, breed or behavioral problem.

In-Board Dog Training

The flagship program is residential. The site makes the pitch by analogy – it would be convenient if dog training worked like dog grooming, where you drop the dog off and collect him when he is done – and says its Board and Train program works exactly that way, with a guarantee attached. Boarding is listed separately among the center's pages.

Getting started

New clients complete a training questionnaire before booking. It asks for the dog's history and the owner's primary goals and problems, and then asks directly about aggression, whether the dog has bitten anyone, and which triggers apply – people, children, other dogs, other animals, the leash or food – which gives a fair indication of the kind of case the center expects to be asked about.

Local note

The center publishes a page about the Durham Bulls dogs and states that its owner has been the official dog trainer for the Durham Bulls baseball club.