About Absolute Dog Training

Who they are

Absolute Dog Training is a locally owned business on a five-acre property just outside Springfield. The site has a Meet Your Trainer page, and it describes the setting in detail: trails for hikes, swimming pools, a fenced turf yard for play, and a 20 by 30 shop used for training, all a short distance from the house.

What makes the setup different

The pitch is explicitly about the dog living in a house rather than a kennel. The site says its board-and-train dogs stay in the owners' home, and argues the case directly – no worry about too much time spent in a kennel, no turnover of staff members, and no dog left alone in a facility overnight. For an owner nervous about a residential program, that is the specific reassurance being offered.

Programs and prices

The prices are published. Board and train, which the site calls its most popular service, is $950 per week with a two-week minimum, and includes multiple individual training sessions a day, weekly field trips, group play with other dogs, frequent progress updates, a go-home lesson and a complimentary in-home lesson for each week of the stay. Behavior modification clients are asked for a minimum six-week stay. Private lessons run as packages of six – $850 in the owner's home, $650 at the facility – meeting weekly or every other week, introducing a new concept each time with written homework. Plain boarding is $45 a day; $75 a day adds two to four training sessions and $100 a day adds six to eight. The rate is per calendar day including pick-up and drop-off, and there is no Sunday collection or drop-off.

What is covered

The curriculum listed spans socialization and exposure, home and public manners, basic through advanced obedience, house training and crate training, behavior modification, and sport foundations.

Worth knowing

The site notes it is undergoing an update, so some pages are incomplete; payment for all services is due on the day of arrival.