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Dog Obedience Classes in Kingston, NY — Find the Best Trainers

Dog Obedience Classes in Kingston, NY

GDBy the GetDogSchool team·Updated 2026·Expert-reviewed

Obedience is the broadest thing anyone sells here and the hardest to compare, because “obedience class” in Ulster County covers everything from a Saturday morning basics group in a heated arena to a competition rally course to a weekly private session in your own living room. Many businesses in this directory publish obedience or manners training in those words; the rest do it too, they just call it something else.

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What makes the county unusual is not the quantity but the range of formats. A metro of this size normally offers group classes or private lessons. Ulster County offers group classes, private one-to-one lessons, day training where the dog is dropped off and goes home at night, residential board-and-train, in-home coaching where the trainer drives to you, live online classes, and short residential camps – and in several cases the same business will sell you the same curriculum in three or four of those shapes at four different prices.

That is genuinely useful, because the format is usually the decision. Most owners are not choosing between philosophies. They are choosing between a Tuesday evening they can reliably make and one they cannot, and between doing the work themselves and paying somebody to do the first half of it.

Group classes: where they are and what they cover

Ulster County’s scheduled group classes sit in three places, and they are different animals.

Saugerties. The county’s largest facility runs classes in agility, obedience, puppy training, scent work and breed handling on 17,000 square feet of climate-controlled floor. Its obedience track is explicitly a ladder: “From a basic sit and stay to the highest level of competition Obedience,” with rally alongside it, and progression “based on demonstrated mastery of the behaviors” rather than on weeks served. If you want to find out how far your dog can actually go, this is the place in the county that is set up for it.

Kingston. The Foxhall Avenue center has run a published class schedule, class descriptions and pre-registration since 2004, with an indoor and an outdoor training area and separate agility staff. The Route 28 facility west of the city runs a group Basic Obedience class – its own note is that “while most people think a basics class is just for puppies, we welcome dogs of all ages” and that it is “a good refresher if you haven’t worked with your dog in a while” – plus an Enrichment class for dogs that already have their basics, which uses games to work a dog mentally and teach handlers to generalize cues. A September start date for the basics class was advertised on the front page at the time of writing.

Stone Ridge and Accord. Smaller and more deliberate. One Stone Ridge practice runs forty-five minute group classes over four weeks with four to five teams, on the explicit condition that they are for dogs “who are dog and people friendly or tolerant” – anything harder goes private. One Accord school runs three-day camps with dated schedules (Brushing Up on Basic Manners covers sit and stay, down, recall, leave it, drop it and walking nicely on lead) plus recurring monthly single-skill sessions: recall on the third Thursday, loose-leash walking on the first Friday, leave it on the second Saturday.

The other five formats, and who each one is for

Private one-to-one lessons. The default everywhere. One Route 28 business describes the trade honestly: private sessions are “for the owner that wants to be the primary driver of their dog’s progress … You do the work; we provide the roadmap. Best For: Owners with the time and desire to be deeply involved in every step.”

Day training. The dog is dropped off, a professional does the repetitions, and the dog sleeps at home. A few businesses here sell it. The same Route 28 business calls it “the efficiency of professional training with the comfort of your dog coming home every night … Best For: Busy professionals who want faster results but prefer their dog sleeps at home.” A Kingston shopfront caps its day train at three dogs a day and two days a week per client, on the stated grounds that more would burn the dog out. A Highland trainer describes hers as “like a board-and-train without the boarding.”

In-home coaching. Several businesses publish it. The trainer works in the room where the problem actually happens, which for house manners is the entire point.

Board and train. Covered in full on the board-and-train guide on this site.

Online. A few businesses sell live virtual classes or coaching, and in a county this size that is a real option rather than a consolation.

Methods in Ulster County: the split is real and it is published

Owners are often told to ask a trainer about their methods and then given no way to interpret the answer. In this county the answer is usually on the website, and the split is unusually clear.

At one end, a Stone Ridge practice states its commitment to the LIMA framework – “least intrusive, minimally aversive” – and works primarily through positive reinforcement, with the acceptable equipment for its classes published as harness, flat collar or martingale. A Highland trainer says she uses “positive reinforcement and clicker training … never relying on fear, pain, or intimidation.” A Saugerties facility teaches “using positive reinforcement and encouragement.” A Kingston facility with a decorated working-dog past leads its home page with “No E-Collars! Only Positive Reinforcement” and names its rewards as praise, food and toys.

In between sit the practices that frame the work as clarity and structure rather than as a tool position – one Route 28 business writes that “we focus on the ‘why’ … We don’t settle for compliance; we build a partnership based on clarity and respect,” and a Saugerties practice that “we don’t believe in a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all approach.”

None of this is hidden and none of it needs decoding. Read the page, decide what you are comfortable with, and then ask the specific question: what will you put on my dog, and what will you do if he ignores you? A trainer who answers that clearly is a trainer you can work with, whichever end they sit at.

How to choose a format in a county with no ring road

A practical sequence, for a county where the drive is often the deciding factor.

Start with the calendar, not the trainer. A six-week class you will attend four times is worse than four private sessions you will attend four times. Ulster County classes run on fixed evenings and fixed start dates; if the drive from your house to Saugerties in January is going to be the reason you stop, price the in-home option instead.

Then ask what you actually want. Household manners – not pulling, not jumping, coming when called, settling when guests arrive – is what group classes and in-home coaching are built for. A specific behavior problem is a different product and belongs with a behavior practice. A title, a sport or competition obedience belongs in Saugerties.

Then match the format to your honesty about homework. Private lessons and group classes both depend entirely on what you do in the other six days. Day training and board-and-train exist precisely because some households know they will not do it – and the good versions in this county build the handover in, with go-home sessions and transition lessons so the dog does not simply revert in week two.

Then use the free first step. Several businesses here publish a free consultation, discovery call or trial class, and one Route 28 facility requires an in-person consultation before it will place you in a program at all: “We don’t guess with your dog’s future.” Use two of them before you pay anyone. It costs nothing and it is the only way to find out whether you like the person.

What a good obedience class should give you by the end

Judge a course by what you can do on the last evening that you could not do on the first, not by how many cues your dog knows in the room.

A reasonable target from a four to six week beginner group class in this county: a dog that will sit and lie down on a single cue with mild distraction; a recall that works in the yard and at least sometimes on a lead in a new place; loose-leash walking for a block, not a mile; a settle on a mat while you eat; a hand-off to a stranger without a scene; and – the one that matters most and is measured least – an owner who can now read their own dog and knows what to do when it goes wrong.

The businesses here that are worth the money say so in their materials. One Stone Ridge practice sends “a written recap and homework guide after every session to keep your progress on track between visits.” One Accord school structures its classes around a single skill at a time so that a household leaves with one thing actually finished. One Route 28 facility runs a client community with drills between sessions. One Saugerties facility gates progression on demonstrated mastery rather than on attendance, which means a certificate there means something.

And know what obedience is not. It is not a fix for fear, for resource guarding, for a dog who cannot be left alone, or for aggression – those are behavior problems with their own guides on this site, and the good trainers in this county will tell you so themselves rather than selling you a basics course that cannot help. One Route 28 business puts it directly: “For dogs struggling with reactivity, anxiety or aggression, ‘basic’ training isn’t enough.”

Reviewed Dog Obedience Classes Trainers in Kingston

These reviewed Kingston-area trainers from our directory are the local options for dog obedience classes. Each links to a full profile with specialties, certified credentials, reviews, and contact info:

See all Kingston dog obedience classes trainers →

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I take a dog obedience class in Ulster County?

Scheduled group classes run in three places: a 17,000 square foot facility in Saugerties with an obedience and rally ladder that goes to competition level, a Kingston center on Foxhall Avenue that has published a class schedule since 2004, and a facility on Route 28 west of Kingston running a basics group open to dogs of all ages plus an enrichment class for dogs that already have their foundations. Smaller four-week classes capped at four to five teams run in Stone Ridge, and an Accord school runs three-day camps and monthly single-skill sessions.

Is my dog too old for a basics class?

No, and one Route 28 facility addresses this directly in its own class description: “While most people think a basics class is just for puppies, we welcome dogs of all ages,” adding that it also works as a refresher “if you haven’t worked with your dog in a while.” The Saugerties facility gates progression on demonstrated mastery rather than age, and its scent work classes are explicitly recommended for older dogs who still want a job.

What is day training, and is it worth it?

The dog is dropped off, a professional does the repetitions, and the dog comes home at night. A few Ulster County businesses sell it, one capping it at three dogs a day and two days a week per client to avoid burning a dog out, another describing it as “like a board-and-train without the boarding.” It is worth it for households that want faster progress and know they will not do the daily homework – but check that the price includes transition sessions where the handling skills are taught back to you, because without those the dog reverts.

Can I do obedience classes online from the Catskills?

Yes, and here it is a real option rather than a consolation. For a household an hour from the nearest room, weekly online sessions beat monthly in-person ones.

Will an obedience class fix my dog's reactivity?

Usually not, and the better trainers here say so themselves. One Route 28 business writes plainly that “for dogs struggling with reactivity, anxiety or aggression, ‘basic’ training isn’t enough,” and one Stone Ridge practice restricts its group classes to dogs that are “dog and people friendly or tolerant” and routes everything harder to private work. Several businesses in the county publish behavior modification as a separate named service; start there rather than hoping a basics course will cover it.

Related: read our complete dog obedience classes guide or the full Kingston dog training overview.

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