Dog Trainers in Kingston, NY
Kingston is the seat of Ulster County and was, for one month in 1777, the capital of New York State. It is a city of about 24,000 on the west bank of the Hudson, and the county behind it is enormous and almost empty: a little over 1,100 square miles, most of it the Catskill Forest Preserve and the Ashokan Reservoir watershed, with roughly 180,000 people spread along two corridors and a scattering of hamlets. That shape is the single fact that governs how dog training works here. There is no dense ring of storefront training halls. There is a working city with a small core of real training businesses inside it, a handful of strong practices in the villages around it, and then an hour of mountain road before you reach anything at all.The supply divides along the roads, and the roads divide along the geography. Kingston itself holds the county’s concentration – two training centers with indoor space, a facility on Route 28 that runs classes and boards dogs, a shopfront on Albany Avenue that trains and grooms in the same room. North on Route 32 and the Thruway, Saugerties has the largest indoor dog-sport facility in the county by a wide margin plus independent practices. West into the Rondout Valley, along US-209 through Stone Ridge and Accord, sit two of the most heavily credentialed behavior practices in the Hudson Valley. South, the New Paltz cluster is a group of separate businesses within a couple of miles of each other. And Woodstock, which has no training hall at all, has trainers who come to your house.That last pattern is worth saying plainly, because it is the practical answer for most of the county: several businesses on this page publish training in the client’s own home as a priced service, and another charges a mileage tier to come further. If you live in Kerhonkson or Phoenicia or out towards Ellenville, the honest first question is not which trainer is closest but who is willing to drive to you, and what they actually do when they get there. This page is built to answer the second half. Every business listed below was checked against its own website, Facebook or Instagram before it was listed; boarding kennels, day cares, groomers, pet shops, veterinary practices, breeders, an animal communicator, a farm sanctuary, a municipal shelter, a thrift store and a tea company were all taken out of the raw search results and are not here.
- Top-Rated Dog Trainers in Kingston
- What Kind of Training Does Your Dog Need?
- Training Formats and Typical US Dog-Training Prices
- Dog Training Schools & Classes in Kingston
- How to Pick the Right Trainer
- Dog Training by Kingston Neighborhood
- Kingston Dog Training Resources
- Common Questions About Dog Training in Kingston
- Start Here
This page is your starting point. Whether you need puppy socialization, basic obedience, off-leash training, or help with a serious behavior problem, we’ll help you understand your options, what to expect, and how to connect with the right professional in Kingston.
Top-Rated Dog Trainers in Kingston
Compare Kingston’s top-rated dog trainers below — each listing shows real Google reviews and, where we’ve checked them, certified credentials, so you can reach out with confidence.
What Kind of Training Does Your Dog Need?
Before you start comparing trainers, figure out which category your dog falls into. This determines the type of training, the format, and the realistic timeline.
Puppy (8 weeks to 5 months)
Priority: socialization and foundation habits. This is the most time-sensitive stage — the critical socialization window closes around 16 weeks, and what your puppy is exposed to during this period shapes their temperament permanently. Group puppy classes are ideal. Read our full guide: Puppy Training in Kingston.
Adolescent dog (5 to 18 months)
Priority: obedience and impulse control. This is the stage where most owners hit the wall — the cute puppy has turned into a teenager who jumps on guests, pulls on the leash, and has developed selective hearing. Group obedience classes or private lessons work well here. Consistency is everything.
Adult dog — new to training
Priority: basic obedience and household manners. It’s never too late. Adult dogs are often faster learners than puppies because they have longer attention spans.
Adult dog — specific behavior issue
Priority: targeted behavior modification. Reactivity, aggression, separation anxiety, resource guarding, excessive barking. These issues need a qualified trainer or behaviorist — not a group class. Start with a behavior consultation.
Any dog — intensive training needed fast
Priority: results on a compressed timeline. Board-and-train programs offer intensive daily training over 2 to 6 weeks — the fastest path to results when done right.
Training Formats and Typical US Dog-Training Prices
The formats below are the same everywhere; the figures are national ranges, not Kingston rates. Prices vary by city and by trainer — confirm directly with the trainer before you book.
Group classes
Best for socialization and foundation obedience. Meet once a week for 5 to 6 weeks with other dogs. Most affordable option. Typical US range: $150 to $300 for a full course.
Private lessons
One-on-one with a trainer at their facility or your home. Best for specific goals, reactive dogs, or customized plans. Typical US range: $100 to $175 per session (facility) or $125 to $200 (in-home).
Day training
Your dog goes to the trainer during the day and comes home at night. Great for working professionals. Typical US range: $75 to $125 per day.
Board and train
Your dog stays with the trainer for 2 to 6 weeks. Most intensive option. Typical US range: $1,500 to $6,000+ depending on length and complexity.
Behavior consultation
A diagnostic assessment for serious behavioral issues — a professional evaluation that produces a treatment plan. Typical US range: $200 to $400 for the initial assessment.
Dog Training Schools & Classes in Kingston
Looking for a dog training school or group obedience classes in Kingston? Plenty of local trainers and facilities run weekly group classes — a structured, affordable way to cover socialization and basic obedience alongside other dogs. Browse dog obedience classes in Kingston, or use the trainer directory above to compare every dog school and trainer in the Kingston area by specialty, reviews and price.
How to Pick the Right Trainer
Choosing a dog trainer is a lot like choosing a doctor — credentials matter, but so does communication style, philosophy, and whether you trust them with someone you care about.
Training methodology
This is the most important factor and the one most people skip. Dog training ranges from purely positive reinforcement (rewards only) to balanced training (rewards plus corrections). There is no single “right” approach — but there IS a right approach for your dog. A fearful rescue needs a different approach than a confident, drive-y working breed. Ask every trainer what tools and methods they use, and don’t commit until you understand and agree with their philosophy.
Credentials
Look for recognized certifications — CPDT-KA (Certified Professional Dog Trainer), KPA-CTP (Karen Pryor Academy), IACP, AKC CGC Evaluator, or for complex behavior, a CAAB or veterinary behaviorist. Credentials aren’t everything — some of the best trainers built their skills through decades of hands-on experience — but a trainer with no credentials AND no verifiable track record is a risk.
Transparency — red flags and green flags
Red flags: won’t let you observe a class or tour the facility, gets defensive about methodology, guarantees specific results, pressures you to sign up immediately, or trash-talks every other trainer. Green flags: welcomes questions, offers to let you observe a class first, gives references, is honest about what training can and cannot achieve, and tells you upfront if your dog’s issue is outside their expertise.
Dog Training by Kingston Neighborhood
The Kingston metro is large, and driving 45 minutes for a weekly class isn’t sustainable for most people. Here’s a quick overview of training availability by area:
Kingston – uptown, midtown and the Route 28 corridor
The city holds the largest share of the metro's trainers and all of its indoor floor space. Doc's K-9 Center at 385 Foxhall Avenue is the oldest: a Daily Freeman piece the business republishes dates it to October 2004 and describes it as run by Karen Garelick, "a retired veterinarian" who opened "because my clients demanded it. They wanted an indoor arena for winter." It lists an indoor training center and an outdoor training center as separate spaces and runs a published class schedule alongside private behavioral consultations. Acadia Canine Academy works from 140 Station Road at the northern edge of the city and is the most explicitly priced business in the county, publishing hourly rates for private instruction and protection work and a price for its full personal protection course, with two, three and four week board-and-train sessions. Out west on Route 28 towards the Catskills, Daley Obedience at number 1007 runs the full ladder from a Saturday basics class to a residential immersion program, with its own boarding kennels attached; it is run by a husband and wife who describe themselves as "lifelong residents of Ulster County." And on Albany Avenue, Anything's Pawsible does something none of the others do – training and low-stress grooming in the same room, on the theory that the two industries had been teaching dogs contradictory things. k9Crazy Dog Training and G-Force Fowl Dogs & Training are also in the Kingston area; neither publishes a website, so this page carries only their address and number.
Saugerties and the northern towns
Eight miles up Route 32 from Kingston, Saugerties is the county's second cluster and it punches well above its size. Dream Dogs Training Center at 51 Industrial Drive, three miles off Thruway exit 20, is a 17,000 square foot climate-controlled facility with an 80-by-120-foot agility ring on artificial turf inside an 80-by-150-foot arena building, a separate small-class room, and twelve RV spaces with shore power for competitors staying over for trials. Nothing else in Ulster County is remotely like it, and it exists because its founder spent years driving to Connecticut, New Hampshire and Georgia for agility trials and got tired of it. Alongside it, Catskill Mountain Canine has been working Saugerties, Kingston and Woodstock since 2017 and offers obedience and behavior modification in whichever format a household needs – private, day training, board and train or group class. Saugerties Dog Care is the third, an owner-operator who publishes a per-session price for local dog training and specializes in walking dogs and owners through the AKC title ladder from S.T.A.R. Puppy to Urban Canine Good Citizen. Malden-on-Hudson and Glasco, further up the river road, have no trainer of their own that we know of.
Woodstock and the Catskill fringe
Woodstock has no training facility, which tells you exactly what training looks like at the foot of the mountains: somebody drives to you. Angel Paw Dog Training is Doreen Rossi, who practiced in Westchester from 2007 and moved north in 2019, working one-to-one on obedience and on the ordinary domestic failures – house-training, jumping, barking, destructive chewing – in person or by video. Grateful Pups Training, also based in Woodstock, is the county's most residential option: "Board and Train in home programs are 7 days a week, where the dog lives with me in my home," in two to five week versions priced by the week, aimed squarely at anxious and reactive dogs. West of Woodstock the county empties fast. Bearsville, Mount Tremper, Phoenicia, Shandaken, Boiceville and Pine Hill have no dog trainer of their own that we know of, and a household in any of them is looking at a twenty to forty minute drive to Saugerties or Kingston, or at one of the in-home practices.
The Rondout Valley – Stone Ridge, Accord and Kerhonkson
US-209 runs southwest out of Kingston through High Falls, Stone Ridge, Accord and Kerhonkson towards Ellenville, and this quiet corridor holds some of the most credentialed practices in the metro. Hudson Valley Hounds at 49 Peak Rd in Stone Ridge is Tessa Romita, a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant and CPDT-KA with a Control Unleashed instructor certification and an IAABC accreditation, working in clients' own homes and in classes capped at four to five teams, with every price published for its behavior evaluations, coaching sessions and four-week puppy classes. Four miles further down the road at 4628 US Route 209 in Accord, All About Dogs is run by Jane Kopelman, CPDT-KA, who has "been doing pet therapy with her own dogs for more than twenty years" and is a certified therapy dog team evaluator for Pet Partners – the only place in Ulster County where a household can prepare a dog for therapy visiting alongside ordinary manners work. Kerhonkson, Napanoch and Ellenville, further southwest, have no trainer of their own that we know of, and Ellenville in particular is a real gap: it is the largest village in the southwest of the county and the nearest training is a twenty-five minute drive back up 209.
New Paltz, Highland and the southern river towns
The southern end of Ulster County faces Poughkeepsie across the river and behaves like its own small market. New Paltz holds a cluster of independent businesses within two miles: New Paltz Dog Training & Canine Adventures at 2 Rocky Hill Rd; Dog Trainers Connection at 50 Millrock Rd, trading as Bonnie's Here Dog Training, twenty-five years of private behavior work whose stated purpose is keeping dogs in their homes – "barking issues, housebreaking, fear of walking down stairs or other environmental fears, jumping on people, destructive behaviors when left alone"; and Tails on the Town at 3 Gardiner Park, a deliberately tiny home boarding business run by a CPDT-KA trainer and a certified pet loss grief counselor who spent eighteen years caring for Brooklyn's dogs before moving up. Six miles north on Route 9W, Highland is the base for New Moon Pet Training, whose owner is a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner and a former veterinary technician of nine years, and who specializes in the thing most programs skip: "helping dogs feel comfortable with handling, nail trims, vet visits, and daily care routines." Marlboro, Milton, Plattekill, Gardiner and Clintondale have no trainer of their own that we know of; all of them are inside half an hour of New Paltz or Highland.
Where the county's supply actually runs out
Two gaps are worth naming, because a page that lists only what exists is half a map. The first is geographic. The western half of Ulster County – everything past the Ashokan Reservoir, and the whole southwestern corner around Ellenville and Napanoch – has no verified dog trainer inside it. That is not a scraping failure; it is what a forest preserve looks like on a business map. Owners there are calling Kingston, Saugerties or one of the in-home practices, and the mileage question belongs in the first phone call rather than the third. The second gap is specialization. The county’s supply is enough for puppies, obedience, board-and-train, aggression and reactivity work, in-home training and honest price comparison, and this page carries dedicated guides to all of those. It is not enough for off-leash and e-collar work, for leash-reactivity as a dedicated specialty, or for service dog training – Ulster County has one business publishing each of the last two and none publishing the first – and those three carry referral guides pointing to the nearest live supply instead. Separation anxiety, protection work and therapy dog training each have very few local providers and no neighboring metro with enough to refer to, so this page says so rather than sending anyone on a drive that would not help.
Getting around, and what that does to your training budget
Kingston sits at Thruway exit 19 with the traffic circle everybody complains about, and the roads out of it are the county: Route 28 west into the Catskills, Route 32 and 9W north and south along the river, US-209 southwest down the Rondout Valley, and the Kingston-Rhinecliff bridge east into Dutchess. There is no ring road and no rail. Crossing from Ellenville to Saugerties is about fifty minutes. That is why so much of this market is mobile, and why the trainers here price travel rather than hide it: Saugerties Dog Care charges more for sessions beyond ten miles; Grateful Pups trains at its own base or "in owner's home for an additional fee"; Hudson Valley Hounds and New Moon Pet Training both build their whole private tier around coming to the house. Virtual sessions are a real option here rather than a consolation – Angel Paw, New Moon and Anything's Pawsible all sell them, and New Moon prices its seven-week virtual package well below the same course delivered in person. If you live an hour from the nearest facility, that gap is the difference between weekly training and monthly training.
Kingston Dog Training Resources
Beyond professional training, Kingston has some excellent resources for dog owners.
Parks and off-leash areas
- A note on off-leash space in Ulster County — We know of no municipal off-leash dog park inside Ulster County, so none is named here as one. That is a gap in this page rather than a claim that none exists, and it is flagged for a human to fill rather than guessed at. What follows is what local businesses actually publish about where they take dogs, in their own words, plus the public spaces those routes run through – all of them on-leash unless a sign at the gate says otherwise, and none of them a substitute for a fenced yard when you are working with a dog who cannot yet be trusted off lead.
- The Kingston waterfront and the city parks — A Kingston dog-care business publishes its walking routes in detail, and they are a fair map of where city dogs actually go: Senate House State Historic Site, Academy Green Park, Forsyth Park and the Rondout waterfront, plus Kingston Point Park out on the river. The Rondout is the flat, busy one – a working waterfront with restaurants and foot traffic, which makes it useful for exactly the kind of controlled exposure a reactive or under-socialized dog needs and unhelpful for a dog who is not ready for it yet. Forsyth Park, in midtown next to the small zoo, is the one to think twice about with a dog who is reactive to other animals. Kingston Point Park at the end of the Rondout has the water and the open ground, and it is the closest thing in the city to space for a long line.
- The O&W Rail Trail and the Ashokan Reservoir — The twenty-seven mile Wallkill Valley and O&W rail trail corridors run through the county and are the default long walk here; one Kingston walking service describes the O&W as starting "directly adjacent" to its base on Washington Avenue and running the length of the Rondout Valley. A rail trail is a narrow, straight, two-way corridor with no escape route to the side, which makes it the single most useful piece of ground in this county for practicing loose-leash walking and passing other dogs at a predictable distance – and also the worst place to discover that your dog cannot do either. The Ashokan Reservoir promenade, west of Kingston off Route 28A, is the wide-open option with the mountain view; it is reservoir land with its own rules, so read the signage before you unclip anything.
- Enclosed ground you can book rather than walk into — Ulster County's reliably fenced space is private and attached to businesses, which for a dog who is unreliable with other dogs is arguably the safer arrangement – somebody has assessed every dog in the yard. Dream Dogs Training Center in Saugerties has an 80-by-120-foot turf agility ring inside an 80-by-150-foot arena building, available for ring and facility rental as well as for classes. Doc's K-9 Center in Kingston lists an indoor training center and an outdoor training center. Daley Obedience has its own training room on Route 28. Access runs through a class, a booking or an evaluation rather than through a gate you can walk up to, but in a Hudson Valley February an indoor floor is not a luxury.
- The Catskill trailheads, and a word about recall — Kaaterskill Falls, the Catskill high peaks trailheads off Route 28 and the trails around Woodstock are the reason many people live here, and they are the reason a reliable recall matters more in this county than in a suburb. Ulster County has bears, it has porcupines, it has steep water, and it has trailheads where a dog who does not come back when called is a genuine emergency rather than an embarrassment. No trainer verified for this page publishes an off-leash or e-collar program – that is the one specialty this county does not have – so if off-leash reliability in the woods is your goal, read the off-leash referral guide on this site rather than assuming the nearest trainer covers it.
These parks are great for socialization practice AFTER your dog has a foundation of training. Taking an untrained dog to an off-leash park is asking for trouble.
Veterinary behaviorists
For complex behavior cases that may require medication alongside training, ask your primary vet for a referral to a veterinary behaviorist serving the Kingston area.
Dog Trainers by Community in the Kingston Area
Looking for a trainer in a specific Kingston-area community? Here are the local options town by town.
Dog Trainers in Saugerties, NY
- Saugerties Dog Care LLC — 5.0★ (41)
- Dream Dogs Training Center — 5.0★ (20)
- Catskill Mountain Canine — 5.0★ (19)
Dog Trainers in New Paltz, NY
- Tails on the Town — 5.0★ (42)
- Dog Trainers Connection — 5.0★ (2)
- New Paltz Dog Training & Canine Adventures — 4.5★ (13)
Dog Trainers in Woodstock, NY
- Grateful Pups — 5.0★ (35)
- Angel Paw Dog Training — 4.9★ (32)
Dog Trainers in Stone Ridge, NY
- Hudson Valley Hounds — 5.0★ (17)
Dog Trainers in Accord, NY
Dog Trainers in Highland, NY
- New Moon Pet Training — 5.0★ (9)
Also in Kingston: Anything’s Pawsible LLC, Petco Dog Training, Daley Obedience, Acadia Canine Academy, Doc’s K9 Center, k9Crazy Dog Training, G-Force Fowl Dogs & Training
More trainers near Kingston
These trainers are just outside the Kingston communities listed above.
- Great Companion Dog Training — Grahamsville, NY · 24.3 mi
- A Dog’s Life Camp and Spa — Woodbourne, NY · 26.8 mi
Dog Training by Specialty in Kingston
Kingston-specific guides for each type of training:
- Puppy Training
- Puppy Socialization
- Dog Obedience Classes
- Aggressive Dog Training
- Leash-Reactive Dog Training
- Off-Leash Dog Training
- Service Dog Training
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Common Questions About Dog Training in Kingston
How many dog trainers are there in Ulster County?
Fewer than a raw search returns, and deliberately so. The businesses on this page are the ones that train dogs, checked against each business’s own website, Facebook or Instagram. A search for Ulster County also returns boarding kennels, day cares, groomers, pet shops, veterinary practices, breeders, an animal communicator, a farm sanctuary, a municipal shelter, a pet-supplies thrift store and, genuinely, a tea company, and some trainers based across the county line in Dutchess, who appear on the page for that county.
Which towns in Ulster County actually have a dog trainer?
Kingston, Saugerties and New Paltz have the most, Woodstock has trainers too, and Stone Ridge, Accord and Highland each have a practice of their own. Elsewhere in the county – Ellenville, Kerhonkson, Napanoch, Rosendale, Hurley, Phoenicia, Shandaken, Marlboro, Gardiner, Port Ewen, Lake Katrine and the rest – we know of no trainer based in town. Several practices publish in-home training as a priced service and another charges by distance, so the practical coverage of the county is much wider than that list of towns suggests.
What does dog training cost in Ulster County?
A good share of Ulster County trainers publish real prices, more than in most counties. Private sessions are the common unit, with a certified behavior consultant at the upper end of the hourly range. One beginner course is sold in four formats – virtual, group class, private and day training – in rising order of price, which is a useful picture of how the formats compare everywhere. Board and train is priced by the week at a Woodstock practice and as a two-week facility curriculum in Kingston with a deposit and extra weeks quoted separately. Single-skill group sessions are the cheapest way in, and short camps with boarding included cost more. Protection work is its own market, priced by the hour and as a full course.
Can I get a trainer to come to my house?
Yes, and in this county it is often the sensible option. Several businesses publish in-home training as a named, priced service: behavior practices that do their consulting in the client’s own home by design, one that will deliver its obedience program at your house for an added fee, one that builds its whole private tier around weekly sessions in your home, and one that simply charges a higher session rate beyond a set distance. Ask about the travel boundary on the first call – Ulster County is large, and a trainer based in Saugerties is fifty minutes from Ellenville.
My dog is reactive or aggressive. Who handles that here?
Several Ulster County trainers publish behavior modification for reactivity, fear and aggression as a named service, which is genuinely good coverage for a county this size. They differ sharply in approach, and the difference is published rather than hidden: one Stone Ridge practice works strictly within the LIMA framework – least intrusive, minimally aversive – and lists harness, flat collar or martingale as the only acceptable equipment; one Woodstock practice describes itself as balanced and prices slip, prong and e-collars as part of its programs. Both are real options and neither is a secret; read the aggression guide on this site, then ask each one directly what they would do with your dog. One trainer also states plainly that she does not take dogs with a bite history and refers those cases to a veterinary behaviorist, which is a mark in her favor rather than against.
Is there anywhere in Ulster County for off-leash training?
Not as a published specialty, no. This is the one clear hole in the county's supply: no business verified for this page sells an off-leash or e-collar reliability program, and the largest facility in the county explicitly advertises "No E-Collars!" on its front page. If that is what you need, the off-leash referral guide on this site points to the nearest live supply, about thirty-five minutes down the Thruway. Service dog training and leash-reactivity as a dedicated specialty are in the same position and have their own referral guides.
What about puppy classes – do I have to drive to Kingston?
Not necessarily. Puppy work is the one thing essentially every general trainer here does, and the county has both shapes of it: scheduled group classes at the facilities in Kingston and Saugerties, including a four-week puppy socialization class capped at four to five teams in Stone Ridge, and one-to-one puppy programs from the in-home trainers in Woodstock, Highland and New Paltz who will come to you. If you are in the western half of the county, start with the in-home list.
Are the trainers on this page checked?
Every business listed was checked on its own website, Facebook or Instagram before it was published, and what appears in each write-up comes from that channel and nowhere else – no prices, certifications, years in business or testimonials have been invented or borrowed. Where a business publishes little about itself, its listing says so and stays short rather than being padded. Star ratings and review counts are live Google data shown as a link-out, not our own scores. Credentials shown as Certified have been matched in the issuing body’s public registry; anything else a trainer states about itself is shown as self-reported.
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The best time to start training is today. Whether your puppy needs socialization, your adolescent dog needs impulse control, or your adult dog has a behavior issue that’s been building for years — the sooner you start, the faster things improve.
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