About Calten Dog Training

Calten Dog Training is a single-trainer business working from a private residence in Bethpage, in rural Sumner County.

What they publish

Calten is one of the few operations in this cluster with a fully published price list. Single private lessons are $50; a six-week Basic Obedience package of in-home private lessons is $500, as is a six-week Puppy Obedience package for puppies three to eight months; an E-collar Proficiency Course covering conditioning to low-level stimulation and owner education is $800; a one-week board and train for puppies is $700, as is a one-week refresher for dogs that have already been through training; the three-week board and train, described as their most popular and comprehensive program, is $2,400; day training with pick-up and drop-off is $65; vacation boarding for client dogs is $50; and an AKC CGC, CGCA, CGCU or STAR Puppy evaluation is $20.

How the training runs

Two constraints shape everything. The first is capacity: board-and-train dogs are trained in a home environment rather than a kennel, and the business caps itself at two dogs at a time, with the stated reasoning that a home setting lets them reproduce and correct the behaviors that actually happen indoors – counter surfing, chewing furniture and the rest. The property is described as over ten acres of pasture, hills, forest and farm animals. The second is format: Calten offers private lessons exclusively and no group classes, with lessons held in the client's home first so the dog learns where it lives, then graduating to public spaces.

Who runs it

Hailey runs Calten alone. She dates her obsession with dogs to 2004 and a cattle dog that bit strangers, whose problem she solved as a child under a local mentor whose methods she describes as balancing positive reinforcement with corrective action. She went on to compete in agility, tracking, rally obedience and search and rescue with herding breeds, took a break for college and a law-enforcement career, and returned to training full time in 2019.

Practical notes

Former clients are invited to free training outings – pack walks, kayaking, hiking, urban adventures – and AKC-registered dogs can have a CGC or STAR Puppy evaluation added to the end of any program.