About Central Bark Asheville

Central Bark Asheville is a day care center at 4 Regent Park Boulevard that runs a published training and enrichment program alongside the daycare, boarding and grooming. Its own line is that "a joyful family includes a well-trained dog".

The training products

Two are published. Training Tutor is one-to-one training delivered during a daycare visit, so the skills are built while the dog is already at the facility – the page's own argument is that the dog "will come home tired and well-socialized, with the training and skills they need". Group classes run alongside for practice and socialization in a supervised setting, and a free puppy hour is advertised.

The published curriculum

The center lists what it teaches, item by item: name recognition so the dog responds when called; the fundamental cues sit, stay, down, wait and leave-it; door and gate etiquette so the dog enters and exits calmly; relaxed loose-leash walking; and what it calls extra behaviors – separation anxiety, excessive barking and destructive chewing – with trainer support.

Method

The method is stated as positive, reward-based technique: "After decades of experience using reward-based training, we know it's the most humane and effective way of training dogs and addressing unwanted behaviors."