About Common Canine LLC

Common Canine is a dog training business serving Upstate New York, with Zach as head trainer. The geography on its site is the state, not a city, and it offers to collect and return dogs anywhere in New York, which is how a board-and-train operation in a rural county reaches a customer base.

Programs

Four programs are described. Board and Train runs three to eight weeks for puppies and adult dogs, built around the dog's energy level, personality and the owner's lifestyle. Private Lessons are one-hour sessions aimed at a specific problem – the examples given are leash pulling, house manners and counter surfing – and take place at the owner's home or at the facility depending on what is being worked on. Puppy Programs start at eight weeks and cover chewing, reactivity and house training. Behavior Modification is described as the program for extreme problems, naming aggression toward dogs or people, intense separation anxiety, vocalization, overactivity and destruction.

How it starts

The published process is a phone consultation first, then an in-person evaluation where the program calls for one, then pick-up. The site is clear that most programs continue with follow-up lessons after the dog goes home.

The trainer

Zach started the business in his home state of New York and says he has trained hundreds of dogs of all ages and breeds. He writes that he has rescued several dogs from local shelters facing euthanasia, trained them and rehomed them with families who could not otherwise afford a trained dog. Outside the business he competes in dog sports, holding French Ring 1 and Mondioring 1 titles with his Belgian Malinois Jocko, and he is training director of the Divergent Working Dog Club. Those are his own sport credentials; the business sells obedience, puppy work, board and train and behavior modification.