About Essex County Canine Westport NY

One trainer, a hall and a shelter

Essex County Canine is owned and operated by Tina Hoffmann, described on her own site as a local dog trainer, a certified Canine Good Citizen evaluator and an ATD/ARC therapy dog evaluator who teaches both CGC and therapy dog classes alongside several kinds of obedience class. The site says she has experience working with dogs including aggressive and reactive dogs and puppies. She has done volunteer work for the Clinton County Canine Club and for the local SPCA, and at the North Country SPCA she helps prepare dogs for adoption through basic obedience and family manners training so they do better with a new family. She is also working with local 4H leaders on their dog show program, structuring training with junior handlers and judging.

The classes

Sessions run eight weeks, year round, at 95 dollars, capped at eight dogs and handlers. Puppy Kindergarten takes dogs from eight weeks to three months and covers sit, down, come and names alongside socializing, leash walking and crate training. The Beginner Puppy Class is an introduction to manners, beginner obedience and leash walking with handling tips. Basic Obedience and Leash Work and Family Pet Manners sit next to a Neighborhood Manners and Leash Walking class, aimed at dogs that need obedience tune-ups and need to learn to be around other dogs calmly, with tips for working out and about. Beginner Obstacle Course and Recall introduces obstacles as a route into agility and works on recall, needs a solid obedience background, and is offered only in the spring and summer sessions held at the North Country SPCA. Advanced Obedience covers loose leash walking, recalls, stays, sitting for petting, out-of-sights, meeting strange dogs and walking through crowds. The Canine Good Citizen class and a Therapy Dog class complete the ladder, the latter for dogs with good obedience that are calm around other dogs, after which she puts handlers in touch with what is needed for the certification test.

The reactive class

Semi Reactive Obedience is the one worth flagging. It is for dogs reactive to other dogs, and the site describes it as focused on toning that down and working on reactiveness on leash and other behavioral training. Dogs must be evaluated before the class and it is limited to four. That is a small, deliberately gated class, and in a county this size that is rare.

Where, and a caution

Classes are held at the United Church of Christ parish hall in Elizabethtown or at the North Country SPCA in Elizabethtown, and you are told which on registration. Registration forms go to Tina by mail or email with vaccination records and payment. One thing to check before relying on it: the business also goes by Essex County Canine Westport NY, but the class venues it publishes are in Elizabethtown.