About Heather Pope Dog Training

Heather Pope Dog Training works out of "1740 N. Main St. Ste. E Columbia, TN 38401", and its contact page also carries the Paws on the Duck site on Bear Creek Pike – a separate business at a separate address that shares the training venue. The trainer describes her approach as guiding owners to resolve problems in the most balanced and effective way for their own individual dog.

Group courses

Group work is the backbone. The AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy Pre-School course is "designed for puppies ages 10- weeks to four months old" and runs six weeks. A six-week Basic Obedience course follows, "designed first and foremost to teach you how to better communicate with your dog in a way that they will understand." Advanced Basic Obedience then "builds on the skills learned in our Basic Obedience course, shaping and proofing those skills by adding distractions, duration, and distance."

Board and train

Three residential programs are published. The puppy version is the Ahead of the Pack Puppy Program, a "three week board and train program" covering foundations, play habits, housetraining and manners. The Basic Obedience Program is the adult equivalent, run over a three-week stay. The E-Collar Program runs four to six weeks, starting from the basic curriculum before the collar is introduced, and the site names the specific unit it uses. The page is unusually honest about the limits of the format, saying that "a board and train is not a quick fix" and that practicing and maintaining the new behaviors at home is the owner's work.

Credentials and one-to-one work

She states her evaluator status in her own words: "I am an AKC aTT, CGC® and Trick Dog Evaluator and offer training preparedness within the AKC Family Dog program to provide fun and healthy activities for a lifetime of learning for you and your dog." Private lessons are offered for owners who want one-to-one work or have a specific behavioral problem, and the site offers them in-facility and in-home.