About Hot Diggity Dog

Overview

Hot Diggity Dog is a small training and boarding operation at 6170 W 450 S in Columbus, Indiana, described on its own site as "A camp where your dog can stay, learn, and play." It is run by Lisa Korf, who holds two of the more substantive credentials in the field: CPDT-KA through the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers, and CDBC — Certified Dog Behavior Consultant — through the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants.

The scale here is deliberately small, and the offering is correspondingly focused: group classes, private consultations, day training and boarding, without the daycare-and-grooming breadth of a larger resort. For owners who specifically want a credentialed behaviour consultant rather than a general-purpose facility, that focus is the point.

Training Approach

The philosophy is stated directly on the site and is consistent throughout: "The training classes she leads primarily utilize positive reinforcement to promote teamwork between handlers and dogs, with an emphasis on understanding your dog's emotions, and giving dogs an outlet for their natural instincts."

Two elements of that sentence are worth pulling out. The emphasis on a dog's emotional state — rather than only on observable obedience — is characteristic of the behaviour-consulting tradition the IAABC credential comes from, and it typically means the work addresses why a behaviour is happening rather than only suppressing it. The emphasis on giving dogs "an outlet for their natural instincts" points toward enrichment and breed-appropriate activity as part of the plan, which is also why an agility offering sits naturally on this menu next to manners work.

The quoted line Korf leads with on her own site frames the goal in relationship terms: "Training opens the door to a lifetime of trust and communication between you and your dog."

Programs & Services

**Group classes.** Drop-in Basic Manners classes are run in a summer session on Saturday mornings. The drop-in format lowers the commitment barrier compared with a fixed six-week enrolment, which suits owners with irregular schedules — though it also means the curriculum is not a linear syllabus.

**Just For Fun Agility.** Also offered as drop-in Saturday classes. Framed explicitly as recreational rather than competition preparation.

**Private consultations.** Available on request. Given Korf's behaviour-consultant credential, this is the appropriate route for households with a specific behaviour problem rather than a general manners goal.

**Day training.** The dog attends and is trained by Korf during the day, with discounted multi-session packages available. Day training is a useful middle path between weekly classes, where progress depends heavily on owner homework, and residential board-and-train.

**Boarding.** The camp offers overnight stays, booked through the same online scheduling system as classes and day training.

All booking runs through an online scheduling platform, with separate paths for stays, classes and day training, plus gift certificates and packages.

Behavioural Work

This is the strongest part of the profile and the clearest reason to choose Hot Diggity Dog over a general obedience provider. Korf's site states she "has worked with behavioral issues including leash and barrier reactivity, separation anxiety, aggression, and resource guarding" — four of the harder categories in companion-dog behaviour, and ones that many trainers explicitly decline.

Her background supports it. The site says she was "Previously the Behavior & Training Manager at the Humane Society of the South Platte Valley in Colorado," and that she "has been active in the rescue community since 2004, devoting her time to rehabilitating and training rescue dogs, and educating volunteers, foster parents, and adopters." Shelter behaviour work involves an unusually high concentration of difficult cases and unknown histories, which is directly relevant experience for owners of reactive or resource-guarding dogs. The site also describes her as applying "advanced problem-solving skills to her passion in animal welfare, behavior and training."

Location & Setting

The facility is on W 450 S, outside central Columbus in a rural setting rather than a retail strip — consistent with the "camp" framing and with a boarding operation that needs land. The site states Korf "looks forward to helping to improve the canine-human relationships within Bartholomew and surrounding counties," positioning the practice as a county-level rather than city-only service.

Because the operation is small and single-trainer, availability is finite and scheduling runs through the online system rather than walk-in.

What Sets Them Apart

The credential stack is the headline. CPDT-KA requires documented hands-on training hours, a reference from a veterinarian or client, and a proctored exam covering learning theory, husbandry, ethology and instruction. The IAABC CDBC is a separate and harder credential focused specifically on behaviour consulting, requiring case studies and a demonstrated grasp of behaviour change protocols. Holding both is uncommon at any market size and rare in a city of Columbus's scale — most trainers hold one, many hold neither.

The second differentiator is the combination of behaviour expertise with boarding under the same person. An owner with a reactive or separation-anxious dog usually faces a real problem when they travel, because standard kennels are not equipped for the dog. Here the boarding provider is the behaviour consultant.

The third is simply scale. This is a single credentialed trainer running a small camp, not a facility where the dog is handed to rotating staff. Owners who want continuity of handler — particularly for behaviour cases, where consistency matters most — get it structurally.

Owners should note the flip side: with drop-in class formats and a small operation, this is not the place for a rigid multi-level obedience curriculum or for large-group socialisation. The fit is behaviour work, manners, recreational agility, and boarding with someone who understands the dog.