About Play Dog Excellent

Play Dog Excellent – PDX – has been running at 4113 Dayton Blvd since 2004, and is the largest published training operation in the metro. Its own site describes a 20,000 square-foot brick building on more than four acres, "known locally as the old skating rink".

How the work is structured

Group classes are the core and are held weekly indoors at the facility. The site publishes the prices: six-week classes at $190, and three-week classes at $95 each for Really Reliable Recall, Intro to Nosework, Canine Good Citizen and CGC Advanced. Private classes are $95 an hour, Monday to Thursday only, and the site says they are "especially effective for dogs with space issues or handlers looking for intensive, focused training" and can be customized "for aggressive or fearful dogs".

What they publish working on

The published class schedule runs well past pet manners: puppy classes (Head Start, Puppy Plus, STAR Puppy), Manners Matter, Basic Obedience, Canine Good Citizen, agility from foundations through Masters, four levels of Nosework, Rally and Competition Obedience. Boarding and daycare run alongside the training at the same site.

Who runs it

Two managing partners are named. Bev Eitner handles administration and events and the site says she has been working with dogs since 2002. Nancy Miller runs daycare, training, boarding and grooming, and the site says she has been training dogs for more than 40 years with "an extensive background in canine nutrition and its effects on health and behavior, proper care and handling of dogs, dealing with aggression, and reading body language". Ten training instructors are listed by name.

Affiliations they publish

The Association of Professional Dog Trainers, Obedience Club of Chattanooga, Do More With Your Dog, Animal Behavior College, the American Kennel Club, the American Temperament Test Society and Canine-Work And Games, plus active involvement in the Chattanooga Dog Agility Club and the Chattanooga Scentwork Club.