About Renaissance Dog Training LLC

Renaissance Dog Training is a one-to-one trainer working in Charlotte, and its own site is built around a single idea stated plainly: the trainer has "felt less of a need for robotic obedience". Obedience is described as a useful tool and only part of the picture; the goal is what the site calls a Renaissance Dog, defined by composure, situational awareness and partnership rather than command performance.

The curriculum, and what it costs

The program is published as a sequence with prices attached. Session Zero is the first step, an hour to an hour and a half that works as meet-and-greet, temperament evaluation, training session and interview at once, and costs $100 which is credited toward a lesson package. Puppy Starter is two lessons at $350 for dogs under four months, covering a potty-training protocol, training through games, the fundamentals of socialization, developmental milestones and how to handle nipping and chewing. One-on-one lessons run $700 for a set of four or $2,000 for twelve, with the preferred training tools included in the price.

How the twelve lessons are structured

The sets build on each other. The first set is vocabulary and markers, loose-leash walking, settling and place, and coming when called. The advanced set finalizes what the site calls the big five – sit, down, here, heel and place – and covers formal commands and when to use them. The master set is off-leash: the trainer writes that he teaches you first how to hold the leash and then how to let it go, and that the e-collar is introduced eight lessons into the program, by which point the dog already knows how to work with its owner. A separate Dragon Taming option is published for owners at their wits' end.