About The Farm At Natchez Trace

The Farm at Natchez Trace is a large, long-running pet campus at 9479 Hwy 96 West in Franklin, and training is one department inside it rather than the whole business. "The Farm has provided safe haven for all ages, sizes, and personalities of dogs and cats since 2004", on what the site calls a "beautiful 18-acre campus", with lodging staff on site "24-hours a day, 365 days a year".

Method

Stated on the training landing page and not hedged: "We are dedicated to using positive reinforcement methods to help teach you and your dog to communicate with one another." The framing is against one-size-fits-all work – "Just like humans, all dogs are unique. They have their own personalities, learning styles, and learning capacities." – and toward communication: "Replace struggle and frustration with better communication and you are rewarded with a partnership of trust and a lifetime of companionship."

Board and train

The core program. "Our programs are an immersive experience where your dog receives training, play sessions, and socialization during the day coupled with luxury boarding at night." Intake is gated by a conversation with a trainer, and the site is unusually candid about when its own program is the wrong first step: "For sensitive or anxious dogs, we recommend first completing a Lodging stay or coming for Adventure Day Camp to help them habituate to the environment before beginning training." Handover is fixed rather than vague – "This meeting occurs on the 5th, 11th or 21st day of training at 4pm" – which also tells you the three program lengths.

Adventure Training Camp

A day refresher, and closed to newcomers: "Adventure Training Camp is a Day Training Refresher program, exclusively for pets and pet parents that have completed a Board and Train program with us." It refreshes "sit", "down", "stay", "come", door manners, leash manners, "touch" and "leave it", runs "Available 6 days a week: Monday – Saturday" with drop-off between 8-9am, and is priced at "Rate: $150/day". Social dogs get two 15-minute group play sessions; dogs that do not enjoy group play get a nature walk and one-to-one fetch instead.

Woof Training Program

A training layer on top of daycare membership, "Over a 5 week period, with one day a week split between training and play", teaching foundation manners and four verbal cues. Priced at "$1,175" including the daycare portion, and delivered "throughout the campus to provide a variety of environments to normalize the wanted behaviors".

Before you book

Ask who will train your dog, about credentials, and whether behavior-modification or aggression work is taken on. Boarding, daycare and grooming are large parts of this business but are not training.