Classes

Madison Mutts is a not-for-profit organization.

Life Skills and Etiquette

We focus this class on what we consider to be 10 Essential skills for both owners and dogs for life. We learn in this class to use positive reinforcement and shaping to achieve basic life skills.

• Sit with cue
• Perfecting a down command
• Slow breathing and decreasing stress and arousal. Perfecting redirection.
• Settle down
• Steady Stay
• Focus and watch me
• Leave and Drop
• Recall
• Handling including desensitization of areas like feet and ears
• Greeting people and dogs

This class is ongoing and meets once weekly. We will perfect this class with your suggestions and concerns so this is a very interactive class and a lot of fun!

Please select a Life Skills & Etiquette class appropriate for your dog:

I. Dogs without serious issues: Dog/people friendly dogs just looking to solve simple behavior and training issues. Examples: submissive urinations, jumping up, pulling on lead, sensitive for handling, barking, preparing for adoption for foster groups.

II. Reactive, fearful, shy or undersocialized dogs: This is for primarily dogs that have trouble meeting strangers, kids, or other dogs, especially when on leash, but are NOT aggressive towards other dogs. No dogs under 6 months of age allowed.

III. Reactive, cranky, or aggressive dogs This class is primarily for dogs that have exhibited some aggression, growling, nipping, etc. towards other dogs. No dogs under 6 months of age allowed.

Basic Obedience 1

Basic Obedience class is for dogs six months and older. Basic foundation commands are taught including sit, sit stay, down, down stay, stand, stand stay, come with the finish and heeling work. This class is a foundation class for any future activities you would like to pursue with your dog, whether it is competition or just being well-behaved at home. This class works great in unison with our life skills class!

Problems such as jumping, barking, digging, aggression and extreme shyness are addressed as well. At Madison Mutts, problem dogs are always welcome. We have tools that allow your problem dog to be in a group environment that allows everyone to be safe and comfortable.

Basic Agility

Start off right in our Basic Agility class. Topics include how dogs learn, motivation, foundation skills, and safely introducing the dogs to all of the agility equipment except full-sized contacts. This class is where dogs and handlers learn just how fun agility can be. Enjoy watching your relationship become stronger and closer while laying the foundation for future success. A sit, down, and beginning stay are helpful for this class but are not required. Routine behavioral issues are also addressed if necessary. Aggressive/reactive dogs will be asked to address these issues in life skills class before being allowed to begin the agility class.

Puppy Class

Puppy class is where the foundation for a life time of training is formed. Madison Mutts puppy class brings to dogs softly into learning how to fit into a human family. They learn not to jump or bite.

Owners are given instruction on how to housebreak a puppy and to teach them not to be destructive. Basic commands of sit, down and come are taught. Also, information is given about grooming, nutrition, types of safe toys etc. Half of class time is spent doing PUPPY FUN which is a puppy version of our Agility class. It is for puppies of all shapes, sizes and temperaments. This class builds great confidence and major enthusiasm in a puppy as well as building a great foundation for real agility. This is a real Madison Mutts favorite!

Please bring record of vaccinations to class.

Continuing Agility

This 7-week class is a mixed skill level agility course. This will separate into Agility 1 and Agility 2 with full enrollment. We will learn crosses, run mock courses at a novice level and perfect obstacle performance. Emphasis is placed on the correct performance of the obstacles and on keeping agility fun for both the dog and the handler.

Basic Tracking

Do you have a dog with its nose constantly on the ground? Then you have an excellent candidate for our scent tracking class. We begin by teaching the dog to focus on a specific scent, and then move on to how to follow that scent. As the dogs progress, we take our show on the road and develop scent trails in a variety of environments and with increasing levels of difficulty. You must bring a harness and bring a 20-30ft line.

Canine Good Citizen Certification

This class will prepare a dog and handler for Canine Good Citizen Certification. To receive certification at the end of the course, a dog and handler team must take a short behavioral evaluation of less than half an hour; dogs who pass the evaluation earn the certificate, which many people represent as letters after the dog's name, abbreviating it as CGC; for example, "Fido, CGC".

The evaluation consists of ten objectives. All items must be completed satisfactorily to achieve certification. Test items include:

* Accepting a friendly stranger.
* Sitting politely for petting.
* Allowing basic grooming procedures.
* Walking on a loose lead.
* Walking through a crowd.
* Sitting and lying down on command and staying in place.
* Coming when called.
* Reacting appropriately to another dog.
* Reacting appropriately to distractions.
* Calmly enduring supervised separation from the owner.

Rally Novice

This class is a beginner's introduction to the fun obedience sport Rally! Rally Novice is for dogs that know basic obedience commands such as heel, sit, down, come, and stay. We focus on the foundation skills needed for dogs to succeed in Rally. In this class, you will learn how to read Rally signs, learn all thirty-one Novice rally exercise, work toward proper execution or these exercises, we will also do other attention, and basic obedience exercises to help you become a better rally team. In addition, we will discuss the rules and scoring in the AKC Novice class and cover some of the differences between AKC and APDT Rally-O. Handlers can expect to do weekly homework including working the novice exercises, and other attention exercises with their dog and spending additional time learning the signs on their own so they can quickly recognize the signs while on course.

Therapy Dog

The focus of this class is on preparing the handler and dog for the therapy environment. Skills include working around medical equipment, loud noises, food, toys, and other distractions. Topics covered include stress and calming signals in dogs, infection control, medical ethics, general liability, and handling difficult visitation situations. We will go on a field trip for our last class!

Fitness Unleashed!

Got a canine couch potato? Or maybe you are the couch potato and your dog is just driving you nuts! In just a few weeks, man’s best friend can become man’s best exercise buddy. Here’s how! Take our Fitness Unleashed class which meets once or twice weekly (your call) for 6 weeks. In this class both you and your dog will become more fit, get the needed exercise in these dark winter months and have so much fun! Your dog is probably your best motivator for fitness. This class will be taught by dog experts, a veterinarian and a fitness trainer!

We will meet the first evening to set goals, figure out any limitations dog or human and fill out goal charts!

Learn about pet and human nutrition, learn about exercise requirements to lose weight or get in shape, stretching for both people and dogs, and getting up our heart rates! We will spend Evening class indoors and Saturday classes pending weather, learning to love cold weather!

We will power walk, lift light weights, do yoga and even fun games all with your dog! Don't have a dog of your own, we have plenty to borrow! This class is going to be a lot of fun!

Beginning Flyball

Flyball is a great way to give your dog a fun job. Flyball is open to all dogs, large and small and including mixed breeds. It is a sport that is fast-paced and noisy, and the dogs love it! Toy motivated dogs are especially good candidates for this sport, but any well socialized dog with a high energy level and good off-leash control can be successful.

Flyball is a relay race between with four dog/handler teams. Each dog on the team must jump four hurdles, trigger a spring-loaded box with his paws, catch the tennis ball that flies out and return over the hurdles to his handler with the ball.

Course Prerequisites:

*Completion of a basic obedience course or equivalent with a solid Come when called in the presence of other dogs.
*Your dog be at least a year old so that his growth plates are fully developed.
*Dog must not be aggressive around people or other dogs.

Our beginner flyball class is 7 weeks long and the first session is FREE. This gives you a chance to try it out and make sure it's a good fit for you and your dog.

In our Flyball Class you and your dog will learn:

*Building tug drive.
*Focusing a dog's drive on playing tug with the handler (instead of other dogs)
*Foundation jumping work
*Jumping low hurdles accurately and in the presence of distractions
*"Going out" to retrieve a ball and return over the hurdles
*Running the lane and passing other dogs
*Triggering the flyball box
*Turning safely off the box with a "swimmers turn"
*Developing drive for the tennis ball and for a game of tug with the handler

Field Trial

Description coming soon!