Board & Train Confirmation and Reminders
This page is for folks who have already reserved a spot in our board & train program. (If that’s not you, please start by applying for our program here.)
Below is everything you need to know about preparing for the board & train, including required documentation (vaccines & fecal exam), a packing list, how to prepare, and more. There is a lot of information on this page, but please take the time to read through this carefully and let us know if you have any questions.
Click the links in the menu below to jump down to each section:
COMMUNICATION
First and foremost, we will communicate with you primarily via email going forward, so please take whatever steps you need to take to make sure you do not miss our emails! I will email you with more important information as your dog's start date gets closer. Please make sure you do not miss those emails!
Our phone number is (434) 993-8208. Please save this in your phone, but note that incoming calls do not ring through to us. You can text us on this line for any time-sensitive logistics (can’t find the house, running late, etc) but otherwise please email us. It is much easier for us to elaborate via email. If you’d like to schedule a time to talk by phone, please email us to set that up.
Communication to expect during the board & train:
All communication is done by EMAIL unless it is time-sensitive, in which case we will call and/or text you. Here are the emails you should expect to receive from us while your dog is here for their board & train:
Arrival email, Go-home & Tools Guides - After your dog’s arrival, we will send you an arrival email with some important reminders. The email will also include PDF copies of your dog’s go-home guide (if digital copy requested) and tools guides, along with links to pertinent videos.
Program length determination (about 7-10 days after your dog’s arrival)
If your dog is enrolled in the 4-week, 6-week, 8-week or 10-week program (our newest program formats), we will email you 7-10 days after the program start to confirm how long your dog. will need to be with us. This gives us time to really get to know your dog’s strengths & weaknesses, see how quickly they learn, and decide if any additional time may be needed.
Day before email (the day before your dog’s homecoming) - This is a short email with a few reminders and information on what to expect in the first 24 hours after your dog’s homecoming.
Any rescheduling needs - If we need to reschedule due to weather we will usually contact you by email, unless it’s relatively last minute, in which case you’ll hear from us via phone/text.
PLEASE NOTE: If anything is ever wrong—medical issue, safety issue, any big concerns at all—we will call and/or text you right away! When it comes to health and safety, we err on the side of more communication than less, so if something like that is happening, you will hear from us! If you don’t hear from us, it is safe to conclude that all is well and your dog’s training is moving along without issue.
Last but not least, the very best way to follow along with your dog’s training progress is to watch our daily social media stories (on Instagram or Facebook). If you do not know how to access stories, please watch this video tutorial. We STRONGLY encourage every family to follow along with our daily social media stories so that you can see your dog, start to understand their training, and get a feel for what kind of behavior to expect during the go-home lessons and beyond. You will receive in-person coaching during your dog’s go-home lesson(s), but you can also learn a lot by watching our daily stories.
While your dog is here with us, we ask that you hold questions about their progress. However, after they’ve returned home, we invite you to email us as much as you need to with any questions that you have at any time. Your training package comes with lifetime email support and after your dog returns home we strongly encourage you to use it!
REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION: VACCINES + FECAL EXAM RESULTS
Your dog must be up to date on rabies, distemper and bordetella in order to come to training. If any of these vaccines will expire while your dog is here with us, please update it prior to their arrival.
You may email (or upload to Propet) documentation of vaccinations from your vet. We do not need a full medical history—a receipt from the vet with dated vaccine reminders at the bottom is just fine.
Note: If your dog isn’t already up to date on their bordetella vaccine, then it must be administered 2 or more weeks prior to your dog's start date! The vaccine needs two weeks to become maximally effective. In an environment with many other dogs, that is very important. If your dog is already pup to date on bordetella, then you do not need to worry about this timeframe.
Your dog must also receive a fecal exam within 4 weeks of their training start date. This exam must check for giardia, coccidia, roundworm, hookworm and whipworm at a minimum. These can be highly contagious and are often asymptomatic.
You may email us (or upload to Propet) the results of this exam, which must be negative with no other indicators. The results that you forward to us must have the date of the fecal exam.
Make sure the test includes giardia and coccidia! The generic fecal exam only checks for the worms.
If your dog tests positive, they will need to complete treatment and re-test negative prior to coming to training. Negative fecal exam results must be received before your dog can stay with us.
After your dog has their fecal exam, please do not take your dog to daycares, boarding, or dog parks. These are the environments where dogs are most likely to pick up worms, parasites, etc. and the whole point of the fecal exam is to make sure that these do not enter our home! If your dog must go to an environment like this prior to arriving here, then their fecal exam needs to be completed AFTERWARDS. Please respect that this policy is for the health and safety of all the dogs in our care.
PACKING LIST
Here are the things you should pack for training:
Food - The dogs always eat much more here than at home, so please pack a lot of food! We recommend packing a minimum of 6 weeks of food. Bring food in an airtight container, or bring an XL unopened bag (labeled with dog’s name). Please err on the side of bringing more food than less!! We would like to minimize the time we spend following up with folks to get more food for their dog. Please overshoot it! If your dog’s food needs to be refrigerated or frozen, please email us NOW to discuss this. We can usually accommodate this, but we need to know well in advance.
Medications - if your dog is on medications, supplements or monthly preventatives, please bring them in a baggie labeled with your dog’s name and the dosage instructions. We are happy to give medications and/or supplements as needed, but if your dog has a particular health condition, please be sure to email us about this prior to their arrival (just so we're aware). Finally, if your dog is on behavior-related medication, including medication for anxiety, they MUST be weaned off of that medication prior to the start of training. Behavior-related medication interferes with the training process. If you have concerns or questions about this, please email us asap.
Probiotics - We require that all dogs begin taking a probiotic at least two weeks prior to the start of training, and bring the probiotics with them to training so that we can continue them here. Probiotics help with healthy digestion, which supports your dog if/when they get a nervous tummy, and it strengthens their gut health overall. You can select any brand of probiotics you’d like, but we recommend either Bernie’s Perfect Poop or Purina Pro Plan FortiFlora.
Bag of treats - Please bring one of the following bags of treats to share. DO NOT BRING ANY OTHER BRAND OR TYPE OF TREAT! We have selected these three treats because they settle well with nearly all dogs’ stomachs. Both are linked from Amazon, but you can get them wherever, so long as you get the correct item.
Bone (optional) - If you think your dog might enjoy having a bone to chew in their crate, you can bring a non-edible bone (Benebone, Nylabone, antler etc). This bone will not return home. (NOTE: Please do not bring something edible, like bully sticks, pig's ears or edible dental chews.)
Blanket (optional) - If your dog is NOT inclined to destroy or ingest bedding, you're welcome to bring a blanket to training to keep in their crate with them. Just be sure it's a blanket you can part with if need be (not all blankets make it home!).
That's really it! Please leave everything else at home! We have everything else your dog needs for a comfortable stay. If there is something else you feel your dog needs to bring to training, please email us in advance to ask about it.
HOW TO PREPARE YOUR DOG
Start/continue crating your dog. All dogs are crated here for safety reasons. If your dog is already familiar with the crate and recognizes it as a safe space, that will make the transition to the training environment that much easier for them. It will also help keep the length of your dog's board & train to a minimum. Regular, daily crate use is the best thing you can do to prepare your dog!
If your dog is already familiar with the crate, then be sure to crate your dog during four key times: while they eat their meals (feed them in the crate), overnight, when your dog is home alone, and for short periods of downtime even when you are home and awake. Building the crate into your dog’s daily lifestyle in this manner is the best way to prepare them for training. Make sure to do all four! Your dog will need to be crated during all of these times while they’re here at training, so adjusting to this at home prior to training is in their best interest. It will make the transition to training that much smoother for them.
If your dog has crate issues or is not currently crate trained, please click here for an overview of how you can begin working on it. Please email us if your dog has additional issues that complicate the advice in this blog post. We’ll help as much as we can from afar.
If your dog has any potentially dangerous behavior issues, we recommend shifting into prevention mode immediately. We will do all the "heavy lifting" of changing your dog's behavior and mindset while they're here with us; for now, we strongly recommend taking all safety precautions and doing what you can to minimize opportunities for your dog to practice the problematic behavior. We do not recommend attempting to work on it. SAFETY FIRST!! Examples:
If your dog has stranger danger, do NOT try to introduce them to new people or people they haven’t seen in a while. When people ask to pet your dog, say no. Crate your dog while guests are over. Do NOT “see how it goes”. Err on the side of caution.
If your dog is a resource guarder, do everything you can do minimize the risk that they’ll guard an item. That might mean you start closing doors to certain rooms (if they steal the kids’ toys and guard them, for example), and it might mean more crate time to prevent incidents, etc. Get creative.
Prior to your dog's arrival, please apply their flea and tick prevention. Seresto collars are also ok. We are in a wooded area so prevention is very important!
Begin giving your dog probiotics with their meals, following the directions of the probiotics you purchased. Please begin giving probiotics at least two weeks prior to the start of training.
Do NOT take your dog to dog parks or dog daycares. We do not recommend either for any dog in any situation. The germs alone are a solid reason not to go, but nearly all dogs emerge from these environments with behavior issues as well. Please check out this post (it uses actual footage from a dog park as an example) and this post for more specific information on why we do not recommend dog parks and dog daycares for any reason.
Grooming - If you have a dog who requires grooming, please be sure to give your dog a VERY short cut (usually called a “puppy cut” or a “summer cut”). We cannot maintain any grooming needs while your dog is here with us beyond basic periodic brushing. The dogs run and play hard here, so if matting is a concern, it is even more important to give your dog a very short cut prior to their arrival.
HOW TO PREPARE YOUR FAMILY
Start watching the Sadie's Rules K9 Training daily stories on Facebook or Instagram. This is the best way to become familiar with our training philosophy and our team. It also gives you a behind-the-scenes peek into the board & train, which gives you a good idea of what to expect once your dog is here with us.
Everyone in the household must be on board and willing to be consistent in order for the training to "stick", so if anyone is hesitant, this is something you want to start addressing as early as possible.
Kids are often sad to see their dog leave for a few weeks. Many parents have had success framing the board & train as a kind of "summer camp", which is a pretty good analogy. You can also reassure your kids that their dog will make lots of "friends", both human and canine (and sometimes feline!).
THE DROP OFF APPOINTMENT
Please be prepared to remove all collars from your dog during drop off. Collars are the item that gets ruined here most often between dirt, play, water, etc. We will have a slip lead (collar/leash combo) to safely escort your dog inside, and once here, we have plenty of collars (with ID tags) and leashes to use during their stay.
The drop off appointment typically lasts around 15-20 minutes, but no more than 30 minutes. We only require one adult in the home to be present for the drop off appointment (unlike the go-home sessions).
The drop off appointment is very informal—just a quick chat to talk through your biggest training goals/behavior concerns and gather basic info (such as how much to feed your dog, etc).
You will receive a book from us at drop off. This book is your homework while your dog is here with us. The book explains the philosophy and relationship that shapes everything we will teach and recommend for your dog, so please set aside time to read it before the go-home lessons. We won't quiz you on it, but we will say that the owners who are the most successful at maintaining their dog's training over the long haul are the owners who make time to study both the book and the other go-home materials.
We will send you directions to Sadie's Rules in a future email, but if you want to get a feel for the drive, Google Maps will pull us up if you put in “Sadie’s Rules K9 Training”. (Note: This is the Schneiderman family’s home, not a facility that’s open to the public. Please do not stop by without an appointment!)
GO-HOME LESSONS AND HOMECOMING
We cannot send your dog home without properly teaching their human family members how to maintain their training! During these lessons, we teach the human end of the leash how to utilize their dog's training in their home environment and over the long haul. We want every dog to be successful long term, so we take these go-home lessons very seriously!
We will email you about a week after your dog has arrived to share our determination of your dog's program length and schedule their go-home lessons. Right now, it's just important to know that you will need to make these go-home lessons a priority. It is absolutely essential for all adults in the household to attend both go-home lessons. Some folks need to request vacation time, adjust their kids' schedules, etc. in order to attend. If you have children that you'd like to participate in one or both lessons they are of course welcome to join in, just know that you may need to alter sports/activity schedules to make this happen. We do our very best to accommodate everyone's scheduling requests, but please understand that we have a very busy calendar and a small staff.
Lastly, after your dog returns home, please keep in mind that they will need at least 30 days (60-90 days for dogs with any kind of behavioral issue) of consistency at home with you. That means they should not go on overnight trips with you and should not be left with a pet sitter during that time frame. When your dog first returns home, they are reshaping their associations with how they behave in your home and how they behave for you. We have a very particular plan for you to follow to ensure that everything your dog learned here at training returns home with them. Interruptions to this post-training lifestyle will result in behavioral setbacks for your dog. If you already have something planned that you cannot change, please talk with us now so we can work with you to develop a plan. Do not add anything to your calendar in that timeframe. Doing so will result in behavioral setbacks.
That's all for now! If you have any questions between now and the board & train, please feel free to email us. And please keep an eye on your inbox for more important emails from us in the weeks to come.