Dropoff Training

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With our Dropoff Training option, you drop off your dog at our training facility two non-consecutive days per week for four weeks, and one of our trainers will work one-on-one with your dog to instill a full set of manners, listening, and self-control skills. We work both indoors and outdoors, depending on the weather, and spend a lot of time walking your dog in the neighborhood.

Once per week, you meet with your trainer at our training facility for a progress meeting, so you can learn how to keep using the exercises at home. We also answer your questions and make sure that we're all on the same page.

Dropoff Training also has the option to include daycare each day that your dog is here. This socialization can be an important factor for a dog's behavior. In our daycare environment, we separate the dogs into groups based on size and temperament, we have the nicest outdoor area in Chicago, and staff members monitor the dogs at all times.

By the end of the program, most dogs have made massive progress, and our customers are delighted that they have a great listener.

Space is limited, and reservations are required.



Dropoff Training can be effective because our trainers work with your dog in a highly-focused manner, day after day, to create great listening. Learning new behaviors takes repetition, and we have the time and energy to put in these repetitions. Typically, when we work with a dog in this manner, he becomes very responsive to our methods, and we can train him very rapidly. Your dog can make massive strides in a four-week period. This rapid development is not as realistic in other training formats. Therefore, we're giving you a head start and overcoming frustrating behaviors that your dog may be exhibiting. Most of our Dropoff Training customers don't have the time, energy, patience, or knowledge to make this progress in such a short period of time.

Price: $1,600

Included in your tuition:

• Initial in-person consultation with a trainer at our facility, to review your goals, answer your questions, and discuss the plan.
• Eight days of training at our facility (two non-consecutive days per week, on weekdays). You drop off and pick up your dog each day. Multiple sessions each day with a trainer.
• Multiple daycare sessions per day while here for training. This helps with socialization, which is an important part of training.
• Free trial daycare day for your dog, to help become acclimated to our play environment.
• Equipment
• Starter set of treats that we recommend
• Treat pouch
• Walking harness
• Optional clicker
• Four progress meetings with your trainer, once per weekend for one hour each, at our facility. We will show you what we've been working on and how to be consistent at home.
• Access to TrainTrack™, our online platform that enables you to:
• Rewatch videos of exercises that we reviewed with you in progress meetings
• Log your home exercises
• Upload videos to your trainer, and vice-versa
• Read handouts and other helpful information

Please note that if you pay for the daycare option, but group play is not working well once the training begins, we can discuss options with you.


Our Dropoff Training program tends to fill up quickly, and we have a limited number of spaces each day.

If you are considering starting in the near future, we strongly encourage you to reserve it in advance, so you get the dates and days of the week that work best for you.

It may be possible to start right away if you are interested. Feel free to inquire about availability.
Payment must be received in advance, in order to hold your reservation.

Payment options:

• Credit card, including over the phone or in person
• PayPal Credit, where you can pay over time, and pay no interest if paid in full within six months. Learn more  
• Cash or check

Option 1: Adult Manners

• Loose leash walking
• Coming to you (recall)
• Waiting for permission
• Focus and attention
• Leaving items alone
• Staying in place
• Not jumping on dogs or people (polite greetings)
• Minor leash reactivity

Option 2: Puppy Manners

• All behaviors in Adult Manners, plus:
• Crate training

Option 3: Intermediate Manners

• Add difficulty to all Adult Manners behaviors listed above
• Off-leash heeling (walking at your side while staying very focused on you). Please note that we never go off-leash outdoors.
• Go to a place, such as a crate or mat
• Finish (end up at your side after coming to you)
• Sit, down and stand from a distance
• Emergency stop
• Front command (come directly to my feet and give me eye contact, in the sit position)
• Basic tricks

In order to take Intermediate Manners, your dog must have already gone through Dropoff Training or a manners group class.


Option 4: Confidence Building
We can work on building confidence in different scenarios and environments, including but not limited to:

• Walking outside
• Noise sensitivity
• Anxiety about touching his collar / putting on a harness, etc.
• Fear of stairs
• And more

The price and timing for a program that involves confidence building may differ from the standard price. Our staff will discuss this with you.


Option 5: Mix and Match

• We can customize a curriculum to your specific needs, mixing and matching behaviors you want us to work on
• Please note that some advanced behaviors may not be possible until going through basic behaviors first. You would need to discuss with your trainer for what is realistic, and together create a plan

Behaviors We Cannot Work On in Dropoff Training:
We CANNOT work on the following in Dropoff Training, as these are specific to your home and not conducive to a facility. These would require private lessons.

• Potty training
• Dog-human aggression or reactivity
• Separation anxiety
• Barking
• Major leash reactivity
• Correcting off-leash play behaviors such as biting or playing roughly

We work both indoors and outdoors (weather permitting). Our primary indoor space is at our Training Center at 1046 W Fulton Market Avenue, right around the corner from our main facility.


Tucker Pup's Training Center
1046 W Fulton Street
Chicago, IL 60607

This is where we work on exercises indoors. We have traffic cones, wide-open spaces, and other equipment to help teach your dog the exercises.


Tucker Pup's Pet Resort
219 N Carpenter Street
Chicago, IL 60607

This is where you will drop off your dog, and where we have daycare and the boarding suites.
If the weather doesn't permit on any given day, we would work indoors.

In the winter time, we encourage you to bring boots and a jacket for your dog. We can put them on your dog before going outside. It can be helpful to still work on outdoor walking, to teach your dog to not pull you in icy conditions. If we feel it is too cold for your dog, we would head back inside.

• At least four months old
• All vaccinations up-to-date, including all boosters for puppies, for canine influenza (H3N2 or bivalent), Bordatella, distemper, and parvovirus. Rabies is required for dogs 7 months and older.
• Spayed / neutered if 7 months or older
• Not reactive towards people
• No crate / kennel aggression or reactivity
• If choosing the daycare option, able to be in play with other dogs
• No contagious conditions, including but not limited to giardia and coughing
• Sign our Liability Waiver and Dropoff Training Agreement

Tucker Pup's does not provide transportation, but can put you in touch with transportation companies. You can also schedule rides with companies like Uber and Lyft - you just need to tell them you are bringing your dog.
If you are dropping off your dog each day, please arrive between 6:45am and 9am, and pick up between 4pm and 7pm.
We try to give dogs ample time to adjust. After two days of working with your dog, we should have a strong sense of whether the training is working well. We are very honest, and if it seems like it's just not working out, we will call and tell you. If we jointly decide to stop, we would prorate your remaining amount as a refund or credit. After two days, if your dog is responding well to the training, Dropoff Training is non-refundable, because by giving you a space, we took it away from someone else.
You may be able to work out a customized schedule with the trainer, if done in advance. If you simply didn't show up, or cancelled with less than one week advance notice, we would still consider the day as used, because by giving you a space, we took one away from someone else.
If you need your dog to stay here on certain nights, that is a possibility, although we don't recommend it for a long stay. You can mix and match which days you drop off, and which days your dog will stay with us overnight. It's very flexible. You just pay the extra fee for the overnight option at the end of the program, based on how many nights your dog actually stayed here. The price for staying overnight is $60 extra per night. Even though we train your dog in both 'Dropoff Training' and 'Stay and Train,' each has unique characteristics.

• More defined curriculum and structure, with a minimum of eight training sessions.
• Pay in advance.
• Multiple private sessions included, at our training facility.
• Treats and equipment included.

• We train your dog while here for boarding or daycare.
• We work on a few behaviors, but not a full curriculum like in Dropoff Training.
• Less training time per day than Dropoff Training.
• Pay when you check out from boarding or daycare.
• If your dog is boarding with us, there is a minimum of three training days. If here for daycare, we can train just on that day. For Dropoff Training, there is a minimum of eight training days.
• Private session available at our training facility, after your boarding stay, in order to review what we worked on. This is at a reduced rate from our normal private lesson fee.
• Treats and equipment sold separately.

Dogs in Dropoff Training are covered under the same terms and conditions of our Health Warranty Program as dogs in daycare and boarding.