We offer a Turnkey Training program in Chicago, where we train your dog at your home while you are at work. This a convenient and highly effective solution for busy dog owners who want fast, lasting results without the time commitment of daily training. One of our professional trainers will work directly with your dog in their everyday environment, and focus on practical behaviors like loose-leash walking, polite greetings, crate training, and other specific challenges you're facing. Your dog receives focused, one-on-one attention using positive reinforcement methods that create real behavior change. Each week, we meet with you to transfer the training, answer your questions, and ensure consistency. It's personalized, convenient, and designed to fit seamlessly into your lifestyle.
How the Program Works
In our Turnkey Training Program, we come to your home three times per week to train your dog while you are at work. We then meet with you once per week (typically over the weekend) to discuss your dog's progress and teach you how to implement our methods.
This can be ideal if, for example, you want to address behaviors such as leash reactivity, riding the elevator, greeting strangers, pulling, walking near the el tracks or other loud noises, and much more.
This program is perfect for customers who may not have the time or energy to put in the repetitions necessary for success.
Why Does it Work So Well?
- We use proven techniques, using positive reinforcement only, to get your dog to respond very favorably, right away.
- Sometimes the people in your dog's life may be inadvertently contributing towards its behavior, including you, your significant other, dog walkers, kids, or roommates. By having your dog work only with the trainer and nobody else, we can eliminate external factors and achieve results that you may not have thought possible.
- We have the time to put in lots of repetitions in a very focused way, in different environments such as on elevators, near el tracks, down busy sidewalks, and in stores. Many people do not have the time, energy, or focus to do so.
This does not mean that we're simply going to train your dog and you don't have to do anything - you will still need to put in work, and be consistent with our methods, in order to be successful. However, a lot of dogs just need lots of repetition to learn our expectations as humans. Our job is to put in these repetitions with your dog and give you a strong foundation.
Price
This price includes:
- Three 45-60 minute sessions per week with your dog at your home. You do not need to be present. Our trainer will keep your key and set up a schedule with you. From our experience, this level of repetition will deliver the most effective results
- One hour-long session with you each week to discuss what your dog is learning and what you need to do going forward
- Treat pouch
Dog Walker Savings:
Because it is almost an hour of training three days per week, most customers do not have dog walkers on those days and save that money accordingly.
Payment options:
- Credit card
- PayPal Credit, where you can pay back the amount in any time frame that you want, but if you pay it back within six months, it is interest free
- Payment plan
- Cash or check
Our Travel Radius
One of our trainers can home to your home if you live within our travel radius. We routinely go all throughout Chicago each day, including to Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Bucktown, Wrigleyville, Gold Coast, River North, downtown, East Loop, West Loop, South Loop, and all neighborhoods in between.
These boundaries go north to Irving Park Road, east to the lake, south to Roosevelt, and west to Western Avenue.
If you live a few streets beyond these boundaries we can likely still come to your home.
Otherwise, you would need to come to our training facility.
Our Trainers Travel All Over Chicago
FAQs
How will you gain access to my home?
If you live in a high-rise, ideally we would get the key from your front desk each session. If you live in a house, it is ideal that we get the key from a lock box you would attach to your fence. We try not to keep keys, but can do so as a last resort throughout the program. If so, keys are kept by the trainer, not stored at Tucker Pup's.
Can the trainer come to my home if my dog has guest reactivity?
Initially we can meet outside of your home and try to have your dog get acclimated to the trainer, then possibly go into your home together all at once so your dog sees that the trainer is not a threat. Having said that, if your dog shows reactivity towards the trainer once the program starts and creates an unsafe risk, we would likely not be able to continue this format and could discuss standard private lessons with you.
Can you work on behaviors based on fear or stress?
Depending on the behavior and the severity, this may be possible. For example, if you dog is nervous around the el tracks, elevator, and so forth, we could work on desensitization strategies. If your dog is severely reactive or has extreme separation anxiety, these would likely not be appropriate for our Turnkey Training program, but instead our Behavioral Modification program.
Are you going to train my dog, and I never have to do anything differently on my end?
No trainer in the world can make this promise. We are going to put repetitions on your dog and build his trust and responsiveness towards the training process. However, success will also depend on how execute the handling skills going forward. If you stop being consistent with what we taught you, your dog will likely revert back to previous behaviors in short order. The good news is that each week, we will show you everything you need to know, so it is not too overwhelming all at once at the end of the program.
Why are the training sessions with my dog 45 minutes instead of 60 minutes?
Training can be very tiring for many dogs, and we have found that after 45 minutes, their attention span and responsiveness can start to decline. We want to keep your dog very motivated about training and not practicing that he can ignore the cues.
Will you be working mostly indoors or outdoors?
We can work on any behaviors that you want to address within the scope of manners or light behavioral issues. Certainly some of them can be indoors, but most often, these will involve going out into the real world.
Will my dog be responsive to a stranger instead of me?
Once we gain your dog's trust, which will involve you in the beginning, most of them will work with our trainers quite well. We can typically make faster progress in this one-on-one setting, because we know how to immediately use the most effective cues, body language, and troubleshooting strategies to get results.
I use a prong collar / choke chain for my dog when going on walks. Will the trainer still use these when working with my dog?
No, we will remove these tools, which are not necessary, can cause your dog to distrust you, and therefore not be responsive to the training process. Our goal is to show you how to have a great listener who walks at your side on a loose leash, without needing anything like that besides maybe a harness. We have done this with countless other dogs whose owners once used these tools. We need you to trust us on this, and you will be happy that you did.
Positive Reinforcement Methods
Tucker Pup's only uses positive reinforcement methods. We do not use prong collars, choke chains, shock collars, poking, yelling, leash popping, or other aversive methods. Dominance can easily cause your dog to distrust you, and to only comply in order to avoid a negative outcome. This isn't truly learning, and can cause your dog's behaviors to become much worse.
Positive reinforcement is much more effective for creating long-term learning and a stronger relationship with your dog. Dogs love training when this style is being used, are much more responsive to their owners, and are much happier in general. In short, positive reinforcement gives you the best chance of success, and can be the fastest way to get results. If you are hesitant, please trust us on this one and feel free to ask us questions.
Positive reinforcement combines an encouraging tone of voice, clear instruction, relaxed body language, the use of rewards (e.g., treats, favorite toy), patience, and empathy.
If you are concerned about giving treats, keep in mind that they work very well for most dogs, you can phase them out at your discretion, and it is possible to use something else that your dog values, such as a favorite toy.
TrainTrack™ Online Portal
Re-Watch Training Exercises on Your Device
The trainer will show you the exercises in person, then you can access TrainTrack to see the homework and other helpful information. Many exercises include videos, and all of them include instructions. It also includes handouts and a documentation of what you covered. This is incredibly helpful because there is a lot of information to take in, and it can be hard to remember everything that was demonstrated and discussed.
In addition, you can log your progress on TrainTrack as you are working on your home exercises. This can be invaluable for ensuring that you spend enough time, in various settings, for your dog to learn the methods thoroughly.
For private lessons, you can even upload videos to your trainer, and they can watch them in between sessions to help provide advice.
TrainTrack works on any Internet-connected device, so you can use it on your mobile phone, even when you're on a walk or working outdoors.
TrainTrack is used for all of our training services, including private lessons and classes.
To access TrainTrack, you must log in to our website. On your Customer Center, you will see the link to TrainTrack towards the top of the page.
Customer Testimonial
Maureen was so wonderful. She worked incredibly well with our dog Rudy during Turnkey Training. She was so knowledgeable and patient and you could tell how much she loves her job and cares about what she does. We are so lucky to have gotten to work with her.
- Isabel Wolkoff
Customer Reviews
Yelp has listed Tucker Pup's as one of the top 100 local businesses in the country in 2025. We are the only pet business who made the list from Chicago, and the only pet resort / training business who made the list nationally.
See the List
Neighborhoods We Serve
Tucker Pup's is located in the West Loop / Fulton Market District neighborhood. People come to us from all over Chicago, especially from Bucktown, Gold Coast, Lake View, Lincoln Park, Old Town, River North, River West, South Loop, Streeterville, Ukrainian Village, University Village, West Town and Wicker Park.
