Costs & pricing
Board and train cost per day: what the number hides
Per-day is the first thing people compute and the least useful thing to compare. Divide any live-in fee by its calendar days and you get a tidy figure that drops the handover lesson, the follow-ups, the equipment that goes home with the dog and the support that outlasts the stay. Here is the arithmetic for every published program, labelled as arithmetic, and then the honest way to put two quotes side by side.
Last reviewed October 4, 2026
The arithmetic
Five fees divided by their days, then what the division drops.
Labelled as arithmetic, here is the division. On-Leash Foundations, $1,865 over 14 days, is about $133 a day. Puppy Fundamentals, $2,775 over 21 days, is about $132. Functional Off-Leash, $3,030 over 21 days, is about $144. Advanced Off-Leash, $3,940 over 28 days, is about $141. Behaviour Rehab has a range, so the division has two answers: $4,850 over 35 days is about $139, and $5,760 over 42 days is about $137. All before GST, and none of it is a rate anyone charges.
Notice how flat they are. A two-week leash program and a six-week behaviour program sit within a few dollars of each other per day, which tells you the per-day view erases the thing you are choosing: what the days contain. The handover lesson happens once. The free follow-ups, one on the shorter programs and two on Advanced Off-Leash and Behaviour Rehab, happen after the stay. The slip lead, training collar or remote collar goes home for good. None of those divide by 21.
- Per-day arithmetic, roughly $132 to $144
- Handover lesson is not a day
- Follow-ups happen after the stay
- Equipment goes home for good
Comparing quotes
Put the inclusions in two columns and ignore the division.
When two quotes land in front of you, build the comparison from inclusions. Column one is the stay itself: how many days, and whether the daily work is one-on-one or group. Column two is everything attached to the stay: a handover lesson or not, how many follow-up sessions and whether they cost extra, what equipment comes home, and what support exists after the final follow-up. On-Leash Foundations, for example, carries lifetime phone and email support that no per-day number can show.
Then do the arithmetic the other way. Instead of dividing the fee by days, subtract what you would otherwise pay for the extras. A follow-up session is trainer time after the program. Equipment is a purchase you would make anyway. A handover lesson is what moves the skills from the trainer's hands to yours. Priced as line items, those are not rounding errors, and a lower per-day quote that omits them is not the lower quote. Ask for the itemized list and compare that.
Asked and answered
The questions people ask us.
How much does board and train cost per day?
Northline K9 publishes program fees, not daily rates. Divided by calendar days, which is arithmetic rather than pricing, the fixed-fee programs come to roughly $132 to $144 a day plus GST. The fee also covers a handover lesson, follow-ups and take-home equipment that a daily figure ignores.
Why does a two-week program cost almost as much per day as a six-week one?
Because the per-day view flattens everything. The daily components are shared across the programs: one-on-one training, a structured routine, socialization, enrichment and owner updates. What changes is what the days work on and how many of them there are.
Is a cheaper per-day board and train a better deal?
Not on its own. A lower daily figure can hide a missing handover lesson, no follow-up sessions, equipment sold separately, or group rather than one-on-one work. Compare the itemized inclusions and the days together, then decide.
Does the daily rate include the follow-up sessions and the collar?
There is no daily rate, only a program fee, and yes, that fee includes the follow-ups and the equipment. On-Leash Foundations and Puppy Fundamentals send home a slip lead and training collar; Functional Off-Leash and Advanced Off-Leash include the remote collar. Follow-up sessions are free, one or two depending on the program.
Keep reading
Compare by inclusion
Book a consultation and we will walk you through exactly what each fee covers, so the comparison is fair.
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