Board and train

Does board and train help with multi-dog households?

Two dogs in one house tend to produce problems that are hard to attribute. The barking at the window, the scramble at the door, the tangle on a double walk: which dog would you even send? This page does not answer that for you, because that depends on two dogs we have not seen. What it does is explain what a one-on-one program can and cannot do for a pair, and which questions to bring.

Last reviewed September 28, 2026

Group of happy dogs playing together in a grassy meadow

One dog, one program

The graduate's skills belong to the graduate.

Everything we run is one-on-one, with no group classes, and each program is written for a single dog. A dog in On-Leash Foundations spends two weeks on loose-leash walking, heel, place and sit, stay, down, at $1,865 plus GST. A dog in Functional Off-Leash spends three weeks on recall around distractions and off-leash house manners, at $3,030 plus GST. The dog learning those things is the one enrolled. The second dog at home is not part of the curriculum.

What we cannot promise is that the untrained dog changes because the trained one did, or that friction between them eases. Dogs may or may not pick things up from each other, and we would rather not build a booking on a maybe. What does transfer is you. The handover lesson and free follow-up sessions pass the graduate's cues to you, and you are the one who lives with both dogs. Turning those cues into house rules is a project for after pick-up.

  • One-on-one, no group classes
  • Skills go home with the graduate
  • No promise the other dog changes
  • Handover lesson is with you

Questions for the consultation

Separate problems and together problems are different asks.

The most useful thing to bring to the consultation is a split. Which problems happen when each dog is alone with you, and which only appear when both are present? A dog that pulls on its own walk has an individual training problem, and On-Leash Foundations is built for dogs who drag on the leash. Two dogs who are fine apart and chaotic together are describing a pair dynamic, and a one-on-one program works with one of them at a time.

If one dog's problem is fear, reactivity or aggression, that is what Behaviour Rehab is built for, planned and priced after a full assessment, whatever the second dog does. Private Training is $150 plus GST per one-hour session with a written plan for the week, and each session is one-on-one. Questions worth asking outright: could each dog be assessed, would both need a program, and could one go first? The consultation recommends the program, and the smaller one when it is enough.

Couple on a couch with their two dogs

Asked and answered

The questions people ask us.

Should you board and train one dog or both?

That depends on whether the problems belong to one dog or to the pair, and it is not something we can settle from a page. Ask at the consultation whether each dog would need its own program and whether one could go first. The program is recommended there, and a smaller one when it is enough.

Can you board and train two dogs at the same time?

Every program is one-on-one, and each is written for a single dog, so any two-dog arrangement is a question to ask us directly rather than assume. Tell us what each dog does apart and together. We will give you a straight answer at the consultation.

Does board and train work in a multi dog household, or will the other dog undo it?

We cannot promise either way. The graduate comes home with its own skills, a handover lesson and free follow-up sessions, and the second dog was not part of any of it. How the household settles afterward depends on both dogs and on the people, not on the second dog alone.

What if two dogs are fine alone but a nightmare together?

Then the problem is the pair, and a one-on-one board and train trains one dog at a time. Private Training at $150 plus GST per one-hour session, with a written weekly plan built around your home, is one-on-one as well. Raise the together-only pattern at the consultation, because it changes what is worth recommending.

Bring both dogs' stories

Book a consultation and describe each dog apart, then together. We will talk through what fits, one dog at a time.

From real owners

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