Timelines
How long does board and train take?
Two to six weeks, set by the goal: two weeks installs on-leash manners, three weeks builds puppy foundations or a working off-leash recall, four weeks reaches advanced public reliability, and five to six weeks is what genuine behaviour rehab takes. Anything promising off-leash freedom or aggression fixes in a weekend is marketing, not training.
Why those numbers
The timeline is biology, not pricing strategy.
Skills consolidate through spaced repetition and sleep, which no trainer can shortcut. Week one of any program builds trust and first behaviours in low distraction. The following weeks do the real work: proofing each skill against escalating real-world distractions until it holds at the park, not just the kitchen. Off-leash and rehab goals take longer purely because their proofing ladders are taller.
A useful skepticism test for any Calgary program: ask what the final week is for. The correct answer involves generalization, public proofing, and preparing the handover. If the answer is vague, the dog is sitting in a kennel between two lessons a day.
- 2 weeks: leash manners and household basics
- 3 weeks: puppy foundations, or functional recall
- 4 weeks: distance commands and public manners
- 5 to 6 weeks: reactivity and aggression rehab
After pickup
The program ends. The timeline doesn't.
Expect a two-to-three-week settling period at home while new habits transfer to your house, your voice, and your streets. That transfer is engineered: the handover lesson teaches you the system, and the included follow-up sessions land during exactly that window to correct drift before it becomes regression.
The programs
Match the weeks to the goal.
Every program's duration and price is public. Pick the outcome and the calendar follows.
NE · 2-week board & train
On-Leash Foundations
If every walk is a wrestling match, pulling, barking, zig-zagging, this two-week program rebuilds the walk from the ground up with foundational on-leash obedience..
Includes handover lesson, follow-up session, lifetime support, slip lead + collar
N · 3-week board & train
Puppy Fundamentals
Your puppy's first months decide the habits of a lifetime.
Includes handover lesson, follow-up session, slip lead + collar
SE · 4-week board & train
Advanced Off-Leash
The full four-week build: from functional foundations to advanced reliability in public environments and around higher-level distractions.
Includes handover lesson, 2 follow-ups, Educator remote collar
S · 5–6 week board & train
Behaviour Rehab
Kaitlin's specialty, and the work she loves most.
Includes assessment-built plan, 2 follow-ups, deep owner education
Asked and answered
The questions people ask us.
What does board and train include day to day?
Multiple short training sessions, structured socialization, enrichment, exercise, and rest, inside a consistent routine your dog lives around the clock, with updates to you throughout the stay.
Can a program run shorter if my dog learns fast?
Fast learners get a taller proofing ladder, not early release. The weeks that look like repetition are where reliability is actually built; skipping them returns a dog who obeys only in quiet rooms.
Can I visit my dog partway through?
We gently discourage visits because they interrupt the routine and can set progress back days. You get photo and video updates plus personal check-ins instead, so you are never wondering.
How soon after the program will my dog listen to me?
Immediately for core commands if you attend the handover lesson and run the system at home. Full transfer to your household typically settles within two to three weeks, supported by the free follow-ups.
Keep reading
Put a date on the calendar.
Tell us the goal and we will tell you the honest number of weeks between here and there.
From real owners
Rated 5.0 on Google.
Real Northline dogs