This is not your typical obedience class. On-leash Life Skills is a unique, real-world training experience you won’t find anywhere else in the city. It’s designed to teach you, the handler, how to confidently manage and engage with your dog during everyday leash scenarios — like meeting another dog on a walk, or navigating an unexpected approach from a stranger.
You’ll learn how to read your dog, make the right decisions based on the situation, and use the best handling strategies to prevent or reduce reactivity. We focus on practical skills that actually work — not perfection, but progress — so you and your dog feel more in sync and less stressed out there in the real world.
At the core of this class is one essential skill: engagement. Teaching your dog to value you in any environment is the foundation for everything else. Strong engagement helps your dog tune in, break out of fixations, and redirect themselves more easily — even around distractions like other dogs or people. When your dog learns to check in with you first, everything gets easier.
The program includes:
- forming and developing a skill to engage with you on a cue (2 classes);
- greeting manners “dog to dog” on a leash (1 class);
- greeting manners “dog to a stranger” (1 class);
- applying learned material into a real-life situation (1 class).
About the course:
- Number of dogs in a group: max 5
- Duration of the course: 5 weeks
- Duration of a class: 1h
- When: on Saturdays morning
- Where: SDSU Mission Valley River Park
- Age of dogs: 6 months and older
- Breed: any breed is welcome
- Price: $250
After you submit the form, I’ll reach out to confirm fit and next steps
Examples from recent classes:
When does the class begin? Enrollment is open.
The next round starts March 21st. If you’d like to be considered for the next session, fill out the form and I’ll reach out with details.
What will I learn? If this is your first time working with Gretta’s Dog Training and me, you will learn a ton. Besides teaching what to do, I like to explain why. That helps to understand dog’s perception, what motivates them and how to affect it.
You will learn how to teach your dog to:
- get engaged on a cue;
- get better at ignoring distractions;
- walk nicely on a leash;
- greet people politely;
- stop and/or redirect excitement or frustration into engagement, etc. (this is where majority dogs start to form and develop reactive behaviors).
Is this class the right fit for you? If your dog has already built up severe reactivity — meaning intense barking, lunging, or even attempting to bite people or other dogs — this group class may not be the best place to start. This also applies if your dog becomes so overstimulated or fearful that it’s hard to physically control them, or it doesn’t feel safe for them (or others) to be around dogs in close proximity.
It’s normal for dogs to bark or get distracted, and we can work through that in class — especially if your dog is able to calm down, take treats, and re-engage with you over time. But if their reactions escalate quickly and they can’t come back down, private sessions are likely the better fit to begin with.
With Private Coaching, we’ll work one-on-one in real-life settings that help set your dog up for success, with no pressure from the group environment.
Not sure how to tell what’s best? Just reach out — I’ll help you figure it out:
📧 grettasdogtraining@gmail.com
📱 Text: (872) 985-3830
What past clients experienced in this class:
