Board & Train in Nashville, TN
Two to three weeks living and working with a trainer, then two lessons handing it all back to you.
The Programs
Every stay is residential, one trainer per dog, and ends with two lessons at your house.
Two-Week FoundationsFrom $2,400
The everyday set: name, sit, down, place, loose-leash walking and a recall on a long line. For dogs who are fundamentally fine but have no manners. Two weeks in residence, two go-home lessons.
Three-Week Off-LeashFrom $3,600
Foundations plus off-leash reliability proofed around livestock, traffic noise and other dogs on our nine acres. We do not remove the long line until the recall holds under real distraction.
Puppy Head StartFrom $1,900
Ten to eighteen weeks. Crate and house training, handling, settling, early socialization done carefully, and the first recall. Ten days in residence — the eight weeks most families do not have in them.
Reactivity IntensiveFrom $3,900
Three weeks of daily work under threshold for dogs who lunge and bark at other dogs. We are honest up front: three weeks starts this, it does not finish it, and you leave with a six-month home plan.
Refresher StayFrom $750
Three to five days for a graduate whose cues have drifted after a move, a new baby or a long vacation. Same trainer, same language, no starting from scratch.
Programs run continuously and we hold four places at a time — most families book six to ten weeks ahead.
Four Dogs. Not Forty.
Board and train earned a bad name because too many places run it as boarding with a training label — twenty dogs in a barn, an hour of work a day, a polished handover video. We take four. Each one lives with a trainer, works several short sessions a day in the house, the yard and the nine acres behind it, and rests the way a dog needs to rest. You get video every day, including the days that go badly.
- ✓Four dogs in residence, never more
- ✓One trainer owns your dog's program start to finish
- ✓Video every day, good days and bad
- ✓Force-free — no prong, choke or shock collars, ever
What A Residential Program Includes
Board and train is expensive. Here is exactly what the money buys.
Living In A Home
Not a kennel run. Your dog lives in the trainer's house, which is where house manners are actually learned — doors, sofas, meals, visitors.
Several Short Sessions A Day
Four to six short sessions rather than one long one. Dogs consolidate in the gaps, so the rest between is part of the training, not time off.
Daily Video
A clip every day showing the real session. You will see plateaus and bad days, because pretending they do not happen is how families get a surprise at handover.
Two Go-Home Lessons
The transfer is the whole game. Two lessons at your house, with you holding the leash, before we call the program finished.
A Written Maintenance Plan
What to practice, how often, and what drift looks like — so month three does not quietly undo week three.
Ninety Days Of Support
Message us for three months after pick-up. Most questions arrive in week four, not week one.
What Board And Train Can And Cannot Do
The honest version, because the expensive disappointment in this industry is always a mismatch of expectation.
It Can Install Skills Fast
Daily, well-timed practice from a professional builds reliable behaviors far quicker than fifteen minutes a night after work. That is the real product.
It Cannot Train You
Which is why the go-home lessons exist and why we will not release a dog without them. A trained dog in an untrained household regresses in about a month.
It Cannot Cure Fear In Three Weeks
Anxiety and reactivity are emotional, and emotions change slowly. We start the work and hand you a six-month plan; anyone promising a cure is selling suppression.
It Is Not A Substitute For A Vet
If we see pain, gut trouble or a sudden behavior change, the program pauses and your dog sees a veterinarian. We refund the unused days.
Nine Acres East Of Nashville
Fields to work in, a house to live in, and no kennel block.
How A Three-Week Program Runs
Before Drop-Off
A phone assessment and a vet record. We tell you honestly whether a residential program is the right call or whether private lessons would serve you better and cost a third as much.
Week One — Settle And Foundations
Your dog decompresses for two days before any real work. Then name, marker, sit, down, place, and the beginnings of a leash that does not pull.
Week Two — Proofing
The same skills, harder. Distractions added in layers: other dogs, the field, the road noise, visitors. This is the week the video starts to look impressive.
Week Three — Off-Leash And Handover
Long-line work moves to off-leash where the recall has earned it, then two lessons at your house so the dog answers to you, not only to us.
Nashville Families On The Program
Three weeks and we got a different dog back — same personality, none of the chaos. The two lessons at handover were the part that made it stick for us.
The daily videos meant we never wondered what was happening. You can see the progress across the fortnight, and you can see they actually like her.
They told us up front that three weeks would not fix the reactivity, only start it, and gave us a home plan for the six months after. That honesty is why we chose them.
Four dogs at a time is the difference. Our last board and train had twenty in a barn and our dog came home more wound up than she went in.
The puppy head start bought us our house back. She came home crate-trained, house-trained and able to settle, which is about eight weeks of work we did not have in us.
We did a refresher stay after moving house and it reset everything in five days. Same trainer, same cues, no starting over.
Check The Next Opening
Tell us your dog's age and what you want changed. We will tell you which program fits, what it costs, and the first date we can take them.
The Two Lessons That Decide Everything
A dog who works beautifully for a trainer and ignores you is a very expensive video. So the program does not end at pick-up — it ends after two lessons at your house, with you on the leash, in the rooms and on the streets where you actually live. If the handover is not holding, we come back a third time at no charge.
- ✓Held at your home, not ours
- ✓You handle the dog; we coach
- ✓Third lesson free if the transfer is not holding
- ✓Ninety days of messaging afterwards
Before You Book A Stay
How much does board and train cost in Nashville?
Residential programs in the Nashville area generally run $1,500–$4,500 depending on length and what is being worked on. Ours start at $1,900 for the ten-day puppy head start and $3,600 for the three-week off-leash program, both including the go-home lessons.
Is board and train cruel?
It can be, and that is a fair thing to ask. The risks are volume, isolation and aversive tools — twenty dogs in runs, an hour of work a day, a shock collar to get fast results. We cap at four, the dogs live in the house, and we do not use prong, choke or shock collars in any program.
Can I visit during the stay?
We ask you not to in the first week, because a visit resets the settling process and costs your dog two days. From week two, yes — and you get video every day regardless.
What if my dog does not do well?
We call you. If a dog is not coping, continuing is not in anyone's interest, and we refund the unused days. That has happened eleven times in nine years and we would rather it happened than not.
Will the training last?
It lasts to the degree the household keeps it. That is why two go-home lessons and a written maintenance plan are built into the price rather than sold as an add-on.
What do you need from my vet?
Current vaccinations, flea and tick prevention, and a note of anything being treated. If your dog is on medication we will follow the schedule exactly and note it in the daily video.
What Every Day Looks Like
Morning walk and a session
Before breakfast, while the yard is quiet and the dog is sharp.
Rest, properly
Crate or a settle spot. Consolidation happens in the gaps, not in the reps.
Two field sessions
Long-line and recall work on the acreage, with distraction added deliberately.
House manners
Doors, thresholds, meals, the sofa rule — learned where they actually happen.
Evening settle
The household routine your dog will need to fit into when they get home.
Your video
Cut and sent the same evening, showing the real session.
Check Availability
Tell us about your dog and what you want changed. We reply within one business day with the right program, the price and the next open date.