Cloud Nine Training School for Dogs

My 11 year old son and I brought our two dogs through Obedience 1 training at Cloud Nine in Maple Grove Feb/March 2025. I made the choice to include my son in training thinking it would be a great way for him to bond with the dogs and us as mom/son! He was a bit intimidated and bored. He wasn't the best at executing, but I found that Dawn was gentle/sensitive with her redirection with him as well as the dogs (and me) I have been through several puppy classes with several puppies and did my own clicker training with several past pups as well. I found the exercises of focus in Cloud 9 Obedience 1 to be on-point for what we were looking for here! Other than the typical (sit, stay, come), we practiced avoidance (which I get is a derivative of "come"), place and doorway manners (impulse control). I felt that the class covered the basics a family would need to train their dog to do/not do and have manners that fit their own household and culture. Ob 1 is definitely above puppy training and I liked that it didn't include socialization like puppy training does since my dogs don't need socialization and I feel that would be a distraction from training at this point. Dawn's training methods are positive reinforcement and I liked that she prioritizes getting the dog to do the thing before adding a verbal command which comes before adding a hand-gesture. In the past, I'd done all at once and I totally get her reasonings to teach in that order. We will be moving forward with more training here. As far as the facility - parking is easy, the space is very clean. It is echo-y, but I didn't find that to be a detractor. In fact, I think it's great there is ample space for agility and scent work available for future training since we do plan to move onward.

I have been running agility for 6 years and I just recently started training my young dog at Cloud 9. One area that I have always fallen short on is foundations. I recently moved here from Iowa and decided to try out the foundations classes here. We have had a great time at our classes. I am learning so much, and often have "lightbulb" moments of things I've missed with past dogs. Dawn has a way of making things make sense to me and I love all of the new things we are learning. I am really thankful that I found Cloud 9. My only complaint is that the time goes too fast during class. My dog and I are both left wanting more!

My wife and I really enjoyed going to obedience 1 which was taught by Candace and are coming back for obedience 2 depending on who is teaching. The weekly class was 6 weeks and covers a LOT. With that said, everyone should remember that the dog YOU have will train at the dog's own pace. NOT the pace that the course covers which was a new command each week. The one downside I found is that that the class size of 14 dogs was a little large for one training instructor. Just make sure your dog can sit on command before starting obedience 1.