Classes

At Cold Nose Col­lege, we spe­cial­ize in effec­tive, pos­i­tive rein­force­ment Good Man­ners train­ing for the fam­ily dog. Our goal is to help your dog become a well-behaved com­pan­ion and fam­ily mem­ber through the use of dog-friendly, pos­i­tive train­ing meth­ods. We’re Clicker Train­ers, which means we use the sound of a Clicker as our com­mu­ni­ca­tion tool to let the dog know they’ve just done the right thing!

Classes Offered

Equip­ment needed:  Flat buckle or snap col­lar, or a front clip har­ness, and 6 foot leather or nylon leash.

No choke chains, prong col­lars, shock or elec­tronic col­lars.  Equip­ment of this kind is not per­mit­ted at any time. We also ask that you leave your retractable leash at home for your dog’s pro­tec­tion and that of others.

Can­cel­la­tion and Missed Classes:  We will miss you if you are unable to attend a class or classes after reg­is­tra­tion. Unfor­tu­nately we are unable to offer refunds or dis­counts for missed classes. If you would like to sched­ule a make up ses­sion for a par­tic­u­lar missed class, please let us know and, sched­ule per­mit­ting, we can arrange a 30 minute make up ses­sion on the day of your next sched­uled class for $25.

If you don’t see a class or time that fits your needs give us a call and we’ll try to put one on the schedule.

Click here to down­load our Reg­is­tra­tion Form.

Jumpers & Pullers

Loca­tion:  Cold Nose Col­lege Train­ing Cen­ter, Mur­phy, NC  (map)                                Dates:  Call for sched­ule
What You Learn:  Is Fido still pulling you down the street and climb­ing on Aunt Mabel’s shoulder’s when she vis­its? Then this 4 week class is for you! In addi­tion to work­ing on loose leash walk­ing and polite greet­ings, we’ll also do a bit of work on recall. This class is open to any dog or puppy over 10 weeks of age who has pre­vi­ously attended a Basic Man­ners Class.
Pre­req­ui­site:  Basic Man­ners or equiv­a­lent
Tuition:  $100

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Basic Good Manners

Loca­tion:  Cold Nose Col­lege Train­ing Cen­ter, Mur­phy, NC  (map)
Date
Jan­u­ary 23, 2012  (Mon­day)   3:30 pm,  Class Full
Jan­u­ary 23, 2012  (Mon­day)   6:00 pm,  Class Full
Feb­ru­ary 4, 2012  (Sat­ur­day)  10:30 am, Class Ful
March 6, 2012 (Tues­day) 3:30 pm, Reg­is­tra­tion Open
March 12, 2012    (Mon­day)   6:00 pm, Reg­is­tra­tion Open

Why:  Because a well trained dog is a plea­sure to have in your home, a plea­sure to travel with, and is wel­come most any­where.
What You Learn:  We’ll be work­ing on a vari­ety of basic, good man­ners: Polite Greet­ing, Sit, Down, Polite Walk­ing on Leash, Come, Go to Bed, Tar­get­ing, Off/Leave It, etc., and some fun dog tricks! We also dis­cuss other dog behav­ior chal­lenges accord­ing to class need/interest. For dogs and pup­pies over the age of 20 weeks on the class start date.

Please remem­ber that first night of class is “with­out” dogs. This gives us a chance to dis­cuss train­ing phi­los­o­phy, moti­va­tion and tim­ing, gather expec­ta­tions, dis­cuss clicker train­ing, items for you to bring to remain­ing classes, etc. There’s lots of infor­ma­tion for you, the han­dler, to learn before the dogs join us in class.
Term:  6 con­sec­u­tive weeks
Tuition:  $145

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Beyond Basics / Inter­me­di­ate / CGC

Pre­req­ui­site:  Suc­cess­ful com­ple­tion of Basic Good Man­ners Class
Loca­tion:  Cold Nose Col­lege Train­ing Cen­ter, Mur­phy, NC  (map)
Dates:
Jan­u­ary 26, 2012 (Thurs­day)  6:00 pm,  Class Full

Why:  To rein­force the behav­iors you and your dog have already learned and build on the foun­da­tion you’ve already cre­ated.
What You Learn:  This course takes you beyond Basic Good Man­ners and pre­pares you to take the Amer­i­can Ken­nel Club, Canine Good Cit­i­zen test. You will learn the skills to help your dog be well behaved, not only in your home, but in pub­lic places, and in the pres­ence of other dogs. This course is per­fect for any­one inter­ested in ther­apy or assis­tance dog work in the future. For more infor­ma­tion on the AKC CGC pro­gram visit www.akc.org
Term:  6 con­sec­u­tive weeks
Tuition:  $145

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Agility for Fun — Level I

Pre­req­ui­site:  Basic Good Man­ners Class or Com­pa­ra­ble Skills
Loca­tion:  Hiwassee Dam Area, 1675 Friend­ship Church Road, Mur­phy, NC  (map)
Dates:  Return­ing Spring 2012
Why:  Besides just being plain fun, intro­duc­ing and train­ing your dog on dif­fer­ent agility obsta­cles helps to give your dog con­fi­dence. Your dog will be more con­fi­dent in new sit­u­a­tions, less timid over­all, bet­ter behaved all around and more con­fi­dent around other dogs and peo­ple.
What You Learn:  You’ll be work­ing with your dog to help him or her learn to nego­ti­ate tun­nels, jumps, teeters, tire jumps, and weave poles. Join in the fun sport of Agility, but in a non-competitive envi­ron­ment. Come join us for some fun!
NOTE:  First ses­sion is with­out dogs.
Term:  6 con­sec­u­tive weeks
Tuition:  $145

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Agility for Fun — Level II

Pre­req­ui­site:  Agility for Fun, Level I
Loca­tion:  Hiwassee Dam Area, 1675 Friend­ship Church Road, Mur­phy, NC  (map)
Dates: Return­ing in Sum­mer 2012
Why:  To con­tinue build­ing upon the skills you learned in the first Agility for Fun class and for a 2nd round of fun!
What You Learn:  We’ll be work­ing on increas­ing your dog’s skill on each of the agility obsta­cles, as well as exer­cises designed to help your dog focus on you and vice versa, exer­cises to bring about con­sis­tency and exer­cises for your dog on self con­trol. As in Agility for Fun Level I, class will be held on 5 acres of fenced pas­ture so that your dog is safe while work­ing off leash.
NOTE:  First night of class with­out dogs
Term:  6 con­sec­u­tive weeks
Tuition:  $145

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Reli­able Recall

Loca­tion:  Cold Nose Col­lege Train­ing Cen­ter, Mur­phy, NC  (map)
Pre­req­ui­site:  Basic Good Man­ners Class
Dates:
Jan­u­ary 26, 2012 (Thurs­day)  1:00 pm, Reg­is­tra­tion Open

Why:  Reli­able Recall is ensur­ing that your dog will come run­ning to you enthu­si­as­ti­cally the first time and each time you call him/her to Come! Com­ing to you when called is one of the most impor­tant skills your dog can learn.
What You Learn:  This 4 week course pro­vides you with mul­ti­ple strate­gies for intro­duc­ing, prac­tic­ing, rein­forc­ing and gain­ing effec­tive recalls. Get­ting your dog to come to you on cue is one of the nicest things you can do for your dog (and for you!). By know­ing that your dog will return when­ever you want him to allows you to give your dog free­dom to play and go where he/she wants to go (within rea­son).
Term:  4 con­sec­u­tive weeks
Tuition:  $100

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Puppy Man­ners & Socialization

Loca­tion:  Cold Nose Col­lege Train­ing Cen­ter, Mur­phy, NC  (map)
Dates:
Mon­days at 1:00 pm   Open Enroll­ment
Wednes­days at 6:00 pm   Open Enrollment

Call for Ori­en­ta­tion Time.

Why:  To give your puppy the best pos­si­ble start in life and to make sure that your puppy has “pos­i­tive expe­ri­ences” with all of the new peo­ple, places and things they encounter. Did you know that the most for­ma­tive time in your puppy’s life is the first few months? It’s very impor­tant that you social­ize your puppy to a vari­ety of peo­ple, places and things dur­ing this win­dow of time.

What You Learn:  How to set your puppy up to be a well-mannered, con­fi­dent, adult dog.

• This class is for pup­pies who are 9 to 16 weeks of age at the start of the first class. We’ll be work­ing on Bite Inhi­bi­tion (so your puppy devel­ops a soft mouth), we’ll be Social­iz­ing your puppy to peo­ple (espe­cially chil­dren, men, and strangers) and other dogs, as well as teach­ing basic good man­ners such as Polite Greet­ing, Sit, Down and Come, and real life skills such as Drop It and Leave It. Our goal is to set your puppy up to be a well-mannered, con­fi­dent, adult dog.

• Require­ment: Pup­pies should receive a min­i­mum of one set of vac­cines at least 7 days prior to the first class and a first de-worming, and should be kept up-to-date on vac­cines through­out the class.

Term:  1 ori­en­ta­tion ses­sion + 5 con­sec­u­tive weeks
Tuition:  $145

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Play in the Pas­ture Sessions

Loca­tion:  Hiwassee Dam Area, 1675 Friend­ship Church Road, Mur­phy, NC  (map)
Dates:  Sec­ond Sat­ur­day of each month
Sorry there will be  no Play in the Pas­ture in Feb­ru­ary
March 10, 2012
10:00 — 10:45 Small Dogs (Under 40 lbs.)
11:15 — 12:00 Large Dogs (Over 40 lbs.)
NOTE:  Reser­va­tion Required. All dogs must be Spayed or Neutered.
Why:  A well exer­cised dog is a happy and healthy dog and makes for a happy human!   This is an off leash, out­door social for you and your dog in a safe, fenced one acre area which is within six fenced acres.
What You Learn:  Off leash eti­quette and recall tips, infor­ma­tion about read­ing dog body lan­guage so that you can learn to rec­og­nize the signs that a dog may be get­ting tense and isn’t enjoy­ing them­selves and the joy of learn­ing how romp­ing with your dog can be fan­tas­tic fun.
What You’ll Need:  Writ­ten proof from your vet­eri­nar­ian of up-to-date vac­ci­na­tions.  A pre-evaluation for your dog if your canine kid hasn’t been in a Cold Nose Col­lege class.  We want to make sure your dog is ready for an off leash play group.
Term:  45 min­utes per ses­sion
Tuition:  $15 per dog. Reser­va­tion Required.

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Tricks for Clicks!

Loca­tion:  Cold Nose Col­lege Train­ing Cen­ter, Mur­phy, NC  (map)
Pre­req­ui­site:  Suc­cess­ful com­ple­tion of Basic Man­ners Class
Dates:
Jan­u­ary 26, 2012  (Thurs­day)  3:30  Class Full

Why:  Because it’s just plan FUN..it’s as sim­ple as that! You’ll increase your han­dling skills and it’s great men­tal stim­u­la­tion for you and your dog. You’ll learn how to avoid unwanted behav­iors by learn­ing to train new incom­pat­i­ble behav­iors. You can’t teach your dog to roll over, say his prayers, skate­board or weave through your legs with­out laugh­ing. When you laugh with your dog, you’re going to have fun. The more fun you have, the more apt you’ll be to train some more, and the more you train, the bet­ter you both will be at it. All behav­iors are tricks..and all tricks are just addi­tional behav­iors.
What You Learn:  You’ll learn how to break a behav­ior down to its small­est parts and build them back into a fin­ished behav­ior through the use of shap­ing or back chain­ing. You’ll refine your tim­ing with the clicker, mak­ing all future train­ing faster. You’ll learn bet­ter obser­va­tion skills to help you bet­ter com­mu­ni­cate with your dog. You’ll learn that train­ing is a fun, life­long jour­ney with your dog build­ing an even stronger bond between you both. Wow! There’s no down­side to that at all, is there?
What You’ll Need:  Writ­ten proof from your vet­eri­nar­ian of up-to-date vaccinations. Several types of “soft” food treats in a fanny pack or treat bag, flat col­lar or front-clip har­ness, 4 to 6 ft leather or nylon leash, fully enclosed walk­ing shoes (no flip flops or open heeled shoes), small squeaky toy or tug toy for play and rein­force­ment, and any other prop that may be appro­pri­ate for your tricks.
Term:  6 con­sec­u­tive weeks
Tuition:  $145

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Hounds Around Town

Loca­tion:  Var­i­ous out­door loca­tions in and around Mur­phy, NC
Pre­req­ui­site:  This is an inter­me­di­ate class and the dog and han­dler will have suc­cess­fully com­pleted a Basic Man­ners class. The han­dler should have solid clicker train­ing skills and the dog should have suc­cess­fully been able to per­form Polite Walk­ing, Polite Greet­ing and focus on the han­dler in the class­room. Dogs must be safe and non­re­ac­tive with both strangers and new dogs.
Dates:  Return­ing Spring 2012
Why:  To help your dog learn to per­form reli­ably in out­door loca­tions where there are many more dis­trac­tions. We move out of the class­room and into more real life sit­u­a­tions. This class will be taught out of doors in places such as the River­walk in Mur­phy, a hik­ing trail in a wooded area, a mildly dis­tract­ing down­town loca­tion, local pet stores and per­haps even the patio of a local restau­rant.
What You’ll Learn:  We’ll be vis­it­ing local dog-friendly places work­ing on polite walk­ing (loose leash walk­ing), polite greet­ings (sit­ting for pet­ting), impulse con­trol and focus while at new and excit­ing des­ti­na­tions. You’ll learn to teach your dog to focus on you when in the midst of a vari­ety of sit­u­a­tions and set­tings. You’ll learn to gen­er­al­ize and proof class­room behav­iors in new envi­ron­ments. You’ll learn being “out and about town” with a well-behaved dog is great fun!
What You’ll Need:  Sev­eral types of “soft” food treats in a fanny pack or treat bag, flat col­lar or front-clip har­ness, 4 to 6 ft leather or nylon leash, fully enclosed walk­ing shoes (no flip flops or open heeled shoes), small squeaky toy or tug toy for play and rein­force­ment, 15 to 25 foot long line, dog­gie “pooh” bags, and water for you and your dog.
Term:  6 con­sec­u­tive weeks
Tuition:  $145

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Mini Man­ners

Loca­tion:  Cold Nose Col­lege Train­ing Cen­ter, Mur­phy, NC  (map)
Descrip­tion:  Join us for a 4 week class work­ing on Sit, Down, Polite Walk­ing & Polite Greet­ing. First night of class is with­out dogs and you’ll still have plenty of time to work on the impor­tant behav­iors we’ll intro­duce. We’ll also dis­cuss other dog behav­ior chal­lenges accord­ing to class need/interest. This class is open to any dog or puppy over 10 weeks of age.
Dates:  Call for sched­ule
Tuition:  $100

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Hone Your Skills!  Drop in Class

Loca­tion:  Cold Nose Col­lege Train­ing Cen­ter, Mur­phy, NC  (map)
Descrip­tion:  Whether it’s your DOG who needs some addi­tional work or whether YOU need some addi­tional coach­ing on your own han­dling skills to in turn help your dog, this inter­me­di­ate class is for you!
Pre­req­ui­site:  Basic Good Man­ners Class

We’ll be work­ing with each stu­dent to tweak behav­iors that are spe­cific to their own dog.  It could be some­thing you began work­ing on in the Basic Good Man­ners Class or per­haps some other unwanted behav­ior that’s spe­cific to your own home.

Per­haps Frac­tious Fido is still pulling a bit on leash or needs some addi­tional work on not charg­ing out the door or maybe he needs some addi­tional help with recall or polite greet­ing. Maybe you even want to teach him a trick (yes all behav­iors are really tricks!).

In Hone Your Skills we’ll con­tinue to help you with tips and tech­niques, as well as prac­tice both inside and out­side the class­room to increase your learn­ing and keep you strid­ing toward accom­plish­ing your goals for your dog.

Pre­req­ui­site:  Cold Nose Col­lege Basic Man­ners
Dates: Return­ing Spring 2012.
Come just once or every Wednes­day if you like.
NOTE:  This is a drop-in class so reser­va­tions must be made by Tues­day at noon prior to each class.
Tuition:  $25 per class

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Group classes are six weeks, once a week, unless oth­er­wise spec­i­fied. Each class lasts approx­i­mately 60 minutes.

Max­i­mum class size is 6 dogs.

Can­cel­la­tion and Missed Classes:  We will miss you if you are unable to attend a class or classes after reg­is­tra­tion. Unfor­tu­nately we are unable to offer refunds or dis­counts for missed classes. If you would like to sched­ule a make-up ses­sion for a par­tic­u­lar missed class, please let us know and, sched­ule per­mit­ting, we can arrange a 30 minute make-up ses­sion on the day of your next sched­uled class for $25.

Click here to down­load our Reg­is­tra­tion Form.