Service detail · Private lessons
Private lessons.
You and your dog work alongside me, in your home or wherever the work needs to happen. Most new clients start here.
Pricing
Bundles below if you already know you’re in for the long run. The 5-session bundle is the most common starting point.
| Option | Price | Per session | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single session | $135 | — | 60 minutes. At your home or a public space within the service area. |
| 3-session bundle | $390 | $130 | A small commitment when you want to start with a single focused issue and decide from there. Expires 4 months from purchase. |
| 5-session bundle Most chosen | $635 | $127 | The common starting point. Five sessions of real-world reps to work through a meaningful piece of training. Expires 6 months from purchase. |
| 10-session bundle | $1,200 | $120 | Best per-session value. A good fit for puppies and for cases where the work spans more sessions: reactivity, multi-skill foundation building, or longer behavior plans. Expires 9 months. |
| Behavior consultation | Quoted on call | — | For dogs with bite history, significant aggression, severe resource guarding, or other dangerous behaviors. These cases take more time per session and more preparation between sessions. The rate is higher than the standard private lesson rate and varies with the case. We talk through the number on the call before you book. |
The hour
What a 60-minute session contains.
Sessions look different depending on what we’re working on, but most include:
- Check-in and observation (5 to 10 min). What’s happened since last session. What’s been hard. I watch your dog be a dog for a minute.
- Demo and setup (5 to 10 min). I show you the technique we’re working on, usually with your dog, so you can see what the handling looks like.
- You and your dog working together (30 to 40 min). This is the bulk of the session. You handle, I coach in real time, we adjust as we go. The dog is yours; you’ll be doing this without me five days a week, so the session is built around your hands on the leash, not mine.
- Wrap and homework (5 to 10 min). What you’ll practice this week and what we’ll do next session.
The structure adapts. A reactivity session might be most of an hour on a single walk with a long line. A puppy session might be three short blocks in your living room with breaks. The hour is shaped to what your dog needs.
What it offers
A focused hour, shaped to your dog.
Private lessons are 60 minutes of one-on-one work. We meet at your home or out in the world, depending on the skill. Loose-leash and reactivity work usually happen on a real walk. Puppy foundations and crate work usually happen in your living room. Recall and settling work might mean a trail or a coffee shop patio.
Every session ends with a written recap of what we covered, what is starting to hold, and one or two things to practice that week. Direct text or email access between sessions for quick questions.
Who it’s for
Almost every new client.
Private lessons are the foundation under everything else Steady Steps offers. The format adapts to what you and your dog need to work on.
Puppies in their first few months at home. The window between 8 and 16 weeks is critical, and not just for housebreaking and basic manners. Socialization to sounds, smells, people, surfaces, and environments has to happen during this window, and a lot of it has to happen out in the world, not just at home. Cooperative care for vet visits and grooming. Handling exercises that pay off for the next ten years. Private lessons in this stage move between your living room and the public spaces your dog needs to be comfortable in.
Adolescents who suddenly seem to have forgotten everything. The teenager phase (roughly 6 to 18 months) is when a lot of dogs regress on skills they had at six months. Private lessons are how we work through that without losing the foundation.
Reactive dogs, leash-frustrated dogs, dogs over threshold in public. This work is most of why people call. It requires careful distance management, structured exposure, and a handler who’s learning the technique in real time. Private lessons are the right format for that.
First-time owners who want a real plan. No previous dog experience, no training background, just a new dog and questions. Private lessons are built for this. We work through the questions in the order they actually come up, not in the order a curriculum would impose.
Bundles make sense once you know what you are working on. Single sessions are for owners who want to start small and decide from there.
Ready to book?
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Tell me about your dog.
Send a short message and I'll get back to you within one business day. From there we'll set up a 15-minute call to talk through your dog and what a first session would look like.