Frequently Asked Questions

Call us at (848) 221-5161 for a free phone consultation, or fill in the form at the bottom of this page. We will ask what your dog is doing, how old he is and what you want to change, and then tell you which program fits. Every program and price is listed on our plans and pricing page if you would rather read first.

Our training facility is at 333 Atlantic City Blvd in Bayville, NJ 08721, on Route 9 just south of Toms River. It has three training rooms, a heeling path that runs all the way around the building and a fenced dog distraction area used for reactive and aggressive dogs. Owners come to us from across Ocean County and Monmouth County.

No. The phone consultation is free. It is a conversation about your dog, not a sales appointment, and it is usually the fastest way to work out whether lessons or a board and train is the right call for you.

Obedience lesson packages start at $700 for four private lessons and $975 for six. Board and train programs start at $1,600 for one week and $3,100 for two weeks, and the three week behavior modification program is $4,200. Puppy programs start at $1,200. The full list, with what is included in each one, is on the plans and pricing page.

Payment plans are available. Call us today to learn more about payment options.

Jennifer Cattonar owns Off Leash K9 Training, Jersey Shore and is its head trainer. Valerie is a certified trainer who grew up in Howell and volunteered at a Toms River shelter before she went professional, and Jason is our behaviorist, who takes the reactive and aggressive cases. You can read all three write-ups on the about page.

In lessons, we teach you to train your dog, one private session at a time, and you do the work in between. In a board and train, your dog lives and trains with a professional trainer for one to three weeks, and you get a hands-on turnover session at the end so you can keep the results. Lessons cost less; board and train does the heavy lifting for you.

Four private lessons covering come, sit, extended sit, place, extended place, down, extended down, loose leash heel and off, which is the command that shuts down whatever you do not want. The Basic Obedience package is $700 and includes an e-collar and a training leash. It is for dogs 20 weeks and older.

Basic and Advanced Obedience is six lessons at $975: the first four are the basic obedience curriculum and the last two are aimed at whatever you need most, whether that is advanced commands, environmental distractions or therapy dog preparation. The eight lesson Aggressive Dog Training package is $1,200 and adds four lessons of structured work around other dogs. More on both on the obedience training page.

Yes. Advanced Lessons is a six session package at $675 covering foundational agility work, focus, confidence building and desensitization. It is only open to dogs that have already completed Basic Obedience.

That is exactly what the one week leash training board and train is built for. It is $1,600, it teaches an on-leash heel to stop pulling and barking on walks, and it also addresses over-excitement such as jumping up on people or counters. It is leash walking only, with no other commands, and it is not the program for an aggressive dog.

Yes, and it is a large part of what Jason does. Serious aggression is managed rather than erased, and we will tell you that plainly before you book. The lesson route is the eight lesson aggression package; the intensive route is the three week Behavior Modification Board and Train at $4,200, which is an on-leash program for aggression, resource guarding and high anxiety. Start on the aggressive dog training page.

Therapy dog preparation is one of the paths the last two lessons of the six lesson Basic and Advanced Obedience package can take. Call us to talk through what your dog needs before you book, because the right starting point depends on how much obedience he already has.

Your dog stays with a professional trainer at their home, not in a kennel run. Each trainer works with only three dogs at a time, which is the reason the programs book out rather than running on volume. Full detail is on the board and train page.

The one week program at $1,600 is home manners only: four commands, no leash walking and no work in distracting public places. The two week program at $3,100 is the immersive one. Your dog works through seven commands plus door manners and food manners, and he is taken out to parks, trails, neighborhoods, big box stores and ball games during the stay. Off-leash reliability comes from the two week board and train, not from lessons.

You come in for a one on one turnover session. After the two week program that session runs about two hours, and after the three week behavior modification program it runs two to three hours. We go through everything the dog now does and hand you the handling, because a trained dog going home to an untrained owner does not stay trained.

The two week board and train and the three week behavior modification board and train both include a year of refreshers. The puppy board and train programs do not. Check the card for the exact program you are considering on the plans and pricing page.

Eight weeks. Our puppy programs run from 8 to 20 weeks of age and cover potty training, crate training, socialization, name recognition and an introduction to sit, down and place. The puppy training page walks through each option.

Because that is when e-collar training starts, at about five months old. Younger than that we use marker and reward work: a clicker to mark the behavior the instant it happens, followed by a treat. It builds the same foundation without the tool, and the puppy moves onto the e-collar work later.

The one week puppy board and train is $1,200 and focuses on the potty and crate routine, socialization and the first commands. The two week version is $2,400 and adds place, heel and field trips to coach you. The Puppy Hybrid Program at $3,500 is the long game: four puppy lessons between 8 and 20 weeks, then a two week e-collar board and train once your pup turns 20 weeks.

Yes. Off Leash K9's Online Puppy Training Course is $199 and is listed on our plans and pricing page. It is 24 video modules and eight worksheets covering house training, crate work, marker training and the common puppy problems, and you can start it the day you bring the puppy home.

An e-collar is a remote collar that produces a low-level electrical pulse between two contact points, closer to the e-stim a physical therapist uses than to anything painful. It is not a punishment device and it is not a shock collar in the way people picture one. It is a way of getting your dog's attention at a distance of up to 400 yards, which is what makes real off-leash freedom safe.

No. Inside the house your dog will be listening without it very quickly. We do recommend putting it on before your dog goes outside off-leash, for the same reason you put a seat belt on for a five minute drive. It is the one time you do not have it on that you wish you did.

Most owners are surprised by the opposite. The collar beeps when it is switched on, dogs learn that beep quickly, and most come running and sit down waiting for it, because the collar means going outside, working, and being off-leash.

Yes. The training works on any size, shape and breed of dog. The only real gate is age: obedience lessons and the standard board and train start at 20 weeks, and anything younger goes down the puppy track.

You do not have to set aside a training hour. We show you how to fold the work into what you already do, so the dog is being trained on the way to the car, at the door and at dinner time rather than in a special session you have to remember.

Basic obedience is generally finished in four lessons. Lesson one covers come and sit, lesson two extended sit and down, lesson three place and extended down, and lesson four loose leash walking. A board and train is one, two or three weeks depending on the program you choose.

Generally no, and it is deliberate. A dog listening in its own living room has not proved much, because home is the easy environment. Training happens at our Bayville facility and out in real places with real distractions, which is what makes the obedience hold up when you actually need it.

Most of our clients come from Ocean and Monmouth County. In Ocean County that means Toms River, Brick, Bayville, Beachwood, Forked River, Manahawkin, Point Pleasant, Lakewood, Jackson and the Long Beach Island towns. In Monmouth County it means Freehold, Howell, Red Bank, Middletown, Rumson, Neptune and Spring Lake. Board and train clients drive in from further north and west across New Jersey.

For weekly lessons, most people are comfortable inside about forty minutes, which covers most of Ocean County and the southern half of Monmouth. If you are further out, a board and train is usually the better answer, because it is two drop-offs and a turnover session rather than a weekly commute.

Our Google Business Profile holds a 5.0 star rating from 95 reviews as of August 2026. The quickest way to judge us is to read them, and then call (848) 221-5161 and ask us the awkward questions.