Introduction: Set on a fully fenced acre and designed with your dog's comfort and safety in mind, West Palm Dog offers dog daycare, boarding, and a variety of dog training options for busy pet owners. Ben and Marti are certified professional dog trainers who specialize in puppy socialization and training, adolescent dogs, therapy dogs, and service dogs (mobility, PTSD). When they purchased their Lake Worth property, they redesigned it with the needs and safety of their clients in mind. Investing in turfed play areas, a baby-gated dog-friendly swimming pool, and training area for group classes, they enhanced their home to make it a dog Disneyland.
Services: daycare ($25/day); boarding ($56/day); private lessons at our home ($50/hour); boot camp ($118 per day); group classes ($135/five weeks); dog swimming lessons ($20 add on to daycare or $50 stand alone); urban locating (dog sport) $50/hour. We do NOT offer private lessons at client homes. Group classes include AKC STAR Puppy, CGC, AKC Rally, K9 Nose Work.
Marti is a 2002 graduate of the San Francisco Academy for Professional Dog Trainers and a 20+ year member of the APDT. She has competed with multiple dogs in AKC obedience and rally obedience and is an AKC CGC evaluator. Her dog Lark was the first dog in the United States to pass the Urban CGC, and she tested the Urban CGC for AKC prior to its launch. She served as training director for Obedience Training Club of Palm Beach County for four years before founding West Palm Dog in 2009. Her present interests include barn hunt, urban locating, and scent work. She is a certified National Association for Canine Scent Work instructor (CNWI). Her dogs have competed through the Masters level in barn hunt and scent work; her dog Jesse earned two RATCHs in 12 months, and her dog Fizz competed with placements through NW3 and holds titles in PSD, AKC, UKC, and USCSS scent work.
Marti trained the facility dog currently working at Jewish Association for Residential Care in Boca; from 2015-2019, she served as training coordinator for a service dog training program that placed more than 90 dogs annually throughout the state (PTSD, autism, mobility). She currently serves as a client advocate for PAWS with a Cause, a Michigan based service dog agency. Ben and Marti work with a corporate partner to provide trained dogs to veterans with PTSD, and also provide team training and after care. Her poodle, Billie, is registered with Bright and Beautiful Therapy Dogs.
One popular service is our dog training boot camp, in which dogs live in our home for up to 21 days and learn basic obedience skills, including leash walking. Clients receive video updates, a resource guide, free debrief, and aftercare.
Marti and Ben also enjoy teaching dogs to swim; during COVID, they taught more than 300 dogs to enjoy this activity. Marti was recently featured in a Real Simple article on dog swimming.
Marti and Ben use food and other rewards to show the dog what they want him to learn, then add distance, duration, and distraction to the program to proof his new skills. When working with clients, they minimize "dog trainer" jargon in order to communicate effectively and explain the science of how dogs learn in the context of a specific dog's behavior.
Marti and Ben are kind but but practical people - they offers results-oriented training that is fun for dogs but easy for owners to understand and implement.
In their daycare and boarding programs, trained technicians and dog trainers supervise the play and interactions of the young dogs and puppies in our care. They excel in the socialization of young puppies and develop confidence in them at the same time as they let them play and exercise so they come home tired and happy.
