Everyday responsiveness around distractions
6–18 months · 3 weeks · 15 weekdays
Adolescent Academy
Help with pulling, jumping, listening, and settling—with weekday training, weekends at home, and coaching for your family.
Starts September 21
September 21–October 9, 2026
- Dog’s age
- 6–18 months
- Weekday training
- 3 weeks · 15 weekdays
- Program tuition
- $3,295
- Family coaching
- 6 owner sessions included
Monday pickup & Friday return included for eligible addresses. Check your area →
The transfer problem
Teaching the Dog Is Only Half the Job.
A dog can learn with a professional and still struggle at home because behavior changes with the handler, routines, and environment.
The GCA solution
Transfer Is Built In.
Weekday training, Friday coaching, weekend practice, and following-week adjustments help the dog’s skills and the family’s habits develop together.
Weekday training → Friday coaching → Weekend practice → Following-week adjustment
What we work toward
Practical Skills, Adapted to the Dog in Front of Us
Priorities are individualized by age, development, safety, temperament, and family goals.
Loose-leash walking and handler engagement
Recall development and safe boundary skills
Polite greetings and calmer household behavior
Settling after excitement
Cooperative handling and practical routines
6 guided owner sessions
The Training Is Built to Transfer
One preparation visit, two Friday coaching sessions, one graduation transfer session, and two follow-ups.
Prepare together
A private preparation visit aligns routines, equipment, cue language, management, and expectations before the first training week.
Train on weekdays
Your dog trains with Erik and Selena Monday through Friday in carefully planned sessions and ordinary daily routines.
Practice every weekend
Friday coaching and a written plan help your family rehearse the same skills at home before the next training week.
Transfer and follow through
Graduation coaching and follow-up sessions help the new patterns become workable parts of family life.
A weekday rhythm
Three Weeks of Focused Adolescent Work
Your dog trains Monday through Friday and returns home every weekend. Teaching is woven into routines, rest, enrichment, movement, handling, and ordinary indoor and outdoor life.
GCA builds behavior through reinforcement, clear communication, thoughtful management, and repetition. The Academies do not use shock/e-collars, prong collars, choke chains, or equipment intended to cause fear or pain.
Explore the Adolescent Academy curriculum
- Name and attention
- Marker and release communication
- Sit, down, stay, wait, and place
- Come and emergency-recall foundations
- Leave it and drop it
- Kennel
- Loose-leash and functional close walking
- Moving cooperatively with the handler
- Polite greetings
- Door and gate manners
- Settling and off-switch skills
- Impulse control
- Vehicle entry and exit
- Handling and cooperative management
- Work around distractions
- Readiness-based real-world exposure
Difficult-distraction reliability develops through continued practice over time and is not guaranteed after 15 training days.
Adolescent Academy is a manners, communication, and daily-life program. It is not designed as a behavior-modification program for serious aggression, severe separation panic, or another condition requiring highly individualized treatment.
Adolescent Academy tuition$3,295
Next available: September 21–October 9, 2026 · November 30–December 18, 2026
Limited enrollment · Check availability
Check Fit & AvailabilityCare, safety, and staying connected
It Is Hard to Be Away from a Dog You Love.
Erik and Selena both work hands-on with every Academy dog. The preparation visit lets your family meet the trainers, review the plan, and ask questions before the program begins. Dogs return home every weekend, and participating families receive informal photos, short videos, and lighthearted glimpses through the private group. Sensitive or important information is communicated directly.
The renovated, insulated, climate-controlled Academy building includes individual crates for sleep and appropriate rest, a living-room-style training area, and indoor training space for poor weather. Dogs practice settling while people relax, and overnight potty routines are individualized.
Six-foot-fenced yard with double-gated entrySelected dog interactions based on temperament, safety, needs, and owner goalsTemperature, fire, and carbon-monoxide alerts sent to multiple phonesIndividual rest, care, enrichment, and readiness-based experiences
Included regional transportation
Monday Pickup. Friday Return.
Monday pickup and Friday return are included for eligible addresses within approximately two hours of ordinary one-way driving time from Bulls Gap, Tennessee.
Eligibility is confirmed during screening using the service address and ordinary driving conditions.
Health and veterinary requirements
- Age-appropriate core vaccination
- Rabies as legally required for the dog’s age
- Current Bordetella vaccination with the veterinarian/manufacturer-recommended initial series completed
- Complete veterinary records
- Wellness examination within the required pre-start window
- Negative fecal examination or GCA-approved pre-program deworming within the specified window
- Current flea and tick prevention
- No obvious contagious illness at intake
Families may begin with a fit inquiry before records are ready. Exact documentation deadlines and treatment windows are confirmed during detailed screening and enrollment.
Private, hidden Facebook group
Participating families receive access to a private, hidden Facebook group. Joining is optional. It offers informal photos, short videos, lighthearted glimpses into Academy life, and optional family introductions. Sensitive or time-sensitive matters are communicated directly.
Private-group participation is separate from optional permission to use identifiable photos, videos, names, or stories in public marketing.
“We’ve reinforced it and she’s been doing great ever since.”
Brody Norris · Google review
These reviews reflect prior Gladwater Canine training work with Erik and Selena.
A thoughtful fit decision
Good Candidates for Adolescent Academy
Dogs 6–18 months old who need structured work on adolescent manners and families ready to participate in all six owner sessions.
Screening also considers
- Health and developmental readiness
- Safety, behavior history, and care needs
- Household goals and family participation
- Transportation eligibility
- Whether the program setting is appropriate for the individual dog
Start with a conversation
Which Academy Fits Your Dog and Family?
Send your dog’s age, town, and goals. Erik or Selena will help you check fit, availability, and transportation. There is no payment or commitment to ask.