Group classes in a small, quiet studio, and private work for the dogs who bark, lunge, or fall apart when you leave. We train with rewards. No shock, no prong, no shame, for the dog or for you.
Classes cap at six dogsSaturday park sessions at Corliss ParkHome visits within 15 miles
Group classes
Six weeks. Six dogs. One thing, done well.
Every class runs six weeks on the same day and time, so the dog learns the routine and so do you. Six is the most dogs one trainer can honestly watch, so six is the cap.
8 to 16 weeks old
Puppy Foundations
$240 for six weeks
Six puppies, whole families welcome
You'll leave with
A puppy who comes when called, most of the time
A settle on a mat that survives a doorbell
Polite greetings with people and other pups
A written plan for the teenage months
Bring the puppy hungry and the whole household. The kids get homework too.
Five months and up
Everyday Manners
$260 for six weeks
Six dogs, any breed, any history
You'll leave with
Sit, down, and a stay you can walk away from
Leave it, for chicken bones and the neighbor's cat
A recall that works in a fenced field
Calm at the front door when guests arrive
The class most people should take first, including the ones who came for the puppy class.
Any age, any amount of pulling
Loose-Leash Walking
$260 for six weeks
Five dogs, two weeks in the park
You'll leave with
A walk where your shoulder stays in its socket
A "let's go" turn that ends the tug-of-war
Sniff breaks used as the reward they are
The same walk, past real squirrels, on a real path
Weeks four and six meet in Corliss Park, where the squirrels are.
Private & behavior work
Some dogs need the room to themselves.
Barking and lunging on leash. Panic at the sound of your keys. A rescue who arrived on Tuesday and hasn't exhaled yet. This is slow, careful work, and it doesn't happen in a class of six.
Reactivity
We work at the distance where your dog can still think, and we shrink it. Progress is measured in weeks, not sessions, and we'll tell you that on day one.
Separation
A minute-by-minute plan, a camera, and a lot of very boring departures. The boring is the point. Most dogs need a month; some need three.
New-rescue settling
The first three weeks set the next ten years. We help you do less, on purpose, and build the routine your dog will lean on later.
$95 an hour at the studio$120 an hour at your home10% off packs of five
We start with a 30-minute consult.
Forty dollars, credited to your first session. You talk, we listen, the dog sniffs the room. You leave with a plan and an honest estimate of how long it will take.
We pay the dog. Food, play, a good sniff, the door opening. Dogs repeat what works for them, so we make the right thing work. No shock collars, no prong, no "alpha" anything. It isn't soft. It's just how learning goes.
02
Management
Baby gates, long lines, a crate with the door open. Setting up the room so the wrong choice is hard isn't cheating. It's most of the job, and it's what buys your dog the calm to learn anything at all.
03
Consistency at home
Fifteen minutes a day beats an hour on Sunday. We coach you; you train the dog. Every class ends with a one-page homework sheet and a short video, so what happened in the studio survives the car ride home.
This session
The week at Heel.
Next session starts Monday, September 14. Same day and time for six weeks, every class sixty minutes. Spots are live; when they're gone, the waitlist works.
Day
Time
Class
Where
Spots
Mon
6:00 pm
Everyday Manners
Studio
2 spots left
Tue
6:30 pm
Puppy Foundations
Studio
Full, waitlist open
Wed
10:00 am
Loose-Leash Walking
Studio, then Corliss Park
3 spots
Thu
6:00 pm
Puppy Foundations
Studio
1 spot left
Sat
9:00 am
Loose-Leash Walking
Corliss Park, south gate
4 spots
Sat
11:00 am
Everyday Manners
Studio
Full, waitlist open
Sun
10:00 am
Puppy Foundations
Studio
5 spots
Reserve by email and we hold the spot for 48 hours. Waitlist means we text you the moment someone drops, in the order you asked. Private sessions are booked around these, weekday mornings and afternoons.
The trainer
Marin Okafor, CPDT-KA
Marin has trained dogs professionally since 2015 and opened Heel in 2021, in a former yoga studio with floors that forgive. Before that she spent three years at the county shelter, where she learned that most "bad" dogs are scared dogs with a lot of unspent energy and nobody explaining the rules.
Her classes are quiet on purpose. The first ten minutes of every session are for the dogs to sniff the room and the humans to breathe. Nothing gets taught until both have happened.
Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA)
Fear Free Certified Professional
Family Paws parent educator, for dogs and babies
Insured, and pet first aid certified
"I have a reactive dog. His name is Biscuit, he is nine, and he still hates skateboards. He is the reason I'm patient with yours."
Happy dogs
Graduates, mostly.
Pickle, Puppy Foundations. Settled on a mat for four whole minutes in week five. Everyone clapped, quietly.
Thursday Everyday Manners. Six dogs, six mats, one very quiet room. This is what week four looks like.
Otto, private work. Arrived unable to walk past a bicycle. Now walks past bicycles, and occasionally a skateboard.
Policies, kindly
The fine print, in plain words.
Vaccines
Puppies need two rounds of DHPP and a note from your vet. That's all, and it's why puppy class can start at eight weeks, when it matters most.
Adult dogs: current rabies, DHPP, and bordetella, or a titer. Bring the record to your first class or email it ahead. Dogs in season and dogs with a cough stay home, and we make up the week.
Refunds
Change your mind up to seven days before a session starts and we refund everything. After that, we credit the full amount toward any class or private session for a year.
Miss a week? You get the notes and the video, and you can drop into the same week next session, free.
Weather
Park sessions move to the studio when it's over 90, under 20, raining sideways, or there's lightning within ten miles. We text everyone by 7 am.
A light drizzle is not weather. Dogs need to walk in the rain too, so bring a jacket and consider it a bonus distraction.
Book
Book a consult.
Thirty minutes, forty dollars, credited to whatever you book next. Tell us about your dog: age, what's going well, what isn't. We answer within one business day with a couple of times.
