Chicago Group Dog Training Class
Dog Obedience: What's the group class benefit?
For dogs in the city, practicing around distractions in a structured training setting can be key to teaching a dog to be polite and well-behaved in "regular life."
Tricks and Dog Sports: What's all the hype about specialty group class?
In addition to improving the bond between dog and handler, tricks and sport training provide excellent mental enrichment and physical exercise for dogs. We make it fun for the people, too!
Current Group Classes
Teamwork on the Town
Teamwork on the Town is our flagship group class. If you and your dog mostly encounter distractions outdoors, why not focus your training on outdoors?
This is a mixed-level drop-in class that meets at various locations around the city.
Current schedule: Thursday evenings & Saturday mornings
Intro to Dog Dance
Doggy dance is a unique training experience that allows for play and silliness, all while building relationship, engagement, and trick skills. In this class, we will explore common canine freestyle dance moves – meaning the human and dog both have choreography. Yes, we take song requests!
This is a multi-level class with no previous trick experience required. Harder choreography will be provided for more advanced students.
Location: Hosted by Light Paws (Logan Square)
$120 for 3 Weeks
Tuesdays @ 7:30pm
7/7 - 7/21 & 7/28 - 8/11
Online Course:
Create Your (First?)
Freestyle Routine
You and your dog know a handful of tricks (or maybe several buckets full), and you are ready for a challenge. Maybe your dog has been frustrated by longer routines, or maybe you can’t stop hunching over like Gollum when you try to dance. Or maybe, you just want guidance and the push to express your creativity with your four-legged best friend, and to be supported by others on the same journey.
Once you can dance your way through your skills, connecting with your dog for “normal” training feels different. You have an increased understanding of your body language cues. You know how to play together, and you know how to have a dialogue with your dog.
The goal of this program is that you and your dog have written and can perform a 2-6 minute routine by the end of 6 weeks. This routine can have heavy human choreography such as what you see in freestyle dance, or you can have a more “circus style” routine with less dancing for the human. We will explore different themes and mood, discuss song choices, and workshop tricks together. We will also workshop fading lures, isolating verbal cues, using props, using rewards in a routine smoothly, fading off of rewards, general concepts of chaining and duration, and general “good training” practices. Your instructor Cori and their dog Cupid will also be writing a new dog dance routine along with you as you go through the program.
Training Club Membership
You’re a dedicated dog owner who values training and enrichment for your pup, but you still also need flexibility for those occasional “human-only” activities in your life. With this membership, you will have access to a list of all drop-in classes. That means you can mix and match, take a break or double up on class. Follow your heart! Follow your paws!
The culture of Venus and Mars K9 Training Club will focus on collaboration and socialization for humans and dogs alike. Class curriculum will emphasize variety as well as mental and physical fulfillment.
Past & Future Group Classes
AKC Rally-Obedience
AKC Rally is the perfect sport for newbies and seasoned competitors alike. Challenge your dog's skills by navigating a course of obedience-related signs: heeling, positions, tricks and more!
Additionally, this class will include the opportunity to work on distractions and settling with fellow classmates.
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Rally will return to Logan Square Fall/Winter of 2026!
Tricks for Pics
You know when you take out your phone to snap a picture and your dog looks away like an emo teenager from 2009? This class will fix that! We'll work on poses that make your dog look like a super model while also focusing on distractions such as posing with another dog.
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Future Dates TBD
Fitness and Distractions
In this class, we will have our dogs practice body awareness and strength training exercises as well as training drills for impulse control and ignoring distractions such as people, dogs, and other temptations. Dogs of all skill-levels, as long as they are under control in a group setting, are welcome.
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Future Dates TBD
Practical Tricks
Learn tricks that are helpful for real life such as "put your collar on," "switch sides" (from left side heel to right side heel), "tuck up" (dog goes under legs when human is seated), "find my keys," and more.
In addition to this, dog distraction will be apart of every class.
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Future Dates TBD
Intro to Dog Sports
This class will sample exercises from a wide array of dog sports such as agility, nosework/scentwork, AKC Fetch, Rally, AKC Obedience, Schutzhund/IGP, ringsport, and PSA. Exercises will be performed as a group and thus students must be relatively under control around action.
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Future Dates TBD
