Private Dog Training: Chicago In-Home Lessons, Behavior Consultations, and Online Lessons
Learn to understand your dog’s behavior and better communicate with them.
You’ll receive one-on-one coaching on exercises and techniques that reinforce desired behavior and stop unwanted behavior. All private training sessions include follow-up notes with homework, so you're not lost when our session ends.
What Training, Obedience, and Behavior Problems Can We Work On?
Challenging behavior issues
Leash reactivity, fear, aggression, separation anxiety, resource guarding
Manners and basic obedience
Polite greetings, loose leash walking, focus, coming when called, drop it/leave it, go to place, settle, and more
Advanced life skills
Off leash reliability, impulse control during prey drive, and other high level distraction training
Puppy training
Socialization, exposure, confidence building, housebreaking, crate training
Cooperative care
Husbandry procedures such as nail trims, brushing, eye drops, and preparation for vet visits, professional grooming
Extracurricular
Tricks, freestyle, body awareness, agility, canine fitness, nosework, competition obedience, cooperative toy play
In-Home Private Lesson & Behavior Consultation Details
Single Lesson Prices
1 hour lesson $150
90 minute lesson $190
Semi-private pricing: There is no additional fee for splitting your training time amongst multiple people/dogs.
Packages
4 lessons $560
8 lessons $1,040
Packages expire 2 months after purchase.
Travel Area
In-home private lessons are available within five miles of the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago. Lessons further than five miles are available on a limited basis for an additional travel fee.
In no particular order, the following neighborhoods are generally within five miles of Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago: Logan Square, Avondale, Albany Park, Wicker Park, Bucktown, Lakeview, Roscoe Village, North Center, West Town, Ukrainian Village, Garfield Park, Lawndale, West Town, West Loop, Fulton Market, Near North, Gold Coast, Streeterville, South Loop, Lincoln Park, Lincoln Square, North Park, Hermosa, Belmont Cragin, Irving Park, Portage Park, Bridgeport, Pilsen, Austin, Oak Park, River Forest, Forest Park.
Virtual Private Lesson & Behavior Consultation Details
Perfect for long distance, bad weather, or dogs with severe stranger danger.
Virtual Lesson Prices
30 min check in $65
1 hour lesson $130
90 minute lesson $150
Sliding scale pricing: If you are struggling financially but need behavioral help with your dog, sliding scale pricing is available for virtual training. Take 20-80% off of the full price of service based on your need. Just say that you want to pay a sliding scale price, no proof of income required.
How do you address challenging training problems and behavior issues?
Working with the Humans
Years of experience and continued education allows Cori to approach with empathy, analyze situations, and formulate a game-plan relatively quickly – all while continuing to assess and problem-solve as the solutions are implemented. Training plans are customized not just to the dog and their personality, but also to the human handler and their needs. After all, at the end of the day, you are the one who lives with this dog and must continue the training! Therefore, the owner and trainer must see eye-to-eye.
Emotional Components and Natural Instincts
Venus and Mars K9's training emphasizes working in cooperation with the dog, as opposed to working "against" all of their instincts and natural emotions.
Baby Steps That Can Move Quickly
The biggest key to successfully overcome challenging behavior and training issues is to break up the training plan into manageable baby steps. At the same time, we must always push ourselves to get to the next step in a timely manner in order to not plateau or get "stuck" in our training progress. Whether we are working together to get your dog competition-ready or solve a serious aggression issue – step by step, we win the race!
FAQ: About Private Lessons and Behavior Consulting
Do you work with all breeds, including rescues?
Yes! From doodles to rescue pitbulls to purebred German Shepherds, and everything in between. We work with all breeds of dog.
Do you work with dogs who have anxiety, trauma, fear, etc.?
Yes, we love helping anxious and fearful dogs build their confidence and learn to trust.
Do you require all dogs to use a certain tool in training – for example, every dog wears a harness, or every dog wears a prong collar?
No, every training plan is customized to the individual dog and owner. You can read my article about the woes of “cookie cutter dog training” here.
Do you require owners to sign up for packages or programs, or do you offer individual behavior consultations/obedience lessons?
You will never be pressured to sign up for a package or program here. While it is often true that a more frequent training schedule would be more efficient for your dog's success, we proudly work with people's budgets and find solutions for scheduling individual/"a la carte" sessions.
Do you work with leash reactivity?
Yes – in fact, this is the most popular goal of private lessons. And most of my group class regular attendees are “recovered” or “recovering” reactivity cases.
Do you work with dogs who are aggressive?
Yes. For dogs who are potentially aggressive towards humans, we will discuss safety measures on the phone before meeting in person.
Have you worked with clients who have physical disabilities?
Yes, I am experienced with keeping an open dialogue with my clients about any accommodations, adjustments, breaks etc. needed during our sessions and for homework assignments.
Have you worked with clients who are neurodivergent, dealing with trauma, anxious, etc.?
While I am not a therapist and our dog training sessions should never be a substitute for therapy, I consider myself particularly well-versed in coaching clients who need space to process difficult feelings during our sessions. We have an emotional connection with our dogs, and so training can bring up a lot of emotions. Furthermore, everyone has a different learning style, and I will always do my best to match my instruction to the kind of communication and coaching best suited to my individual students.
Do you have any sliding scale options?
I accept sliding scale (pay what you can) for virtual private lessons as well as my outdoor group class Teamwork on the Town.
Gotham City Dawg Sports is an affiliated Chicago community training club that also accepts sliding scale payment.
Do you have any free training resources?
Yes, click here.
Private Dog Training Testimonials
Cori is an amazing dog trainer, so knowledgeable, sweet and calm. Which is exactly what my puppy Zuko AND I needed. They helped me take my terrified rescue puppy, who would have borderline nervous breakdowns when on leash, who would lunge at dogs out of fear, who had no ability to regulate his emotions and would spiral into a hot anxious mess (and I had no idea how to correct or fix the behavior) to a very confident dog who I feel confident taking almost anywhere. His listening, anxiety and obedience have improved greatly. He listens to commands on and off leash. Stays in a heel, recalls consistently, will sit/down on command and stay in those commands. Doesn’t tug on the leash anymore. All of this in about 6 months, when I thought I was doomed to put my dog on anti-anxiety meds to help.
They helped me as a dog dad realize what mistakes I was making and gave me the tools to put myself and my dog in a position to succeed. Also, helped me realize not everything will be perfect, and it takes practice and commitment to help improve my dog’s behavior. There’s always room for my dog and me to work on things and that’s why I keep working with Cori to improve with my dog and my ability to care for him. Cori has been such a critical part in helping me with my dogs anxiety issues and improve his behavior.
I feel very lucky to have been introduced to Cori by another trainer. They are a supportive and effective dog trainer who gives practical advice at the level you and your dog are at. I have been fortunate to experience both in-person and online training — we have been having so much fun with online tricks training. We went on to take their virtual rally obedience course as well. I honestly wasn't sure how virtual dog training would work, but it has been awesome. If you are looking for a compassionate and effective resource for your own dog, I wholeheartedly recommend Cori.