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What comes home with Puppy Head Start

Homework that shows your own dog.

Your trainer films your puppy during her Head Start day. The clips land in your private portal that day, inside the exact exercise to practice at home.

See Head Start schedules

Puppy Head Start at 2121 Taraval St, 8 am to 4 pm, Monday through Friday. The clips are included.

A Top Dog SF trainer kneeling on the training floor, playing tug with a brown doodle puppy during a class

What comes home from Head Start.

Open any exercise in your puppy’s homework and her own clip from the day sits above the trainer’s demo. Watch what she did, then practice the same step.

Under every clip there is a note thread, both ways. Ask about what you saw, and your trainer answers in the same place. Each side gets an email. The portal is your family’s page on Top Dog SF Academy, our online school; your Head Start enrollment creates it.

The exercise page on the family’s side, shown for a placeholder puppy named Luna.

One Head Start day, start to finish.

  1. A training day, with a camera

    Your puppy spends 8 am to 4 pm with us, and your trainer films her sessions: sit, down, recall, leave it, the place bed.

  2. The clips arrive that day

    Each clip is named and linked to the exercise it shows, waiting in your private portal before the day is over.

  3. One email that evening

    A single email lists the day's new clips, so there is nothing to hunt for.

  4. Watch, then practice

    Open the exercise and your puppy's clip sits above the trainer's demo. Watch what she did, then practice the same step.

  5. Tap, send, ask

    Tap Practiced today when you finish, send back a clip of your own, or ask a question under any clip. The answer comes back in the same thread.

Only your family and your trainer see your dog’s clips.

Clips sit in private storage and open through links that expire. Nothing is public, nothing is shared with other families, and every clip is yours to download.

clips land in your portal, linked to the exercise
Same day
clips land in your portal, linked to the exercise
clips stay after the last one is added, downloadable as MP4
60 days
clips stay after the last one is added, downloadable as MP4
can share one dog's page, each with their own login
2 parents
can share one dog's page, each with their own login
A puppy class in session at Top Dog SF: a trainer kneeling with two small doodle puppies while two team members watch

Why a clip of your own dog beats a demo.

  1. Dogs do not carry a skill from one room to another on their own.

    A sit learned on the training floor has to be rebuilt in your hallway, and home practice is where that happens.

  2. You were not in the room. Now you can see it.

    Treat timing, hand position and where the trainer stands are hard to describe at pickup. A clip shows you all three.

  3. A demo shows what is possible. A clip of your dog shows what is possible for your dog.

    You see her finish the step, in the room where she learned it, with a setup you can copy.

  4. A clip makes a better question than a description.

    Send your own practice clip and your trainer sees what actually happened, instead of guessing from “she sort of ignores me.”

We have not found another puppy program that sends this home.

Mike Rollins, CPDT-KSA, trainer at Top Dog SF

The trainer behind the camera.

Mike Rollins, CPDT-KSA, films Puppy Head Start at 2121 Taraval St and teaches every demo in your homework. So the person filming your puppy is the person whose demo she practices next to.

  1. Puppy Head Start

    All-day puppy preschool, 2 to 6 months. Crate, recall, sit, down, leave it and the place bed.

    4 weeks

The clips, the homework videos and the notes come with Puppy Head Start. Nothing extra to buy.

Common questions

Who can see my dog's clips?
Only your family and the Top Dog SF trainers. Clips sit in private storage and open through links that expire. Two parents can share one dog's page, each with their own login. If a clip shows two dogs together, both families get a copy.
What if we miss a day of practice?
Nothing breaks. Practiced today is one tap, and each exercise shows how many days you have practiced, not how many you skipped. Your trainer sees those days too. Pick up where you left off; the clips will still be there.
What happens when Head Start ends?
Clips stay for 60 days after the most recent one is added, and you can download every one as an MP4. When your program wraps up you get an email with 10 days to download everything, a graduation card for your dog, and your Academy account stays open.
What does it cost?
Nothing on top of Puppy Head Start. The homework videos, your dog's clips, the notes and the evening email are all included when you enroll.
Do Preschool 101 and Kindergarten 201 come with clips?
No. The daily clips come with Puppy Head Start only. In Preschool 101 and Kindergarten 201 you are on the floor with your puppy, working each exercise yourself.
Where do the clips live?
In your family's private portal on Top Dog SF Academy, our online school. Your Head Start enrollment creates the account; there is nothing to install and nothing to buy.

A Head Start that follows your puppy home.

Puppy Head Start runs at 2121 Taraval St, San Francisco. The homework, your dog's clips and the notes are included.

See Head Start schedulesOr call (628) 285-3700
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