Silver Foundation, one week
1-week board and train in Houston: what the $1,500 Silver week covers
One week is short, and we say so on the phone before anyone books it. Used for the right dog, it is also the fastest route to a walk you can enjoy and a front door that stays closed until you say otherwise. This page lays out what seven days in Cypress can and cannot do.
Last reviewed September 11, 2026 · by the Best Dog University Team
Who the Silver week fits
The one-week program is for a dog who needs a foundation, not a rebuild.
The refresher dog. A dog who once walked well and drifted, or who learned the basics with a previous trainer and lost them over a busy year, gets the most out of seven days. The skills are already in there. Our trainers tighten the leash work, reset the rules at the door and hand you back a dog who remembers what he knew.
The first-timer with no baggage. A friendly, food-motivated young adult who is simply untrained can leave the Silver week walking on a loose line and waiting at the threshold. What he will not leave with is a finished place command, a down/stay or real impulse control work; those begin in the two-week Gold.
The dog we will talk you out of it for. If your dog lunges at other dogs on a Bridgeland sidewalk, guards the couch or has put teeth on anyone, a week is not enough time to change that safely. Our team says so on the free consultation and points you to the three-week Platinum, because a short program that fails costs more than a longer one that works.
- Best for: refreshers, mild pulling, door dashing, a new adult dog with no history
- Not for: reactivity, aggression, separation anxiety or resource guarding
- Puppies under four months belong in the Puppy Development Bundle instead
- Owners who want an off-leash dog should read about the six-week VIP
Seven days, in order
A Silver week runs the same structure every day, and that repetition is the point.
Drop-off happens at the training home in Cypress, just off US-290, or our team collects your dog at your door for $250. Bring his regular food; a diet change in week one is a distraction nobody needs. The first afternoon is quiet on purpose: crate, a short walk, a meal earned with a sit, and a look at how he handles a new house.
The training week is leash work in the morning and evening with structure in between. A single week has no room for wasted days, so every session targets the three skills the program promises. By the weekend your dog is walking the residential streets around the house with slack in the line and holding still while the front door swings open.
Day 1: arrival, crate introduction, the first structured walk and a baseline video so you can see where he started.
Day 2: leash pressure and release on the driveway and the quiet street outside; the door boundary begins at the front door.
Day 3: the walk moves to sidewalks with neighborhood dogs behind fences; the boundary adds the garage and the back gate.
Day 4: duration. Longer walks past distractions, longer waits at open doors, and a short calm period on a bed while the house moves around him.
Day 5: the Friday update shows a full walk from start to finish; a Silver dog works the property and surrounding streets rather than stores.
Day 6: proofing. Everything from the week is repeated with a second handler on the leash so the skill belongs to the dog, not to one person.
Day 7: the go-home session. You take the leash at the training home, walk the same route, work the same door, and leave with a written plan for the first two weeks.
Price and inclusions
The Silver week is $1,500, and the table shows exactly where it stops.
Silver is the entry point of our board and train lineup and is priced that way. For $1,500 your dog lives in the house for seven days, trains personally with our team and comes home through a go-home session. Photos and video reach your phone on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the same rhythm as every longer program. What Silver does not include is the extra lesson and lifelong support that start with Gold.
The $250 reservation deposit. Once our team confirms the week fits your dog, a $250 deposit through the Reserve Your Spot link holds your start date and is applied toward the $1,500 total. The home takes only a limited number of dogs, so a date is not held until the deposit is in, and one-week slots tend to go to whoever reserves first.
- $1,500 for the week, all training included
- $250 door-to-door transport is optional and includes the first lesson at your house
- $250 reservation deposit, applied to the total
- No add-on charges for food, walks or updates
| Included | Silver, 1 week, $1,500 | Gold, 2 weeks, $2,500 |
|---|---|---|
| Loose leash walking | Yes | Yes |
| Door boundaries | Yes | Yes |
| Basic structure | Yes | Yes |
| Sit/stay and place/stay | No | Yes |
| Jumping, pulling and impulse control | No | Yes |
| Go-home session | Yes | Yes |
| Additional lesson and lifelong support | No | Yes |
Houston specifics
A one-week dog trains on Cypress streets, in Houston weather, on Houston's clock.
From May to September the walks happen before 8am and after 7pm, because that is when the pavement passes the hand test. A Silver dog whose entire program is leash work cannot afford to lose sessions to hot concrete, so summer weeks move midday structure indoors and push the leash work to the cool ends of the day. The National Weather Service Houston forecast is worth checking before you plan your own first walks back home.
Drive time matters more on a short program. Central Houston families are looking at roughly 30 to 45 minutes to Cypress outside rush hour, Katy and Tomball 25 to 35, The Woodlands or Spring 35 to 45. Many one-week families choose the $250 pickup so both drop-off and the go-home session happen at their own door, with the first lesson built into the return trip.
- Summer walks before 8am and after 7pm, the middle of the day indoors
- Practice streets: the neighborhoods off Fry Road and the paths around Towne Lake
- Fire ant mounds on the esplanade are part of the door-to-sidewalk lesson
- Hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30; storm plans are discussed at booking
The programs
Silver, or the two lengths above it.
If the consultation shows your dog needs more than a foundation, these are the programs our team will weigh it against.
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about this.
Is a one-week board and train enough to fix leash pulling?
For mild pulling on a dog with no reactivity, usually yes. Seven days of twice-daily leash work with a consistent handler produces a loose leash on familiar streets, and the go-home session teaches you how to keep it. Pulling driven by other dogs, bikes or squirrels needs the two-week Gold or the three-week Platinum, where the trigger itself gets trained.
What does the Silver Foundation Program cost in Houston?
$1,500 for the week, covering all training, the go-home session and the Monday, Wednesday and Friday updates. Door-to-door transportation is an optional $250 and includes the first lesson at your home. A $250 reservation deposit holds the date and counts toward the program total.
Can I extend from Silver to Gold once my dog is already there?
Sometimes. Because the home takes a limited number of dogs at once, an extension depends on whether the following week is open. If our team sees in the first days that your dog needs more time, they call you and lay out the options honestly rather than sending home a half-finished dog.
Will my dog forget the training after only a week?
Not if you practice. A Silver graduate has learned a skill, not memorized a routine, and the written plan from the go-home session gives you two weeks of short daily reps that turn it into habit. Dogs slide back when the rules at home differ from the rules in Cypress, which is why the handover matters as much as the stay.
Does the one-week program include field trips?
No. Silver dogs work at the training home and on the residential streets around it, which supplies plenty of real doors, real sidewalks and neighborhood dogs behind fences. Public field trips to stores, parks and the lake belong to the three-week Platinum and the six-week VIP, where there is time to make public calm stick.
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Tell our team about your dog, and we will say whether a week is enough.
The free phone consultation comes first: a direct call with our trainers, no charge, no pressure. If the Silver week fits, a $250 reservation deposit holds your start date and is applied toward the $1,500.