Board and train · The handover
What happens at the go-home session?
Families picture the go-home session as a reunion. It is a lesson with a reunion at the start, and it is the hour that decides whether the stay lasts. Here is what happens in it, in order.
Last reviewed September 11, 2026 · by the Best Dog University Team
The short version
It is your first lesson, not a graduation ceremony.
A dog trained by someone else listens to that person. The go-home session exists to make him listen to you, which means you do the handling from the first ten minutes. The trainer demonstrates each skill once, then steps back. You call the dog to place, you walk him past the neighbor's fence, you open the front door and ask for a wait. When it does not work, the trainer tells you why, usually a leash held too tight or a word said twice, and you try again until it does.
It takes a while, and it should. Expect the better part of an hour, longer for a Platinum dog with a comprehensive handover, and bring everyone who will handle the dog at home, including older kids. A rule that only one person can enforce is not a rule the dog will keep.
- You handle the dog for most of the session, not the trainer
- Every adult and older child who will give commands attends
- Skills are shown once, then done by you until they work
- You leave with the equipment he trained on and the rules for using it
In order
The session runs the same way every time, from the living room to the sidewalk.
The order below is the one our trainers use. It starts inside, where the dog is calm, and works outward to the door and the sidewalk, because a dog who cannot hold a place in the living room will not hold a heel past a jogger. The last step is the one families skip, and it is the one that matters most.
Greeting on the trainer's terms: the dog stays on place or in a sit while you arrive, then is released to say hello.
Demonstration: the trainer runs sit, down, place, recall and the walk once so you see the standard.
Your turn indoors: you send to place, add duration, release, and practice the marker and the release word.
Doors and thresholds: you open the front door and the car door and ask for a wait, then release.
The walk: you take the leash on the sidewalk outside, at the position and with the tool he graduated on.
Greetings and guests: the trainer plays visitor while you hold the dog on place.
The plan: the two-week schedule for home, the follow-up lesson date, and what to text about.
For your dog
The content shifts with the dog: manners for most, management for the hard cases.
A young dog from a Gold stay spends the session on the manners list: place while you eat, a wait at the door, a loose leash to the mailbox, no jumping on the trainer playing guest. An adult from Platinum adds the structured heel, down with duration and the specific triggers that brought him to us, worked at a distance you can manage. Puppies do not do a go-home session because they do not do a stay; the bundle's fourth lesson serves the same purpose.
For a reactive or aggressive dog, the handover is longer and more careful. You learn the management first: where the dog is when guests arrive, how the muzzle goes on if he wears one, what distance from another dog is workable today. Then the training. Platinum includes unlimited private lessons after this session, and for these dogs the first one is booked before you leave.
Houston reality
Drop-off families do it in Cypress; transport and VIP families do it in their own hallway.
At the training home the sidewalk outside the house is the walking test and the front door is the threshold test. Families from Katy and Tomball are about 25 to 35 minutes away, Spring about 20 to 30, and the Heights about 30 to 45, so plan an unhurried morning. In summer the session's outdoor part happens early or in the evening, and the pavement is checked before the walk, the same rule you will use at home.
With the $250 transport service, and for every VIP graduate, the session happens in your house, which has a real advantage: the door your dog bolts through, the couch he claims and the window he barks at are the ones you practice on. Transport also includes the first lesson in your home, so the handover and the first follow-up are both on your floor plan.
- Cypress sidewalk and front door for drop-off families
- Your own hallway and front door with transport or VIP
- Outdoor work in the cool hours from May to September
The programs
What follows the session depends on the program.
Gold, $2,500 for two weeks, ends with the go-home session, one additional lesson and lifelong support. Platinum, $3,750 for three weeks, ends with a comprehensive handover, unlimited private lessons and lifetime support. VIP, $10,000 for six weeks, includes transport, an in-home handover and unlimited in-home lessons directly with our team. Every program's session ends the same way: the leash is in your hand and our team's number is in your phone.
The programs
Every program ends with a go-home session.
Gold, Platinum and VIP each finish with a handover, then one lesson, unlimited lessons, or unlimited in-home lessons.
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about this.
How long does the go-home session take?
Plan for about an hour, and longer for a Platinum comprehensive handover or a dog with reactivity to work through. It is not something to rush before a school pickup. The session ends when you can run the skills yourself, not when the clock says so, and the follow-up lessons pick up anything that did not settle on the day.
Who should come to the go-home session?
Everyone who will give the dog commands: both adults, teenagers, an older child who walks him. Small children can come to practice calm greetings under supervision. The dog needs the same words and the same rules from every person in the house, and the only way that happens is if every person learns them from the trainer.
What do I take home from the session?
The commands and the words for them, the house rules for doors, meals and greetings, the tool your dog trained on and the instructions for it, a two-week schedule for home, and the date of your first follow-up lesson. Platinum families also leave with unlimited lessons to book and lifetime support by phone.
Can the go-home session be at my house if I dropped off?
The session is in Cypress for drop-off families and at home for transport and VIP families. If you dropped off and would rather have the handover at home, ask our team; the $250 transport service covers the return trip and the first lesson in your home, and that is often the simplest way to arrange it.
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Book the stay, and the session comes with it.
Every program ends with a go-home session. Call for the free phone consultation, and a $250 deposit reserves the dates.