Board and train, Midtown
Board and train in Midtown: for apartment and high-rise households
Midtown is apartments and high-rises, rooftop dog runs, elevators, scooters and crowds on Bagby Street, and a lot of young professionals with a first dog. Its dogs need a calm elevator, a loose leash through a crowd and a settle in a small apartment, and the stay is built around those three.
Last reviewed September 29, 2026 · by the Best Dog University Team
- Drive to the training home
- About 40 minutes to the training home in Cypress outside rush hour, by I-45 to 290.
- Pickup and delivery
- $250 door-to-door pickup and return with the first lesson in your building; a common choice in Midtown and included in VIP.
- The go-home session
- At the training home in Cypress for drop-off families; in your apartment, elevator and on Bagby Street for transport families and every VIP graduate.
- Where we train near you
- Midtown Park · Buffalo Bayou Park · Discovery Green downtown, with its dog runs · the Bagby Street sidewalks
- Homes and yards
- Apartments and high-rises with rooftop dog runs and elevators, scooters and crowds on the sidewalks, and young professionals with a first dog.
The stay, from Midtown
Meet us in the lobby, or drive out I-45 and 290: a Midtown stay starts either way.
Midtown to the training home is about 40 minutes by I-45 and 290 outside rush hour, and drop-off with the food, medications and records is an easy Saturday errand. The other start is the $250 transport: our trainer meets you in the lobby, runs the first lesson in the elevator and on the Bagby Street sidewalk, and drives the dog to Cypress, where the first day is a quiet settle into a house with a limited number of dogs and a yard the dog has probably never had.
From day two the work is daily in the home and on the sidewalks, stores and lake around it, and you follow it on Monday, Wednesday and Friday in photos and video. The go-home session is at the training home if you dropped off, and in your building if you added transport or booked VIP, where the apartment door, the elevator, the rooftop run and the scooter lane are the classroom our trainer uses.
Free consultation, then the $250 deposit
Drop-off in Cypress, or pickup in your lobby for $250
Day one: a quiet settle into the house
Daily training in the home and on the Cypress sidewalks
Store aisles and busier streets as the dog earns them
Photos and video Monday, Wednesday and Friday
Go-home session at the training home or in your building
What a Midtown dog practices
The elevator, the rooftop run and a loose leash through a Saturday crowd.
A Midtown dog meets more strangers before breakfast than a suburban dog meets in a week: the elevator, the lobby, the sidewalk, the scooter that appears from nowhere. The stay teaches a wait at every door, a structured walk that holds through a crowd, neutrality to wheels and dogs passing close, and a settle on place that works in a one-bedroom. The rooftop dog run gets its own rule: the dog goes up to relieve itself and comes back, not to rehearse chaos with the neighbors' dogs.
For the go-home session and the lessons after it, Midtown has the classrooms: the Bagby Street sidewalks for crowds, Midtown Park for a settle with people around, Buffalo Bayou Park for runners and cyclists, and Discovery Green downtown, whose dog runs we use for neutrality at the fence. All have leash rules; check Houston Parks and Recreation and the Buffalo Bayou Partnership for the current rules before you practice there.
- A wait at the apartment door and the elevator
- A loose leash through the Bagby Street crowd
- Neutrality to scooters, bikes and passing dogs
- A settle on place in a one-bedroom apartment
Which program Midtown families choose
Gold for the first dog that pulls, Platinum when the elevator is the problem.
Gold at $2,500 fits the young professional's first dog, friendly and untrained: two weeks of sit and stay, place, the loose leash, door boundaries, jumping and impulse control, with a go-home session, one added lesson and lifelong support. Platinum at $3,750 is the right call when the dog lunges in the elevator, barks through the apartment wall when left, or freezes at the scooters; three weeks of behavior modification, public field trips and unlimited private lessons afterwards is what those take.
VIP at $10,000 gives six weeks, off-leash reliability, the Mini-Educator included, transport and the handover in your building with unlimited in-home lessons afterwards; it is the least common choice in Midtown, but the household that travels with the dog and wants it finished books it. Silver at $1,500 is a refresher for a graduate.
- Gold for the friendly first dog
- Platinum for elevator lunging, wall barking and scooter fear
- VIP for the finished, travel-everywhere dog
Prices and the deposit
Published prices, a $250 deposit, and a transport built for a lobby.
Two weeks of Gold cost $2,500, three weeks of Platinum $3,750 and six weeks of VIP $10,000. The $250 deposit that reserves your dates is applied to the program price. Transport is $250 for pickup and return with the first lesson at your home, included in VIP, and from Midtown it is less about the 40 minutes than about where the handover happens: an apartment dog's manners are taught in the elevator and the lobby, and our trainer teaches them there. Drop-off at the training home is welcome from 6am to 9pm daily.
Private lessons afterwards are $160 at the training home or $220 at your building; Platinum and VIP include them without limit, and most Midtown households book the at-home version. Boarding with training refreshers is available to graduates who travel for work. Every price is on the pricing page, and the consultation call is free and takes a few minutes.
| Program | Length | Price | Transport |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | 2 weeks | $2,500 | $250 optional |
| Platinum | 3 weeks | $3,750 | $250 optional |
| VIP | 6 weeks | $10,000 | Included |
Midtown specifics
Concrete rooftops in August, fireworks over downtown and a dog alone in a small apartment.
A rooftop dog run is concrete and fails the pavement test by mid-morning from May to September, so the summer routine is early and late outdoors with the settle indoors at midday, and the stay is scheduled the same way. July 4 and New Year's Eve fireworks over downtown are loud in a high-rise, so place with noise is rehearsed before the dog goes home. A dog alone in a small apartment for a workday needs the crate and place to mean rest, which the stay builds, and the go-home session hands over a routine that fits a nine-to-five and a commute on foot.
- Pavement test on the rooftop run
- Place with noise before fireworks nights
- A crate and place that mean rest through the workday
- A routine that fits a walk-to-work schedule
The programs
Programs Midtown families book.
Gold for the friendly first dog, Platinum for the elevator and the wall barking, VIP for the finished dog, lessons in the building to keep it.
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about this.
How far is Midtown from the training home?
About 40 minutes outside rush hour, out I-45 to 290 and on to Cypress near Fry Road. Drop-off is an easy weekend drive, and the $250 transport is there for households that would rather have the first lesson and the handover in the building.
Can you train a dog for elevators and lobbies from a house in Cypress?
Yes. The wait at thresholds, the neutrality to strangers and the settle are built in the house and on real sidewalks and in stores during the stay, then finished in your building at the go-home session with transport or VIP. The unlimited lessons after Platinum and VIP are where the elevator gets rehearsed with you.
My dog barks through the wall when I leave. Which program?
Platinum at $3,750. Barking when left is anxiety, and it needs the three weeks of behavior modification, the crate work and the unlimited lessons afterwards. Gold covers manners for a dog that is already calm alone; it does not include behavior modification.
Where is the go-home session for Midtown?
In your apartment, the elevator, the lobby and on Bagby Street for transport families and every VIP graduate. At the training home in Cypress for families who drove out for drop-off. Either way you hold the leash with our trainer beside you before the session ends.
Is the rooftop dog run a good place to practice?
For the settle and the wait at the gate, yes; for play with the neighbors' dogs, no, because it undoes the neutrality the stay built. The go-home session covers how to use it, and the parks along the bayou are the better place for a real walk.
Keep reading
Free consultation · 10% off this fall
Midtown families start with a call.
Tell our team what happens in the elevator and on the sidewalk. The free phone consultation is a direct call with no obligation, and the $250 reservation deposit holds your dates.