Learn to Handle Your Own Dog — in One Saturday

A five-hour workshop taught straight from the book Building A Solid Canine — by the trainer who wrote it. Real dogs, live evaluations, and a room full of owners learning to do the work themselves.

20+ Years · Author of Building A Solid Canine · Every Dog Is Evaluated First

Claim My Seat — $50 Call Now — the Call Is Free

Great Dogs Are Born, Then Built.

The barking. The pulling. The dog you can't quite trust.

You love this dog. You're also tired — of the walks you don't take, the guests you warn at the door, the feeling that your own dog doesn't listen to you. You've probably looked at board and train: send the dog away for $2,000 to $4,000 and get a trained dog back.

Here's what those programs don't say: the dog comes home to the same handler. Nothing changed in the house the dog lives in — so the training wears off, and the money is gone.

We do the opposite. We train you. Twenty years of professional training, written into one system, taught in one Saturday — so the results live in your hands and last.

One system. One route for your dog.

Every dog that comes through Ridley K9 Academy gets a written route through the book — we call it the Map. It always runs in the same order, because that order is why it works:

1 · Foundation

What every dog and every owner learns first — how your dog actually learns, and the handling skills everything else stands on.

2 · Control

The specific commands your dog's fix depends on. This is the part that's different for every dog.

3 · The Fix

The problem you called about — solved on top of the foundation and control that make the fix hold.

Whatever brought you here, it has a chapter.

The book has a route for the reason you're reading this page:

Drags you down the streetJumps on everyoneWon't come when called Just doesn't listenAggressive to dogs or peopleYour dogs fight each other Has bitten, snaps, or nipsBarks at everythingPanics when you leave Bolts through open doorsStill goes in the houseDestroys the house New puppy — start it right

Every dog is evaluated first — all breeds, all histories, welcome with honest disclosure.

What a Saturday looks like

9:30 AM	Check-in opens — Placerville, CA. Your exact location arrives with your registration confirmation.
10:00 AM	The lecture: Garrett teaches the foundation of the system with demonstration dogs — the same material in the book, live.
12:00 PM	Q&A — ask about your own dog. Every question gets a straight answer.
12:30 PM	Lunch break
1:00 PM	Live evaluations: Garrett reads the working-spot dogs one at a time, in front of the room, until every dog is read. Watching a real evaluation is the fastest way to understand your own dog.

An owner writing answers in the printed workshop workbook — The printed workbook — follow along, write it down, take it home.

Rows of owners listening and taking notes at the workshop — A room full of owners learning the foundation.

An owner working his own dog on leash while Garrett coaches behind him — Real dogs, worked live — not a demonstration reel.

A bulldog holding place on a raised bed, front and center at the workshop — Place, taught and held, in a busy room.

Start now — pick your door

General Admission

$50

The full workshop day, no dog, no commitment. Watch Garrett teach the foundation live and see real dogs evaluated up close — the right first step if you want to see who we are before you start. Want the printed workbook to follow along and take home? Add it for $50 at check-in. See how we work before anything else — then decide if an evaluation is your dog's next step.

Claim My Seat — $50

Takes two minutes. Bring your questions Saturday.

Ready to start your dog's training?

Call us first — the call is free.

A free phone consultation is how every dog starts here. Tell us what's going on, and we'll tell you honestly which fits: a working evaluation spot at the Saturday workshop, where Garrett reads your dog live — or an in-home evaluation at your house. Both include the printed workbook and the full book, Building A Solid Canine — because that's the day your dog's written route through it begins. Every dog is evaluated first, bite histories welcome with honest disclosure.

Call Now — (530) 363-8480

Two minutes on the phone tells you exactly where to start. No pressure — and no is a fine answer.

Fifteen working spots per date — no more, so every dog gets read properly. Registration closes the Wednesday before at 9 PM. Upcoming dates: September 19 and October 3. Reserve before the close.

From owners who did the work

A dog in full focus on its handler at the workshop

“Great day with a lot of very valuable information Garrett and Nicole. … Again great job with all the dogs.”

David & Cindy D. — Google review, five stars, August 2026

One of 36 Google reviews. 4.8 stars across twenty years.