Your dog goes in the house
House training
Dogs are clean animals by nature. Going in the house isn't your dog being dirty — it's a routine and supervision problem before it's anything else.
Maybe it never fully stopped after the puppy stage. Maybe it came back after a move, or a new dog, or a stretch of long workdays. Now there are spots you've cleaned three times, a room you keep the door shut on, and you're finding it after the fact with no idea when it happened.
What are you searching for? You don't have to read the rest to get started.
Get StartedTaught by Garrett Ridley — twenty years of dogs, and he wrote the book the training runs on.
Why is your dog going in the house?
There are five roots, and yours is usually one or two of them.
Instinct is the first — social, civil, and defense drives push a dog to mark territory and possessions, and that's marking, not a potty problem.
Breeding is the second. A puppy raised in a dirty whelping box never learned to keep its own space clean, and that habit travels.
Opportunity is the third, and it's the most common one nobody counts. A dog left unattended in the house will eventually go in it.
Poor potty training is the fourth, and it's the biggest single cause. A routine that was never fully installed, or one that got dropped once the puppy seemed to get it.
Punishment is the fifth, and this is the one that surprises people. A dog that's been scolded, rubbed in it, or yelled at doesn't stop going — it stops going in front of you. Now you're finding it behind the couch and in the spare room, and you've lost the one signal you needed.
That's why we don't punish this one. The whole goal is a dog that feels safe telling you it needs out.
How we fix the house training
We install the routine, we take away the opportunity, and we build your dog's trust back so it will ask.
First your dog's temperament is evaluated — drives, disposition, engagement — and we work out which of the five roots you're actually dealing with. Marking and a missing routine are two different problems with two different plans.
Then your dog gets a map: the foundation first, then place and focus, so your dog has somewhere to be and something to do inside the house. Chapter 37 comes after that, and it's a routine — crate, leash, the same spot, a set interval, marked and rewarded the moment it happens right. Your dog is supervised or confined, never loose and unwatched, until it's earned back.
When an accident happens, nothing happens. Crate the dog, clean it thoroughly so the scent doesn't invite a repeat, and go back to the routine.
This one is on the handler more than any other door. The routine is simple, but it only works if you run it every day until it holds.
The finished picture is a dog that asks to go out, a house with no spots, and freedom given back as your dog earns it.
20+ years · author of Building A Solid Canine · every dog is evaluated first
Three ways to start.
And the first one is just watching. No pressure, no dog to bring.
General Admission
$50
The lecture, no dog.
Come learn the system. Stay after lunch and watch the evaluations, or head home. Garrett teaches the Foundation — what drives your dog and how training is actually built — then reads dogs live in front of the room. No dog of your own to handle, nothing to manage, just the day and a notepad.
Placerville, CA. The workbook is optional — $50 at the table if you want one.
Working Evaluation
$200
The full Saturday, and your dog is evaluated live by Garrett.
Everything in the lecture, and then you work your dog in a small group with Garrett coaching — what drives him, what kind of dog he is, and your first handling skills with your own hands on the leash. You leave with your dog's training map in writing.
Comes with it:
- The printed workbook
- The full digital book
- Your dog's report and week-one homework on your free owner account
Every dog is evaluated first. All dogs welcome with accurate disclosure, including dogs with a bite history. One adult handler and one dog per spot. Placerville, CA.
In-Home Session
$400
Two hours at your house, built around your dog.
Garrett comes to you, evaluates your dog where the problem actually lives, builds the training map, and teaches you the work with you holding the leash. Everything in the Working Evaluation comes with it.
We book in-home by phone so we can ask about your dog first.
Tuesdays and Thursdays, within fifty miles of Placerville.
Evaluation seats close the Wednesday before at 9 PM. Open General Admission seats, up until Friday at 9 PM. Twenty evaluation spots per date. All sales are final.