Stepping Stone Animal Training

03/31/2023

NOTICE: Our facility is permanently closed. For all of your pet needs please refer to Pawsitive Pets, LLC for service.

For contact please email [email protected]

02/23/2023

Hi everyone. Head trainer Sarah here on our last day of Stepping Stone. I want to express my gratitude for the past few years. Thank you to everyone who has trusted me with their dogs. Thank you for sharing your training journey with me. It has been an honor. I’ve watched so many puppies mature into wonderful adults. Keep up the training. You are all amazing. Tell your dogs I love them.

02/23/2023

Oscar and Darles Charwin graduated from their programs! Great job handsome boys!

02/16/2023

Doc graduated from his program! He and his people worked hard. Among many things, Doc learned to ask humans for attention while keeping all paws on the ground.

02/15/2023

02/13/2023

Mable loves playing, especially one-on-one with the big dogs! Today she did great helping teach Titus and Doc how to play then relax. They both followed her lead when it was time for a break. Ginger was also happy to play and relax with her little friend. 🥰

02/10/2023

To our Stepping Stone Clients,

We are posting to inform you that as of February 24th, we will sadly be closing our doors here at Stepping Stone. We will be consolidating Stepping Stone into our local parent company, Pawsitive Pets. In doing so, we will no longer be offering our day school service, but will still be offering an array of other great training options. The transition is arising out of a desire to focus on where we, after 8 years of operations, feel is the most helpful service in improving each individual dog's behavior.

By concentrating our services more into privatized training opportunities in our very popular 1-1 sessions with a trainer program, we are able to work in the home, throughout the community, and with the opportunity to regularly include demo helpers and teaching dogs. This allows us to recreate virtually any setup to help improve upon desirable behaviors, something no facility is capable of providing. For dogs that do not benefit from social programs either because they showcase fear/aggression, rehearse too much arousal, or showcase separation anxiety, we are able to provide a service that offers enrichment and exercise tailored to the individual needs. In doing so, we can be flexible with our schedules and do not require clients to be home or present during our services. This allowed us to provide more than 2,000 1-1 sessions in 2022!

Lastly, by consolidating, we will be able to concentrate on a couple of our passions such as furthering our staffs' education through continued learning opportunities and continuing to support our local rescue organizations. Since beginning in 2015, Pawsitive Pets has raised and contributed more than $25,000 and has volunteered much of our time to local animal rescues.

To stay informed on services that we will continue to offer, you may review our website at PawsitivePetsllc.com, check our page, or review our info handouts for both our training and pet sitting department. Additionally, our website includes employee bios for Pawsitive Pets, showcasing our numerous years of experience, formal education, and certifications in behavior.

For those that are interested in transferring from Stepping Stone day school to our individualized 1-1 training program, we have set aside open time slots Monday-Friday with our co-owner and trainer, Hilary, who oversaw all operations at Stepping Stone since March, 2021. Being that Hilary is familiar with the Stepping Stone dogs, we are looking to have a seamless transition in services for anyone interested. Some training videos during 1-1 sessions are linked below so you can see some of the dogs in action, learning at home and throughout the community. We are available to begin transition by 2/27. Please be aware that Pawsitive Pets’ service area covers a 7-mile radius surrounding Purdue University. If you would like to work with Pawsitive Pets but do not live within this area, we will gladly work with you and your pets for an additional $0.75/mile we must travel outside of our service area, up to 10 miles.

If you have any questions, feel free to let us know. If you'd like to schedule any of our services, you may do so by scheduling through our TimetoPet software as many of you have done before.

Thank you all for your love and support over the last few years! We hope to continue to help meet all of your pup's training and enrichment needs.

Patrick Holland, CPDT-KA, ABCDT

Hilary Briggs, BS, CCMT

02/09/2023

Atlas and Titus graduated from their programs this week. Great job boys!

02/08/2023

Behind the scenes of Titus getting his graduation picture taken. 🥰

02/01/2023

It is a Lucy caterpillar! A lucypillar?

01/30/2023

Sometimes it takes more than one try to get the desired picture.😆 Thanks Teddy and Titus for posing!

01/26/2023

Our students enjoyed romping around in the snow today. ⛄️

01/25/2023

❄️The Stepping Stone facility will be closed Wednesday Jan. 25 due to the predicted snow.

We would love for you to share videos and pictures of your dog in the snow when we get it. 🌨️☃️

01/24/2023

Snow is on the way! Here is a fun DIY activity of making a snuffle mat that will give you and your pup something to do when stuck inside.

I love to play scenting games with my dogs. Their sense of smell is so wonderful and so much more sensitive than mine I can't even imagine it. When given an opportunity to play scenting games, their enthusiasm is contagious and just makes me want to find more games for them to play. I've trained sea...

01/17/2023

Cuddly boy Bailey practicing remaining calm for attention when Sarah sits on the ground.

01/16/2023

Some good webinars for parents and families.

Preparing your dog for baby. Introducing your dog to your new baby. Family Paws has been the trusted experts since 2002!

01/12/2023

Lucky, Ginger, Teddy and Oscar waiting for further instruction. 🧐

01/11/2023

Lucy and Darles have different focused faces. 😛😐

01/10/2023

Not only do we work with the dogs to be able to focus around distractions, the trainers have to work at it too! Especially with cuties like Oscar and Yuki around!

01/05/2023

Gorgeous girl Ginger in your feed to help you smile!

01/05/2023

Rudy graduated from his Puppy Steps program! He looks like an adult in his grad picture compared to his puppy picture from October. 🥹 They grow up so fast.

01/04/2023

Happy 2nd birthday, Mica! You are so sassy and make us laugh. It has been amazing watching you turn from a shy puppy that started here when you ~4 months old to a confident adult that loves training.

01/03/2023

A Darles loaf?
Darles doing a duck impression?
Goofy boy making us laugh?

01/02/2023

Welcome Atlas and Finn to their first day of their Puppy Steps program!

12/31/2022

Our students are looking forward to more school in 2023!

We still have spots available for established clients the first week of January. Request a day of training, friends and fun for your dog on Time to Pet.

12/30/2022

Great information from Fear Free to help your pet celebrate the New Year.

12/28/2022

With our Day School and training programs, we help meet the dogs' physical, mental and social needs. An important skill for dogs to learn is how to take breaks. Darwin and Louie have been attending since they were puppies. They are both great about balancing play and relaxing. 🥎😴