Your Dog's Friend

09/15/2025

Adorable Denali, the Klee Kai puppy, hanging out on his mat during Puppy First Grade at Your Dog’s Friend.

09/12/2025

We have an **online** Control Unleashed class starting on Tues, Sept 16 at 7pm ET with ! 🤗

➡️ Learn more and register at YourDogsFriend.org/Control-Unleashed

Increase focus with pattern games & help for your reactive, fearful, or overly exuberant dog.

Create predictable, reliable patterns of behavior to help your pup feel more comfortable in stimulating situations.

Based on the program developed by Leslie McDevitt, this class is helpful for dogs who struggle to focus in stimulating environments.

The pattern games learned in Control Unleashed help your dog translate unfamiliar or overstimulating environments into a familiar, predictable framework that allows them to process the environment while remaining engaged and able to focus.

09/03/2025

We’d love to see you and your dog in classes at Your Dog’s Friend! 🐕

Here are some classes starting in September that have space available! 😀

Learn more & sign up at YourDogsFriend.org/Schedule

✨ From Cautious to Confident starting Thurs Sept 4 at 6:45 pm

✨ Puppy 2nd Grade starting Sat Sept 6 at 2:45 pm

✨ Puppy 1st Grade starting Mon Sept 8 at 11:45 am

✨ Online Control Unleashed - Level 2 starting Mon Sept 8 at at 5:45 pm ET

✨ Online Control Unleashed - Level 1 starting Tues Sept 16 at 7:00 pm ET

✨ Basic Skills for Adolescent & Adult Dogs starting Tues Sept 30 at 8:00 pm

✨ Reactive Dog Class starting Mon Sept 22 at 4:30 pm

✨ Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Prep starting Mon Sept 29 at 3:00 pm

✨ Rally on Fridays at 9:30am (beginner-intermediate) or 10:45am (advanced)

✨ Puppy Kindergarten, various dates/times

✨ Puppy Party, various dates/times

✨ Our free online Dog Training Foundations class, Tuesdays at 6:30pm ET

Plus some Oct & Nov classes that are already posted!

Keep an eye out for more classes, too!

09/03/2025

Please help Your Dog’s Friend win Best of Bethesda! 🐶 💙

To vote for us, click this link: https://bestof.bethesdamagazine.com, choose the Shopping & Services group, then the Pet Trainer category, and then input “Your Dog’s Friend.”

It’s a little tricky: you need to cast a vote in at least five categories (across any of the groups) for your votes to count!

Voting is now open in the 2026 Best of Bethesda poll! 🗳️

Last year, this somehow wasn’t on our radar so we were surprised & thrilled to win Best Pet Trainer 2025! 🎉

We would love to win again this year, as being featured in Best of Bethesda can really help us get the word out about our ✨ dog training nonprofit ✨ and the free and low-cost services that we offer so that dog guardians can find us!

Please visit BestOf.BethesdaMagazine.com to vote for ✨ Your Dog’s Friend ✨ in the Shopping & Services — Pet Trainer Group/Category and help us win Best of Bethesda 2026! 💙

We are so grateful for your support! 💛

08/27/2025

Jump into one of the last spots in these upcoming classes that are almost full! 🐕

From Cautious to Confident starts Thurs, Sept 4 at 6:45 pm ✨ Learn to encourage exploration and reduce fear while keeping your dog in their comfort zone.

Sports Sampler starts Sun, Sept 7 at 8:30 am ✨ Sample training exercises from our popular sport classes, including Tricks, Rally, Scent Games, and Agility!

Basic Skills for Adolescent & Adult Dogs starts Sun, Sept 7 at 1:30 pm ✨ Learn how to set your dog up for success, improve communication, and build skills for living happily in a human world.

Scent Games starts Tues, Sept 9 at 10:15 am ✨ Tap into your dog’s strongest natural skill with scent-detection games! Build their confidence, provide enrichment, and improve your teamwork.

Learn more & register at YourDogsFriend.org/Schedule or link in bio!

Our trainers and assistants will be there to encourage and guide you every step of the way! 🤗

08/26/2025

Doggie Drawings by Lili Chin has a new infographic! 😍

NEW infographic: Adopting a Shelter Dog. Happy National Dog Day 8/26/2025.
Link to download: https://doggiedrawings.net/products/adopting-a-shelter-dog

08/25/2025

It is such an honor to share our lives with our senior and disabled dogs. 💓

Yoga mats and random clearance outlet have helped us make our home a cozier place for our dogs as they age. (I’m super sensitive to smells and have found that these carpet squares from have hardly any “new carpet” smell at all, if any, and yoga mats made from TPE seem to have hardly any smell compared to other materials I’ve sniffed/tried.)

What are some of your fave modifications you’ve made to help your senior or disabled dog be safer or more comfortable? Please share your wins! 💙

08/23/2025

Puppy Agility Games is enrolling now and starts on Sat, Oct 4 at 4:15 pm! 🤗

Puppy Agility Games, for Puppy K grads, combines fundamental agility skills with fun activities that can help your puppy gain confidence and develop a love of training.

Not only will puppies navigate age-appropriate agility obstacles, but they’ll also learn skills that are useful in daily life.

By the last class, you and your puppy will be able to celebrate your teamwork and show off your new talents on the agility course!

Learn more & register at YourDogsFriend.org/Puppy-Agility-Games

02/20/2025

We have openings available in Basic Skills for Adolescent & Adult Dogs class as soon as next Wednesday, Feb 26th! Register at YourDogsFriend.org/Basic-Skills

Learn how to set your dog up for success, strengthen communication, and reward behaviors that build the life skills your dog needs to live happily in a human world.

Using a positive, force-free approach, we will work on coming when called, loose-leash walking, stay, drop it, relax on a mat, building attention around distractions, and more.

Over the course of six weeks, you and your dog will learn (or continue) to love training while having fun!

Our trainers will encourage and help you every step of the way.