American Dog Obedience Center

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Norman, OK
American Dog Obedience Center

A premier boarding school for busy families, serving Oklahoma City metro area - and beyond. Results matter here! We train your dog for you.

We teach family dogs the behaviors they need to live well with their humans. Then we empower families to effectively elicit those behaviors at home. Beyond training for family dogs, we train & compete (quite successfully!) in AKC agility and rally. Kris Butler is also a certified canine fitness trainer (CCFT) through University of Tennessee's veterinary programs and she is the author of "Therapy Dogs Today: Their Gifts, Our Obligation."

09/24/2025

Does it seem like this young boy from our September class resembles Stephen Tyler from Aerosmith? He can sing too.
We want to let future families know that our October class is full. There are a few opportunities for training in November before we go into Winter Break mode. Private lessons for former students will be available throughout, as scheduling allows.
Let’s empower the rock star in your dog!

09/23/2025

This photo was way too buried within our previous post. This weekend these girls made their debut in the canine sports arena, meeting - with extreme enthusiasm - requirements first for AKC’s Novice Fetch title on Saturday and the Intermediate Fetch title on Sunday at Wichita Dog Training Club’s wonderful event. To an observer, canine sports might seem all about skill. In reality much unseen effort is focused on managing our dogs in the unfamiliar environments they travel and perform within. First-time handlers are students themselves and coaches/therapists/family to their dogs. This was a very fine beginning for this team with many more successes in their future. Way to go Rebecca Hulsey!

09/22/2025

Good Monday. It’s a workweek here for sure, with student dogs arriving for our October class.
But first our shameless brag. Border collie Rave On earned 2 new titles over the weekend! We were at Wichita Dog Training Club’s AKC Fetch Test this weekend and those people know how to host great events. Rave On rocked Novice and Intermediate, 4 of 4. With those titles, we can move on to Advanced and Retriever classes where double/triple multiple retrieves, separate throwers from a distance, and falls behind blinds will be required. We have trained these skills to hunting and competitive retrievers in the past so it’s been fun sharing a border collie’s perspective on this game.
As exciting as our own successes are the accomplishments of 2 other teams we’ve been practicing with, one who’s never shown a dog before. Each of them also qualified for Novice and Intermediate titles. It was good company and happy vibes all around.
We hope your week is full of success and happy vibes too.

09/18/2025

Sweet Whiskey went home last weekend. 7 people attended her lesson Everyone was patient and engaged so well with her - Whiskey was able to shine because of their behavior. Lessons like that make it easy to feel proud of the people within the family too. We appreciate the opportunity to be a part of that.

09/10/2025

It isn’t hanging fruit and it isn’t some invasive insect pod. It’s a dog training bumper and, if you’ve trained dogs for hunting or sports events that include retrieving, your trees have likely been affected by this “blight” at some point too. My border collie and I have been practicing for an AKC Fetch Test in Kansas later this month. Last Sunday this tree seemed to reach out and grab a canvas bumper as I threw it. It’s hard to know whether to blame the tree or the bumper.

09/09/2025

Introducing Buzz - the newest member of Team Butler.
He’s 4 - 5 months old, confident, friendly, loves to retrieve, tug and eat. Late last month he was in dire need of a a place to land and our family became that - with no regrets. That’s the extent of what we know about this boy but we will share updates and insights here. “What’s the buzz?” Stay tuned…

09/08/2025

September’s class of rowdies is under way and it includes 2 dogs from 2 families, both referred to American Dog Obedience Center by Minnie’s family. Minnie trained with us about 3 years ago - and apparently her behavior is worth talking about!
As a token of appreciation, we’ve made a donation to Ground Zero Emergency Training Center in Tuttle OK. In 2017 Barry & Becky Switzer founded this unique facility to train dogs and handlers to meet the needs of a critical shortage in search and rescue dogs. Too often working dogs have been in the news lately as they work with their handlers to find the missing during disasters. Here is a link to read more and consider if their mission is something you might want to support too. https://www.groundzerosaveslives.com/about
We hope Minnie and her family approve this choice. Thank you!

08/02/2025

Border collie Rave On was a perfect demo dog as we hosted a private AKC Fetch Test workshop at American Dog Obedience Center yesterday. Students practiced back-to-back single retrieves, double retrieves, and were introduced to concepts like directed retrieves, distant throwers, and throws that land behind blinds.
Edited to add link in comments to Lab Gabby’s video from Friday.
This is a fun new sport, just getting started. It wraps basic skills around a dog’s favorite pass-time. As dogs and handlers earn new titles and move up into increasingly more challenging classes, they must learn to demonstrate higher skill levels too. Unlike field trials and hunt tests, there are no guns or birds involved - and dogs of all breeds can play.
Rave On and the teams that attended our mini-event on Friday have already sent in entries to their first event, next month in KS. They will be starting at the Novice level and have already begun training with eyes on Intermediate, Advanced, and the highest title - Retriever.

07/27/2025

The Twins
For several years, we’ve moved some agility equipment to this small shady area for summer practices with our dogs. It’s bordered by our woods along the east side, the pond is just behind us to the north, and the kennel piece is to the west. These same elements, as well as abundant grass, have also made this a popular spot for deer to give birth and manage family life early on. With guidance, our dogs behave respectfully. There are times in the process that a deer will become defensive and so we yield to them then. Dennis caught this moment while setting up to work DD early today. Not dog related but a treat to be shared.

07/21/2025

Summer is flying by! We hope you and your dogs are chasing after some good times together. The photo is Scout, a small but mighty doodle from our June class. She is the second dog we’ve worked with for this active family. We appreciate that.

Want to do more or “fit” better in the relationship with your dog? We will be accepting a few feisty dogs during September, October, and November 2025. Check us out at dogprograms.com . Then use the contact form there or phone us to discuss whether our special brand of training is a good fit for your family. We promise to keep expectations real.

07/17/2025

Gracie came by today for a private lesson. She wasn’t dressed like this today but she IS like this. Do you see her mustache?

07/08/2025

Lulu trained with us during June. She was compliant and easy - unless she wasn’t. Her family felt she could do better, even tho she was usually pretty good. They were correct.
Many dogs miss out on their best lives because their families settle for “usually” or “mostly.” It’s not just the people who benefit from our brand of training; dogs benefit greatly too, from increased participation in family life when their humans can depend on them to consistently behave appropriately. Consider, too, that our courses also include important information to enable families to better understand their dogs’ communication and behaviors.
If your family is settling for mediocre behavior, contact us about a September class for your dog. We promise to keep expectations real.

Address

Norman, OK

Telephone

+14053647650

Website

http://www.DogPrograms.com/

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Our Story

We train your dog for you. We teach family dogs the behaviors they need to live well with their humans. Then we empower families to effectively elicit those behaviors at home. Beyond training for family client dogs, we train & compete with our own dogs (quite successfully!) in agility & rally and we offer fitness skills training to canine athletes and rising stars.