The Better Companion

The Better Companion Founded by Claudia Sihler, CPDT-KSA, IAABC-ADT Check our website for classes - all are based on positive reinforcement techniques.

Focusing on force-free, scientifically proven, positive reinforcement learning, we offer group classes in obedience and dog sports, Doggy Day Care, Open Play Time and Private Lessons. Obedience/behavior classes from Puppy groups & basic adult dog "Foundation" classes through "High School" and even our version of "College" classes! Check out all the "dog sports"; Agility, Flyball, Treibball and Nos

e Work. Our Open Play Time on Friday evenings is great for exercise and socialization and we offer a variety of workshops and seminars throughout the year.

Tuesday daycare. These pictures were taken last week so not all the Easter picture dogs were here this week
04/23/2025

Tuesday daycare. These pictures were taken last week so not all the Easter picture dogs were here this week

We are excited to roll out our Reliable Recall mini-course!This four week course is meant to help you set the foundation...
04/22/2025

We are excited to roll out our Reliable Recall mini-course!

This four week course is meant to help you set the foundations of having a reliable recall - what to do, what not to do, how to "fix" ruined recall, and tips and tricks to work through those "what now?" moments!

Class size is limited to six students to ensure all students receive the same level of attention.

Registration is now live on our website for sign up:

https://bettercompanion.dogbizpro.com/public/registration/index.aspx?schedule=2134

Easter might be over but we are pawsitively hopping with excitement over here at our favorite Easter Bun photos this wee...
04/22/2025

Easter might be over but we are pawsitively hopping with excitement over here at our favorite Easter Bun photos this week 😍

The theme this week is exposure to surfaces and textures - we have wobble boards, klimbs, Cato boards, and more this week to work on building brain and brawn 💪🏻

We will be making the most of this summer with our special guests and fun workshops 😍May 31st from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m...
04/22/2025

We will be making the most of this summer with our special guests and fun workshops 😍

May 31st from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. we will have our first Intro to Pet Grooming: The Basics.

This will be a two hour workshop to help introduce pet owners to what types of tools are appropriate for coat types, and grooming faces, feet and sanitary areas.

If time allows, we will look at clipper haircuts.

This class is limited to 8 attendees, and depending on turn out may have follow up classes or extended workshops.

Sign up is live on our website!

You can find the sign up here: https://bettercompanion.dogbizpro.com/Public/Registration/Events.aspx

Please feel free to call us - 907 357 2521 - or message our page with any questions!

Hoppy Easter! 🐣 🐰 From our BETCO family to yours - we are grateful for the dedication this weekend for those who came to...
04/20/2025

Hoppy Easter! 🐣 🐰

From our BETCO family to yours - we are grateful for the dedication this weekend for those who came to classes, and those who had private lessons.

From working on reactivity, confidence building, obedience, and dog to dog evaluations for open play time we had such a good turn out of humans and their smart pups 🥰

We hope you take time to enjoy the sunshine today ☀️ and we will see you bright and early on Monday!

Summer Obedience Classes are up!Whether you are looking to polish old skills, or learn new, we have classes running May ...
04/20/2025

Summer Obedience Classes are up!

Whether you are looking to polish old skills, or learn new, we have classes running May through June and July through August to meet you wherever you are at this summer!

Classes in May are weeknights and our weekend classes return in July 🥰

🐶 Puppy 1 PreSchool: 9 weeks to ~5 months

This is a starter class for your puppies from 9 weeks to about 5 months of age! This puppy class includes TWO 10 minute play sessions at the beginning, and middle, of each class. These play sessions allow your puppy to safely socialize with dogs of similar age ranges and is aimed at providing them the confidence and advocate for good dog to dog behavior.

In this class, we teach foundation skills like Sit, Down, Come, Touch, Introduce Loose Leash Walking, but we also focus on handling, mouthing, jumping, destructive behaviors and other common struggles that come with puppy ownership.

🐶 Puppy 2 Kindergarten: ~6 months to ~11 months

Puppy 2 is where you’ll continue to set in your skills that you and your puppy learned in Puppy 1!

We focus on self-control and learn stay, recall, leave it, attention, place work, and more loose leash walking! We focus on learning how to navigate unwanted dog behaviors in a human world, adolescence, and tackle some myths in the dog ownership world!

We learn how to fade out treats & the clicker.

🐶 Foundations: 6 months and up

Foundations is our “behavior” class for dogs who have little to no experience in Obedience Training, or to continue work that you may have started at home but want to put into practice in a group setting.

We work on Loose Leash walking, Neutrality around other dogs, humans and distractions, Stay, Self Control & Calming Exercises, Polite Behavior (Greeting/Jumping), Leave It, Touch, Handling, and more!

There is no play sessions in our Foundations Course.

🐶 Grade School: For Graduates of Puppy 2 OR Foundations!

Grade School is one of our favorites! This course is easily different every time you take it - we are able to tailor this course to the level of the dogs taking the course. Weather permitting, we also work in our parking lot or fenced in yard to really hit the “Distraction” part of the 3 D’s hard.

We have a heavy focus on improving their learned skills and building upon the 3 D’s (Distance, Distraction, Duration): Stays, Recall, Focus, Loose Leash Walking, Moving Touch/Target, Engage/Disengage Practice, Neutrality with Active Dogs, and more!

Ready for Hot Dog Summer?Our next round of Trick Dog & Out and About are live for sign up on the website!🐶 Out and About...
04/19/2025

Ready for Hot Dog Summer?

Our next round of Trick Dog & Out and About are live for sign up on the website!

🐶 Out and About 101: Graduates of Grade School OR non-reactive dogs with a obedience foundation

Out and About 101 is one of our new courses! This new class is aimed at taking the skills you’ve learned over the last few classes, and put them into practice in real life settings: learning to be a polite member of society whether we are at home, the store, or around other dogs in public.

Out and About builds YOUR confidence as a handler in public, learning how to work through questions of “Can I Pet Your Dog?” When you are working your dog, and teaching your dog that it is okay to watch the world go by without having to interact with everything that comes your way.

🐶 Out and About 201: Graduates of Out and About 101

201 takes what we've learned about neutrality in stores from 101, and transitions that to work out in open spaces.

🐶 Trick Dog Novice: For FUN or the fun of titles!

See the List of Tricks Here:https://images.akc.org/pdf/trick_dog_novice.pdf
Trick Dog Novice is a class that doesn’t have a focus on just obedience - it allows you to work with your dog in a different way, and work towards a Trick Dog Novice (TKN) title.

In this class, you will learn how to teach your dogs skills from an AKC Approved list - at the end of this class, you will have the opportunity to earn the Trick Dog Novice title by having your dog successfully complete 10 of the tricks from the list we had spent the six weeks working on.

🐶 Trick Dog Intermediate: Graduates of Trick Dog Novice

See the list of tricks here:https://images.akc.org/pdf/trick_dog_Intermediate.pdf
Your dog must have completed Trick Dog Novice to take this course - we will spend six weeks learning Intermediate Tricks for you to have the opportunity to take the Trick Dog Intermediate (TKI) test.

You can sign up on our website:

www.bettercompanion.com

or

Give us a call to chat!

Friday daycare
04/19/2025

Friday daycare

Muzzle dogs are Good Dogs 🫶🏻At Better Companion we celebrate muzzled dogs and their owners, and we want to help you succ...
04/18/2025

Muzzle dogs are Good Dogs 🫶🏻

At Better Companion we celebrate muzzled dogs and their owners, and we want to help you succeed with breaking down the stigma of your muzzled pup and help them love their muzzle as much as we do!

Join us on May 17th and May 24th from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm for a mini class workshop on Muzzles!

Class size is limited to 8 students.

🐾 We will measure your dog for an appropriate fitting muzzle - muzzles should provide pant room!

🐾 We will learn about the different types of muzzles, muzzle brands, and what type of muzzle your dog may need - not all muzzled dogs are muzzled due to bite risk and not all muzzles are bite proof!

🐾 We will learn what muzzle conditioning is, how to do it, trouble shoot problem areas, and teach your dogs how to enjoy their muzzle.

You will leave class with resources and materials to help you along the way - as well as joining our BETCO training family 🥰

The sign up for this Muzzle Workshop is now LIVE on our website:

www.bettercompanion.com

What a better way to end your day than with your Thursday crew!? ✨We had a small but mighty group today, and cannot wait...
04/18/2025

What a better way to end your day than with your Thursday crew!? ✨

We had a small but mighty group today, and cannot wait to show you their Easter photos next week! 🫶🏻 🐰

Wednesday Daycare
04/17/2025

Wednesday Daycare

🌟 11:00 AM EDIT: due to the popularity of Feisty Fido, we are adding a SECOND Feisty Fido on June 1st at 11:30 a.m.! The...
04/16/2025

🌟 11:00 AM EDIT: due to the popularity of Feisty Fido, we are adding a SECOND Feisty Fido on June 1st at 11:30 a.m.! The class registration will be live shortly. 🌟

🎊 We are excited to announce our upcoming three classes! 🎊

Starting May 31st through June 28th we will have our Nervous Nellies and Loose Leash Walking class.
Starting June 1st through June 29th we will have our Feisty Fido class.

🐾Nervous Nellies - Is your dog shy or unsure about things? Are you looking for tips on how to build your dog's confidence and resiliency? This class will help your dog build their skillset to explore the world, and give you the tools to help them and advocate for their needs! Please note, children under 10 will not be allowed in this class due to fearful dogs.🐾

💥Feisty Fido - Does your dog need some manners, especially around other dogs or, in some cases, people? This course is specially designed for dogs who are reactive to other dogs and people.

The Feisty Fido course will allow you to work with your dog in a safe environment and through positive interactions will teach your dog to react appropriately to other dogs or situations. Due to the nature of this course, children will not be allowed in class.💥

Class sizes are 🐾LIMITED🐾 to ensure we can give the same individualized attention to each student, and to account for the socially sensitive dogs in Feisty Fido and Nervous Nellies.

✨Loose Leash Walking - 6 Dogs
✨Feisty Fido - 4 Dogs - Please note, Feisty Fido is NOT for offensively aggressive dogs. Please reach out to discuss if your dog has a bite history. Muzzled dogs in bite proof muzzles are welcome.
✨Nervous Nellies - 5 Dogs

Classes will run 5 weeks - class cost is $150.

Classes are LIVE now and can be signed up for online. Please contact us ahead of time if you have questions about Nervous Nellies and Feisty Fido to see if they are a fit for you, and your dog.

907 357 2521

www.bettercompanion.com

Tuesday daycare
04/16/2025

Tuesday daycare

Monday daycare!This week we'll be taking pictures for Easter that we will post next week!
04/15/2025

Monday daycare!
This week we'll be taking pictures for Easter that we will post next week!

Spring Cleaning!Time to clear the clutter and embrace the new - as we look at our curriculums and classes here at Better...
04/14/2025

Spring Cleaning!

Time to clear the clutter and embrace the new - as we look at our curriculums and classes here at Better Companion, we wanted to take a moment and ask what our community would like to see - what workshops or classes are on your “Wishlist” of things to try with your dogs?

Muzzle Work Shops? Reactivity Classes? Nervous Nellie’s Classes? Loose Leash Walking? Parkour? Enrichment?

Early classes? Late Classes? Weekday? Weekends?

The sky is the limit for you to tell us your training dreams, and see if we can help you land in the stars ⭐️

Chat with you soon!

www.bettercompanion.com

907 357 2521

Feel free to comment, message, or call us with what you’d like to see US do here at The Better Companion!

Our Out and About 201 had a blast yesterday with the sunny weather - our first ever graduates of 101 are taking the plun...
04/13/2025

Our Out and About 201 had a blast yesterday with the sunny weather - our first ever graduates of 101 are taking the plunge for being the first ever Out and About 201!

We spent time at Wonderland Park working on neutrality and distractions!

As much as we love social dogs, we know our dogs also need to learn to just observe the world and not drag us to every person, dog, and item that they want to see.

Our Out and About classes are for graduates of Grade School, or dogs with an obedience foundation.

These classes take what we’ve learned inside and put them to the test outside - and really hit teaching our dogs “Generalization” and “Fluency” of their behaviors and cues hard!

Good job handlers and dogs! 🥰

A huge round of applause for the humans of our Grade School class for being such good sports about taking what we are le...
04/12/2025

A huge round of applause for the humans of our Grade School class for being such good sports about taking what we are learning out into the muddy, watery and ick that is the weather 🥰

Grade School allows us to solidify the training we have been working at through Puppy 1 and 2 - and those 3Ds!

Distance, Distraction, and Duration!

Today, we put into work ALL three of the D’s while we ran loose leash and recall work outside in real life settings to see where our dogs are at, and what we can improve.

We are so proud of the hard work these partners have been putting in since puppyhood 🥰

We know having a reactive dog, or socially sensitive dog, can be isolating at times when you are trying to do the right ...
04/12/2025

We know having a reactive dog, or socially sensitive dog, can be isolating at times when you are trying to do the right thing.

If you have a reactive dog and are interested in classes, or private lessons, give us a call to chat about how we can make you and your dog successful together.

With The Better Companion, the focus with your reactive dog is changing their emotional response to their triggers so that we can build YOU and your dog’s confidence, resiliency, and the partnership with your dog.

If classes are not the right fit, we offer Private Lessons for reactive dog owners.

Talk to you soon!

907 357 2521

Address

1400 E Regine Avenue
Wasilla, AK
99654

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 4pm
Tuesday 8am - 4pm
Wednesday 8am - 4pm
Thursday 8am - 4pm
Friday 11pm - 5pm

Telephone

(907) 357-2521

Website

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The Journey of Dog Training

To transform our dog into a Better Companion, we first need to transform ourselves! As we change our habits in how we interact with them, we become Better Companions to them and subsequently they become Better Companions for us! Let us help you become and create a Better Companion!

Check our website for classes - all are based on positive reinforcement techniques. Obedience/behavior classes from puppy groups & basic adult dog "Foundation" classes through "Junior High" and even our version of "College" classes! Check out all the "dog sports"; Agility, Trick Dog, Freestyle, Treibball and Nose Work. Our Open Play Time on Friday evenings is great for exercise and socialization and we offer a variety of workshops and seminars throughout the year.