Best Dog Trainers in and Near Billings, MT

Big Sky Pet Resort is a boarding, daycare and grooming business that also runs a full training program. Its trainers teach Puppy Head Start, Basic Obedience, Formal Obedience and Basic Manners, and each one comes as a four session client and pet program, listed on their site as $225 for Puppy Head Start and $250 for the others. Group versions run with an orientation, four one hour sessions and a graduation, listed at $250. The site also offers pet only private training, listed from $95 a day up to $1,900 a month. The two week board and train is listed at $1,995 and includes boarding plus trainer consultations before and after. It covers sit, stay, down, here, come, off and loose leash walking. The site says its trainers use a variety of instruction methods and can work in your home or at one of its facilities. It does not name the trainers, so ask who will work with your dog.

Billings K9 Coaching is a dog sports center run by Pam Horner. Pam holds a degree in exercise science and sport management and started agility lessons in 2012, and her dogs have earned NADAC championship titles and compete in AKC and UKI events too. The center teaches agility in the styles of NADAC and AKC, plus UKI courses. The site asks that your dog already know basic cues like sit, down and recall before joining, and it recommends passing the Canine Good Citizen test. Beyond agility, you'll find K9 body awareness classes, an introduction to dog sports, and a heated indoor swimming spa for building water confidence in any weather. Board and train focuses on obedience basics, impulse control and agility foundations, listed on their site as starting at $500 per week. Day school gives dogs socialization and enrichment during work hours, and booking runs through an online scheduler.

Camilla McCullough founded Blue Creek Canine after moving to Billings from Denmark in 2007, and she has been a certified dog trainer since 2009. She uses positive, reward based methods built around play and teamwork with your dog. You can book private one on one training, with some sessions held in your home, or join a group class held at the Bark Park daycare building. Her puppy program goes by the name Puppy Puppy Puppy, and an online membership adds support between lessons. The site lists help with manners and leash walking, plus reactivity toward other dogs, fearful dogs and tricks. Camilla is a registered Family Paws presenter in Montana, a program aimed at families raising dogs and young children together, and she mentors students for Animal Behavior College. She has competed in rally obedience, agility and freestyle, and she once taught basic obedience through Billings community education.

Cross Tier K9 is a veteran owned training business on the west end of Billings, and its site notes the owner's 10 years of military service. Training is customized to each dog's personality and learning pace, starting with puppy basics and leash manners. The site also takes on harder problems such as aggression and separation anxiety, which makes it one of the few trainers on this page that names a dog who struggles when left alone. You can book private lessons or join a group class. The site describes its method as balanced training built on positive reinforcement, with an emphasis on consistency and clear boundaries. Prices aren't posted, so ask for a quote and a typical plan length on your first call.

Sit Means Sit Billings is a local location of a national dog training franchise. Its owner, Darin Shepherd, is based in Bozeman and has more than two decades of professional experience, per the site, and Ava works as a kennel trainer. The site describes its core approach as positive reinforcement and reward based training. Programs include private lessons, puppy management focused on a puppy's first 16 weeks, and an Immersion board and train where your dog trains on site while you're at work or away. Dogs that finish those can move on to advanced classes, including off leash obedience. Behavior work covers aggression, fear and anxiety, reactivity and socialization. The service area reaches well past Billings to towns such as Laurel, Shepherd, Huntley and Columbus. Evaluations are free, and the site doesn't post prices. The location also offers bite prevention talks for staff at vet clinics and at grooming or boarding businesses.

DD Kennels is a bird dog and gun dog training kennel run by Andy Elser, whose wife and kids often help with training. The site says the family has trained, bred and worked dogs since 1997, and Andy has worked as a professional guide and outfitter since 2007. Training covers puppy development, finished dogs and preseason tune ups. Programs run in three stages of about three months each, adjusted to each dog's pace, and the kennel takes no more than 15 training dogs at a time. Training is listed on their site at $1,250 per month, including food and kenneling, with a three month commitment, and the kennel says it stays in communication with owners throughout. The kennel also sells started and finished gun dogs and offers boarding in heated indoor and outdoor kennels, listed at $30 a day. Some dogs can join guide season trips, decided case by case.

Dog Tag Buddies is a Montana nonprofit that provides service dogs to veterans living with hidden injuries such as PTSD and TBI. Its site says it is the only organization in Montana accredited by Assistance Dogs International. In the veteran program, each veteran and a program approved dog train together as a team in small classes, working up to the ADI public access test. Founder and executive director DeeDe Baker holds the CPDT-KA, is an AKC Canine Good Citizen evaluator, and is listed in our records as a NADOI associate member. Lead trainer Bonnie Lusby, an 82nd Airborne veteran who has trained and handled narcotics K9s since 2005, teaches the civilian classes for pet dogs through her business, B.H. Dog Training. Those classes cover puppy, basic and advanced obedience and run only at the Billings location. Veteran services come at no cost to the veteran, and the group can help with fuel costs for veterans who travel more than 100 miles one way.

Michael Rodriguez founded Elite K9 Life and is certified by the State of Montana in kennel management and K9 training. He's also a certified veterinary tech assistant and an authorized distributor for a remote training collar brand. His site describes a mix of traditional obedience and electronic collar work, with flat collars, long lines and place cots in the toolkit. Training happens in your home, at his home and out in public around Billings and Yellowstone County, for dogs at least 6 months old. The two week Full Immersion board and train is listed on their site at $2,000 with three follow up sessions, and owner sessions are listed at $500 for four or $800 for eight. Each package includes an electronic collar and transmitter you keep, and a $50 consultation counts toward a program. He takes on fearful and reactive dogs, and he also offers in home boarding, pet sitting and mobile nail trims.

Heart Mountain K9 Billings has trained dogs since 2016, per its site. Its main services are obedience, protection, detection and behavior modification. Obedience runs through private lessons and group classes, and the group classes run monthly in many disciplines, building skills and neutrality around other dogs in a controlled setting. Protection work goes from bite development through sport and real world use. Detection covers beginning odor work through advanced searching. The behavior modification side takes on reactivity and aggression with what the site calls science based protocols. You can also choose day training, puppy training or a Board 'N' Train stay where your dog trains daily at the facility from foundation to finish. The site calls its approach balanced and based on modern reinforcement science. Prices aren't posted, and the site asks you to book a consultation or evaluation first.

Miranda Morehead owns Intelligent Canine and lives with a family of German Shepherds. The business works with puppies starting basic obedience and adult dogs with habits their owners want to change, and it also helps senior dogs with vision or mobility challenges. Its Puppy Academy takes puppies younger than 20 weeks after a vet and vaccine screening. Each day runs circuits of games that move puppies between play, time alone and technical training, so they learn to manage their own energy. Handlers track progress on technical and social skills over days, weeks and months. New clients start with an orientation for the humans only, before the dog joins. Booking runs through an online client portal, and the site doesn't list prices or program lengths, so ask about both when you enroll.

Off Leash K9 Training Billings is part of a national franchise founded by Nick White, a former Marine and Secret Service agent, and its site says the company has more than 130 locations. Training aims for obedience your dog can hold without a leash. Programs are listed on their site as $650 for four week basic obedience, $950 for eight week basic plus advanced work, $975 for the eight week aggression and reactivity program, and $975 for therapy dog preparation. The two week board and train is listed at $2,800, and a puppy consultation for dogs under 5 months is listed at $100. Lessons can happen in or around your home. The service area includes Lockwood, Laurel, Huntley, Shepherd and Worden, and a free phone consultation is offered. The site doesn't name the local trainers, so ask who will run your dog's lessons.

Paws & Claws Pet Resort boards dogs and cats and offers daycare and grooming, and its site says professional trainers work on site. Puppy classes are listed on their site from $150 and cover treat training, potty and crate training, leash walking and basic commands. The Basic Obedience Starter, listed at $350, teaches come, sit, down, place and loose leash walking. A two week board and train is listed at $2,355, with your dog staying and training with a professional trainer. The site also lists advanced obedience and therapy dog development, without details or prices. It doesn't name its trainers or describe their methods, so ask about both when you call, along with whether lessons happen in a group or one on one.

Rocky Point Kennels is a small family owned kennel in south central Montana that breeds health tested pointing Labs, and it trains dogs too. Its site lists obedience and gun dog training, advanced training and hunt test preparation. Dogs from its own breeding program get priority, and training spots are limited, so ask early about space for an outside dog. Rates and the training contract come by request, and the site doesn't describe methods or name the trainers. The kennel also lists boarding. Because the site centers on Labs, ask whether they take other breeds before you count on a spot for your dog this season.

The Dog House calls its approach relationship first, building a dog's confidence before asking for harder skills. Its day school mixes fitness, obedience, specialty and social play blocks. Obedience covers sit, down, stay, come, leash walking and calm behavior near other leashed dogs, and specialty time can include scent games, tricks, agility or park walks. Day school is listed on their site at $40 for a half day and $55 for a full day, and packages include a free monthly group class. Group classes cap at four dogs and cover day school skills plus one behavior you choose, and they're listed at $25 for non members. Overnight boarding runs seven days a week and can add day school or deeper training. New clients get a free evaluation, and dogs need records for rabies and distemper, plus bordetella.

Thunder Ridge Kennels is a Billings kennel that our records list for dog boarding and daycare, plus hunting and retriever training. That mix makes it one of three gun dog options on this page, next to DD Kennels and Rocky Point Kennels. Its website showed only a verification screen when we checked, so we couldn't confirm program length, methods, pricing or the breeds it works with. If you hunt with a retriever, call to ask whether training happens while your dog boards, how often you'll get updates, and whether the program prepares dogs for hunt tests or for field use only.