Best Dog Trainers in and Near Columbia, SC

This Columbia location of a national training network, which its site shortens to ADU, runs three main formats. The two week board and train has your dog stay with the team while trainers work with it every day. Private lessons happen either at your home or at the facility, which the site describes as a more structured setting with fewer distractions. The site says the trainers work with dogs of all breeds and ages, and it names puppies, leash pullers, reactive dogs and dogs that need reliable off leash control. Other listed services include puppy management, service and therapy dog training, and protection dog work. Enrollment is limited, and the site says standard reservations usually need about two weeks of notice, or four to six weeks around holidays and university event weekends. It also offers lifetime support after your dog finishes. No prices are posted, since quotes come at the first consultation. Group classes are not mentioned.

Cola K-9 is run by Bradley Creviston, who is listed in our database as a Certified Dog Trainer through Animal Behavior College and a member of the Pet Professional Guild. The website describes force free, fear free methods meant to build trust between you and your dog, and it says each dog gets a custom plan. Reactivity and puppy training are two of the focus areas the site lists. It also offers help for owners who are away at work during the day, along with basic manners. The site says the trainer has more than a year of experience training and working with shelter and rescue dogs. Posted hours run on weekday evenings plus Saturday and Sunday afternoons into the evening, which helps if you work a daytime schedule. The site doesn't say whether lessons happen at your home or at a set location, so ask about that on your first call. No service prices are posted.

Calm Nature Dog Training is led by Clarissa, who holds degrees in Wildlife Biology and in Exotic Animal Management and is certified through Dog Trainer Academy using the Doggy Dan method. The site calls her approach psychology based and non aversive, and it says the business uses no shock collars and no fear based corrections. Most of the work happens in your own home and neighborhood through private coaching. Puppy Foundations covers house training and crate routines. For a deeper reset, the board and train is a stay in the head trainer's home, with a six day puppy option or a standard program for obedience and everyday manners. Listed specialties include aggression, severe anxiety, door dashing and leash reactivity. The service area named on the site covers Columbia, Lexington, Irmo, Chapin, Blythewood, West Columbia and Cayce. Prices are not listed.

Central Bark West Columbia is an enrichment daycare that also runs training, and its trainers use force free, positive reinforcement methods. If your dog already goes to daycare there, Training Tutor adds one on one sessions during the visit, covering recall, sit, stay, leave it, door manners and loose leash walking. It is listed on their site as $20 per session. Barkley's Basic Elementary is a group class for you and your dog that meets one hour a week for six weeks and uses clicker training, listed on their site as $150 for the course. Barkley's Private School offers personalized sessions, listed at $50 per half hour or $99 per hour, with packages available. The location also hosts a free Puppy Hour, a supervised play session for puppies 8 to 16 weeks old, where owners get a free Puppy Parent Handbook and can talk with the trainer. Boarding and grooming are on site too.

Dog Daze is a Columbia daycare and boarding business with a training side led by Patrick Hall, listed as owner and head trainer. The training page lays out several formats: private lessons at Dog Daze, drop off day lessons, training at your home and a board and train of one to six weeks, with time at the facility and in public settings. Most lesson formats are planned over 6 to 12 weeks, with 10 to 15 minutes of daily practice at home. Two less common programs stand out. Fetch Foundation Skills teaches a full retrieve and a release on cue, and Possession Games uses structured games with toys, which the site says aim to reduce possessive or pushy behavior around them. The page mentions positive reinforcement and structured play, and it sets homework between sessions. It lists a 10% military discount with valid ID.

Dog Training In Your Home has had a Columbia office since 2001, and the site says Julie Davis has owned and run it since 2003. The company itself started in Charlotte in 1989. The current team listed on the site includes Robert Varney, Debbie Beck and Alora Giles, with over 50 years of combined experience. Training starts with a free evaluation at your home that the site calls a 22 point check of temperament and trainability. Lessons happen at your house, and every program includes monthly tune up group classes. The site covers puppy problems such as housebreaking and play biting, plus aggression, anxiety, rescue dog adjustment, therapy and service dog training, and getting a dog ready for a new baby. Programs range from basic on leash commands to advanced off leash work, and all of them include what the site calls a lifetime warranty of phone and email consultation. The service area is most of Lexington and Richland Counties. The site doesn't mention board and train.

Good Dog LLC is Gayle Watson's private training business that comes to your home in Columbia, and the site lists her credentials as JD, ABCDT and CPDT-KA. Our database also lists her as a Pet Professional Guild member. The approach is reward based and force free. The site rules out choke, prong and shock collars, along with alpha or dominance methods. In their place it names classical and operant conditioning, counter conditioning and differential reinforcement. You learn to train your own dog, and treats are faded out over time as the behavior holds. Her own dog, Charlie, has earned the Canine Good Citizen title. The site says its web form isn't working and asks visitors to call or email instead. No prices or class names are posted.

Greater Columbia Obedience Club is a not for profit, all volunteer club founded in 1968 to promote the sport of dog obedience. Classes meet at the club's training building in Columbia unless the schedule says otherwise. The manners track runs from Puppy Kindergarten through Basic Skills and Intermediate Skills. A Sports Foundation bridge class leads into agility, obedience, rally and nosework classes, and Trick Dog classes are listed too. Not every class runs every session, and some have prerequisites. The public can sign up. Registration opens to members on the 5th of the month before a session and to the public on the 7th, and you must register and pay online before attending. The club is sanctioned by the AKC to hold obedience, rally and agility trials, and an obedience and rally trial is on its calendar for December 5 and 6, 2026, at the club's own facility. The club says it encourages positive reinforcement and reward based methods. Fees are not shown on the class information page.

Kabler School For Dogs has trained dogs since 1995 and runs campuses in Columbia and in Asheville, North Carolina. The Columbia campus is climate controlled, its trainer is Tony, and lessons can also happen at your home. Puppy Preschool takes puppies from about 10 weeks to 5 or 6 months for obedience, socialization, house training and confidence, in group or private formats. For dogs 6 months and older, the Private and Day Train courses mix private lessons with group classes and cover on leash and off leash obedience, plus problems such as pulling, running away and reactivity. The site describes a positive, reward based approach that uses voice and hand signals along with leash cues. Owners get written homework between sessions. The residency board and train happens at the Asheville campus, so Columbia dogs travel there. The site describes David Kabler as a Certified Master Trainer. Evaluations are free at both campuses.

Off Leash K9 Training Columbia is a local location of a national franchise that the site says has over 130 locations. The stated goal is a dog that stays obedient off leash and around distractions. Basic Obedience is four private lessons covering recall, sit, place, heel, down and stopping unwanted behavior, and the Basic and Advanced package adds four more lessons. A two week board and train focuses on advanced off leash obedience and behavior modification. There is also a Puppy Consultation for dogs under five months, an eight lesson Aggressive Dog Package for aggression and reactivity, and an eight lesson Therapy Dog Development program. The site says it works mainly with household pets and that its handlers include people with military, shelter volunteer and veterinary technician backgrounds. The service area reaches Camden, Sumter, Lexington, Blythewood, Elgin, Winnsboro, Newberry and Orangeburg. The site doesn't say which training tools it uses, so ask. A free phone consultation is offered.

The Dog Wizard Columbia is based in West Columbia and trains by appointment on weekdays. Owner and trainer Krissy Spero has worked with dogs since 2016, opened her training business in 2018 and is a CGC and STAR Puppy evaluator who also does puppy temperament testing. Kevin Storms is listed as an accredited dog trainer and LIMA certified, and Donovan Canada has worked with dogs since 2020. Programs include private lessons, group classes, puppy obedience, board and train, day training and AKC training, offered in your home or as mobile sessions. Behavior work covers barking, jumping, leash pulling, resource guarding, aggression and separation anxiety, and there is a program for adopted dogs. The site describes balanced training that uses food, collars and remote collars, with tools chosen together with the owner. Graduates get lifetime group training sessions. Programs are listed on their site as starting at $250, and the site offers a free evaluation.

Contented Canines is Colonel Tom Kelly's training business in Columbia. The site says he began training dogs after a 30 year Army career, starting with a hobby of helping shelter dogs become more adoptable, and he has trained hundreds of them. He graduated from Starmark Academy's three month residential program in 2015 as a Certified Dog Trainer and Canine Behavior Specialist, and CHRI certified him as a Relationship Based Trainer in 2021. Our database lists him as a NADOI associate member, and the site names IACP and Greater Columbia Obedience Club memberships plus an advisory role on the NOMA Bark Park board. He offers group classes with online sign up and private coaching that starts with a behavior consultation and a written assessment. Issues the site names include leash pulling, overreacting to dogs or people, jumping on guests and fearfulness. Group Foundation Training is listed on their site as $295 for five sessions, and Private Foundation Training as $695 in the studio or $850 at your home. The Jump Start program, a 10 to 30 day board and train or day training stay, is listed at $1,450 to $3,550.

Wescott Acres Luxury Pet Resort is a Columbia boarding and daycare resort with its own training program, and the site says its trainers use positive motivation techniques. Group classes run six weeks. Puppy Obedience and Basic Obedience are listed on their site at $165.50 each, and Intermediate Obedience at $176.50. Private lessons happen one on one at the resort, listed at $112.50, with follow up sessions at $56.50. A Daycare and Train package of 10 sessions is listed at $993, which may suit you if your dog already spends days there. The site offers a free training evaluation before you choose a program. It does not list a board and train program or name its trainers. The resort also offers grooming along with boarding and daycare.