Dog & Puppy Training Frederick, Urbana and Clarksburg, MD

FluentDog Training is proud to host its first NePoPo® New Gold School at our facility just outside of Frederick, MD. This certification opportunity is for trainers who have completed NePoPo® Silver School or New Silver School. In addition to the weeklong hands-on training seminar, the school will also include a virtual marketing audit of each trainer’s business.

Dante Shay of Active Dogs LLC in Damascus, MD has teamed up with Carla LaFleur to teach the school jointly, so students can have the benefit of both of their expertise.

Dante Shay  graduated from the NePoPo® Gold School in October 2018 and  is the owner of Active Dogs in Maryland. He has been involved with dogs since age 8, when he would work alongside his mother who was training dogs for competition. At age 18, he started working at dog training facilities, and from there his passion for training developed further. Today, he trains pet dogs and helps clients to build the relationship and communication between owner and dog. He is also very active in the rescue community where he helps with the appropriate placements of dogs into loving homes, and usually has several fosters sharing his home. Dante is an accomplished decoy and participates in French Ring and Rettungshunde (sport search and rescue) with his Malinois, Colt. 

Carla LaFleur is a 2022 Gold School graduate. She was always a horse girl, and started her dog training business during the pandemic–an unexpectedly ideal time, with so many Covid puppies! FluentDog quickly outgrew her living space (a condo with no yard) and became a full time job that now has a beautiful 6 acre facility. Prior to becoming a dog trainer, she had a career in communications and marketing in the wealth management field, where she learned how to bring a high-end experience to clients with the perfect balance of personalized attention and technology. She looks forward to sharing the financial and marketing processes she uses in her own business, so trainers can save time on these business management tasks and focus on their true talent of helping dogs and their families.  Her focus with her personal dog Calvin has been AKC obedience. 

The program includes:

• 5 days of training dogs hands-on at our facility in Ijamsville, MD
• A marketing and operations audit of your business, with one on one assistance via Zoom
• Breakfast, lunch, and dinner included
• Air-conditioned kennel space available
• Upon satisfactory completion of the program, students will be granted NePoPo® New Gold School certification

Our program is tailor-made for dog training solopreneurs and small business owners. Maximum 10 students.