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Terms explained
Board and train glossary
Training has its own vocabulary, and several of its words mean something narrower than they do in everyday speech. One page of short definitions is easier to use than dozens of separate ones. Where a term has a page of its own, the entry names it.
The stay
Board and train is a training program with the nights included, and these are its working parts
Board and train is a program in which your dog lives at a training facility for a set period, trains in short blocks through each day and comes home with skills you are then taught to use. At Dogtown, Foundation is the one-week version for puppies, young dogs and missing manners, and Advanced is the two-week version that adds distraction proofing and outings for adolescents. The table gives the stay's other terms in the order you meet them, and our board and train page compares the two in full.
Two related programs appear on many pages. Canine Campus is Dogtown's hybrid day training, 2, 4 or 6 weeks with the dog home every night. Dogtown Academy is structured daycare with a training session each day, $89 for a full day or $69 for a half. Neither is board and train, though every term below applies to all three.
- 01
Training form, answered within one hour on business days
- 02
Consult with Gabby to choose Foundation or Advanced
- 03
Free evaluation on a weekday morning
- 04
Arrival, decompression and the first short blocks
- 05
Training blocks, enrichment and daycare integration when ready
- 06
Go-home lesson, or two coaching lessons after Advanced
| Term | What it means | Full page |
|---|---|---|
| Training consult | A short assessment with Gabriella Pope that chooses the program and leads to the quote | The board and train evaluation |
| Free evaluation | A temperament test and supervised group time, weekdays 6:30 to 9:30 AM, before any stay | The board and train evaluation |
| Decompression | The first quiet days, when a new arrival eats, sleeps and explores before real work starts | Decompression before training |
| Daycare integration | Time in a matched playgroup of 7 to 10 once the trainer judges the dog ready | Daycare integration during board and train |
| Enrichment | Sniffing, puzzles, lick mats and similar work that tires the brain between training blocks | Enrichment during board and train |
| Daily update | The end-of-day report on what was trained and how the dog responded | Daily updates during board and train |
| Go-home lesson | The coaching session where you take the leash; one after Foundation, two after Advanced | Go-home lessons after board and train |
How dogs learn
Learning terms describe what follows a behavior and how a skill spreads to new places
Positive reinforcement is adding something the dog wants right after a behavior so the behavior happens more often; Positive reinforcement, explained covers it. A reinforcer is whatever the dog will work for, and the dog decides. A marker is a click or short word that tells the dog the exact moment it earned the reward, the subject of Marker training explained. A lure is food used to guide a dog into position, meant to be faded within a few sessions.
Shaping builds a behavior by rewarding small steps toward it, and capturing rewards a behavior the dog offers on its own. Generalization is a skill working in places and with people other than where it was taught, something dogs manage poorly without help; it has its own page. Proofing means testing a skill against more duration, distance or distraction, one at a time. Latent learning, as trainers use it, is a skill looking sharper after a rest than at the end of the lesson; Latent learning and rest days explains why.
An extinction burst is a short surge in an old behavior once it stops paying, a reason not to abandon a plan in its first rough days. Regression is a skill slipping after a change of place or routine, usually fixed by going back a step; Regression after board and train, explained has the detail. How dogs learn during board and train ties these terms together in plain language.
- Reinforcement makes a behavior more frequent; the dog decides what counts
- A marker times the reward; a lure starts the behavior and is faded
- Generalization and proofing move a skill into the real world
- Extinction bursts and regression are normal and fixable
Feelings and thresholds
Emotional terms describe how a dog feels about a trigger and how much it can take
Threshold is the point at which a dog stops thinking and starts reacting, measured in distance, intensity or duration. Trigger stacking is several stresses piling up so the dog crosses that point at something it would usually handle; Threshold and trigger stacking explains the bad-day effect. Arousal is how switched on a dog is, and impulse control is its ability to wait despite the excitement, the pair covered in Arousal and impulse control.
Counter-conditioning changes how a dog feels about a trigger by pairing it with something good, and desensitization starts the trigger so faint or far away that no fear shows, raising it in small steps; the two share a page. Flooding is holding a dog in front of what frightens it until it stops responding, a method AVSAB rules out. Stress signals, from lip licking to a tucked tail, are covered in Reading dog body language during training.
The socialization window is the early stretch of puppyhood, roughly the first three months, when new things are accepted most easily. Fear periods are phases when a young dog turns suddenly warier, and adolescence runs from puberty into young adulthood; each has a page. Separation anxiety is panic at being apart from a particular person, while isolation distress is panic at being alone, which almost any company settles; Separation anxiety vs isolation distress shows why the difference changes the plan.
Methods and standards
Method terms tell you what a trainer does when a dog gets it wrong
Force-free training uses rewards and management and leaves out anything that works through pain, fear or startle. An aversive is anything unpleasant used to reduce a behavior, from a verbal reprimand to a shock collar. Balanced training mixes rewards with aversives; What balanced training means decodes the label, and E-collars and prong collars: why we do not use them sets out the evidence. The AVSAB position statement is the 2021 document recommending reward-based methods for all dog training, walked through on its own page.
LIMA stands for least intrusive, minimally aversive, a professional rule that asks a trainer to try the gentlest method likely to work before anything stronger; Dogtown's force-free programs stay at the reward-based end of it, and the LIMA page lists its levels. Management is arranging the dog's world so an unwanted behavior cannot be practiced, with gates, leashes and routines; Management vs training explains why it is half the plan.
Cooperative care is handling training in which the dog consents through a start button, a behavior such as a chin rest that it holds while being handled and breaks to pause; Cooperative care: consent in handling covers it. Fear Free certification is a credential that trains pet professionals in low-stress handling, and it has its own page. CCPDT, IAABC and KPA are voluntary certifications for trainers and behavior consultants, explained in Dog trainer credentials.
Safety, law and health
Legal and medical terms cover who licenses a kennel and who may prescribe
A kennel license is the permit a Massachusetts city or town issues to a business that boards, trains or cares for other people's dogs for pay, granted only after an animal control officer has inspected the premises. Ollie's Law is the 2024 kennel safety act that directs MDAR, the state Department of Agricultural Resources, to write rules for boarding and training kennels; its regulations, due in 2026, had not been released as of the March 18, 2026 advisory committee minutes. The kennel licensing and Ollie's Law pages have the detail.
A veterinary behaviorist is a veterinarian with board certification in behavior, able to diagnose and prescribe; a trainer can do neither. Behavior medication is any prescription drug used alongside training for fear, anxiety or aggression, and only a veterinarian decides whether a dog needs it. Medication and behavior modification covers when one joins the plan, and Red flags in the board and train industry covers how to check a program.
- Kennel license: issued by the city or town after an inspection
- Ollie's Law: signed September 20, 2024, in force since December 19, 2024
- Veterinary behaviorist: diagnoses and prescribes
- Trainer: teaches and coaches, never prescribes
At Dogtown
The programs these terms describe
Board and train and Canine Campus sit within Dogtown's training programs, and Dogtown Academy uses the same force-free methods every day.
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about this
Short, complete answers you can act on today. More in the full FAQ.
Why is there one glossary instead of a page for every term?
What is the difference between a consult and an evaluation?
Is force-free the same as positive reinforcement?
Who can prescribe behavior medication for my dog?
More questions? Read the full FAQ
Sources
- AVSAB glossary of terms (2021)
- AVSAB position statement on humane dog training (2021)
- Massachusetts General Laws c. 140, s. 137A (kennel licenses)
- Ollie's Law information (MDAR)
Rules and dates change. We re-check every beach, licensing and ordinance page each spring and fall; the source above is the current word.
Keep reading
Next step
Still puzzled by a term?
Ask it on the training form. The team replies within one hour on business days, and the consult explains every word in your dog's plan.
- 01Free evaluationWeekdays 6:30 – 9:30 AM
- 02Book a dayOnline, in the app or by phone
- 03Play, rest, repeatReport card at pick-up
