24 MarSchool For The Dogs Operations Update During Covid-19

Dear clients,

We acknowledge that this is a difficult and unprecedented time for everyone. Nothing is more important than the health and well-being of our clients, our staff, and our community and we want you to know we’re committed to giving you the support and resources needed to navigate this challenging situation.

Our mission has always been to help dogs live happy lives in urban environments and to give people the tools they need to do this and we want to continue to be able to keep doing what we do best: help you help your dog.

Here is how we plan to move forward:

• We are now offering one free 30 minute video session to any client, new or existing. We are asking trainers and clients to consider letting us keep a recording of these free sessions in order to help aspiring dog trainers and/or provide assistance to future clients who may be dealing with similar issues. However, recording is at the discretion of the trainer and client and is not required. We normally cater our services to New Yorkers, but we are now working with people all over the globe. So, please share this offer with anyone who you think might benefit during this time.
• For video sessions beyond that we are implementing a pay-what-you-can structure. Clients who are financially able are encouraged to pay the actual session price or above as our trainers are working at a reduced rate right now.
• We are also offering daily, free educational webinars and are tuning in to our private group on Facebook live to chat with our members as often as we can. You can find recordings of some of our webinars on our Youtube channel.
• We have been conducting all our group classes via Zoom. Our class prices and enrollment options (limiting to 6 dogs) remain the same so that we can continue to give individualized attention.
• We are also continuing to sell our Good Dog Training online course which is $497. Our trainers each have a limited number of coupon codes, so if you’re interested in purchasing it, be in touch with your trainer. They will get a commission from each person who uses their code.
• If you’d like to donate, you may buy a School For The Dogs Gift Card, available in several amounts, or contribute to the SFTD Scholarship Fund to help other students in need. For a limited time, we are offering a photo tile in the new mosaic being constructed at School For The Dogs for all donations of $100 and up.
• Our online store, storeforthedogs.com, is still fulfilling orders, so please shop with us if you’re looking for toys, treats or training tools during this time. We are filling orders as quickly as we can, and we appreciate the business.
• If you have an existing package with us, we will of course be extending the expiration date to accommodate you. You can either hold onto those packages for use when we’re back up and running or we can convert it into account credit which you can then put towards any of our virtual offerings.

Thank you everyone who has supported us in the last week as we have had to make many adjustments to our staff and to our clients. We are truly grateful to be part of such a generous and caring community!

If you are doing virtual training with us and have had a good experience, we would appreciate it if you’d consider leaving us a Yelp review about it, or if you’d tag us in social media, or email us written a selfie testimonial. These are hugely helpful in our effort to encourage people to engage with us in this new way.

Please stay safe and reach out to us with any questions or concerns.
The SFTD Team