Puppy Behavior Foundations
Prevent problems. Build confidence.
With Ashley Foster, B.S., CBCC-KA
Certified Canine Behavior Consultant
30+ Years of Professional Experience Helping Dogs and Families Navigate and Resolve Complex Behavioral Challenges.
Fostering Understanding. Transforming Behavior. Changing Lives.
Through over 30 years of professional experience, I’ve learned that raising a behaviorally healthy dog begins long before there is a behavior problem to solve.
Puppyhood offers an extraordinary window to build confidence, resilience, healthy social development, and the skills a puppy needs to navigate the world with curiosity and confidence.
Obedience and skills training are valuable pieces of raising a puppy, but they are only part of the picture.
A strong behavioral foundation comes from understanding the puppy in front of you—their temperament, genetics, developmental stage, experiences, environment, and individual needs—and making thoughtful choices that support healthy development.
The goal is not simply to raise a puppy who knows what to do, but one who is emotionally prepared for the life they will live.
I work with puppies and their families to build:
Healthy socialization and positive exposure plans
Confidence, resilience, and emotional flexibility
Comfort with handling, grooming, and veterinary care
Healthy independence and comfort being alone
Appropriate housetraining, biting, manners, and social skills
Thoughtful routines for sleep, enrichment, activity, and rest
Positive relationships with people and other animals
Skills for navigating frustration, excitement, and everyday life
Strong foundations that can help reduce the risk of common behavior concerns
Owner understanding of normal puppy behavior and developmental changes
All work is grounded in evidence-based, humane practices that prioritize your puppy's emotional well-being while helping you build the skills, experiences, and relationships that support healthy behavioral development.
Puppy Behavior Foundations isn't about doing everything perfectly. It's about understanding what matters, recognizing what your puppy needs, and making thoughtful choices as their behavior develops.
The Puppy Foundations Framework
Understand
We start by understanding the puppy in front of you: their temperament, genetics and breed tendencies, developmental stage, early experiences, environment, and your goals for life together.
Knowing what is normal, what your puppy needs, and what may need closer attention helps us make thoughtful decisions from the start.
Build
Together, we'll build the behavioral and emotional foundations your puppy needs for life.
We'll identify the experiences, routines, social opportunities, learning, enrichment, and everyday skills that matter most for your individual puppy—with an emphasis on confidence, resilience, healthy relationships, and reducing the risk of future behavior concerns.
Grow
Puppies change quickly, and their needs change with them.
Through continued coaching, we'll adjust our plan as your puppy develops, help you navigate new stages and challenges, and give you the understanding and tools to continue supporting healthy behavior long after our work together ends.
Healthy Development Takes Real Understanding
Raising a puppy can be joyful, overwhelming, and full of questions about whether you're making the right choices.
This work aims to help you understand your puppy, support healthy behavioral and emotional development, and build a strong foundation for a lifetime together.
This work is grounded in decades of professional experience, a deep understanding of canine behavior and development, and steady, thoughtful guidance.
When we understand a puppy's behavior and developmental needs early, we can make intentional choices about socialization, learning, environment, and everyday experiences—rather than waiting for concerns to emerge or sorting through conflicting advice.
The goal is not to do everything perfectly or turn puppyhood into a checklist, but to focus on what matters most for the puppy in front of you and provide the right support as they grow.
All work is grounded in compassionate, evidence-based practices designed to support healthy behavioral and emotional development, protect your puppy's well-being, and strengthen the relationship you're building together.
Virtual Behavior Consulting?
Virtual puppy behavior consulting allows us to work within your puppy's everyday environment, where routines, relationships, learning, and development are already taking place.
Working together virtually allows me to observe your puppy in their familiar environment while helping you make thoughtful adjustments to the experiences and everyday interactions that shape behavior. For many families, this makes guidance easier to implement and integrate naturally into daily life.
Puppy Behavior Foundations Package
Puppy Behavior Foundations provides individualized guidance during the important early months of behavioral and emotional development. Rather than following a one-size-fits-all puppy curriculum, we'll focus on your puppy, your family, and the experiences and skills that matter most for the dog they're becoming.
$555 | Three individualized sessions | Virtual or in-person in Fort Collins, Colorado
Puppy Behavior Foundations Package includes:
One 90-minute initial consultation for comprehensive intake, goal setting, developmental assessment, and individualized coaching
Two 60-minute personalized follow-up sessions as your puppy grows and your needs evolve
Supporting educational handouts and general puppy protocols
Email support between sessions
The package is available for puppies 8 weeks through 6 months of age at enrollment, and you must use all three sessions within 16 weeks of the initial consultation.
Sessions are available virtually or in person in Fort Collins. Limited, in-home Fort Collins appointments are available for an additional $75 per session.
If your puppy is already showing significant fear, anxiety, reactivity, aggression, or another established behavior concern, a Behavior Consultation may be the more appropriate place to begin. This allows us to give emerging behavior concerns the level of assessment and individualized planning they deserve.
Because sessions focus on individualized discussion and coaching, clients are encouraged to take notes during sessions. We provide supporting protocols and educational resources as appropriate; we do not include customized written behavior plans.
$100.00 Deposit required to book. Sessions rescheduled/canceled with less than a 14-day notice will forfeit the $100.00 deposit.
Why Accurate Assessment Matters
Behavior change is most effective when it is tailored rather than templated.
Accurate early assessment allows us to focus on what truly matters, often preventing prolonged trial-and-error and the frustration of cycling through strategies that don’t hold.
How Behavior Change Unfolds
Behavior change develops over time and is most effective when approached as a structured process rather than a single event.
Structured follow-up support is part of the process, enabling us to guide implementation, refine strategies, and support progress as it unfolds.
Because the process begins with a thorough behavioral assessment, follow-up sessions focus on guiding implementation and refining targeted strategies rather than relying on prolonged trial and error.
Early in the process, sessions are typically spaced every 2–4 weeks, and cadence is adjusted as behavior change is achieved.
Follow-Up Package Options
Ongoing support is structured to guide implementation and support progress as behavior change develops over time.
Because meaningful behavior change is built over time, not achieved in a single session
Pathway Package
Structures follow-up support for implementation and progress.
$450.00
Includes:
Two, 1-hour follow-up sessions (virtually, in-home, or at other alternative locations)
Email support between sessions
Session must be completed within 6 weeks.
Mentored Support Package
Monthly, structured support for more complex cases of humans who thrive with consistent guidance.
$800.00/month
Includes:
Two, Bi-weekly session (virtually, in-home, or at other alternative locations)
Virtual check-ins on alternating weeks
Ongoing email/phone support throughout the month.
The goal is not to rush progress or extend services unnecessarily, but to apply the right level of support at a pace that allows meaningful change to take hold and remain sustainable in real life.
Support is structured to adapt to your dog’s needs, allowing you to continue with guidance only as long as it remains helpful.
After completing a package, clients may choose to continue with additional packages or individual sessions on an as-needed basis to support ongoing progress.
Additional Consulting Services
Considering adding a new dog to your home? Curious if the dog is the right fit?
We offer 45-minute Virtual Consultations to help you decide.
Typically available within 72 hours of contacting us.
Full payment is required to book.
For situations where a recent incident has occurred, you need timely guidance on what to do next.
This session focuses on stabilizing the situation, reducing risk, and providing insight into prognosis and clear next steps.
**This session does not replace a full behavioral assessment.** If ongoing support is needed, we can determine next steps following this session.
Billed $60.00/15-minute increment
“As we walk the path of life, we may see many roads.
There is no single right path — only the one that becomes right as we walk it with awareness.”
— Alan CohenBehavior challenges can feel confusing, frustrating, or overwhelming — especially when you’ve tried multiple approaches and still don’t have clear answers.
If you are ready for
clarity
& solutions
Looking for a more accessible or self-paced starting point? Explore The Behavior Lab.
Who is this work for?
This work is best suited for guardians who are ready to actively participate in the process - implementing recommendations, reflecting on patterns, and following through between sessions.
When responsibility is shared appropriately, behavior change becomes more efficient, more intentionally paced, and more sustainable.
Get In Touch
If you're interested in working with us and would like to talk before setting up an initial session, or your dog has snapped at, nipped at, or bitten another animal or person, complete the form with a few details about your dog(s). We'll review your message and get back to you!.