High Expectations Dog Training expands, adds puppy day school

An 11-year-old Camas-based business has expanded to include puppy day school in a new location.

Katie High, owner of High Expectations Dog Training, previously operated her company out of her home in Camas.

She relocated in early January to continue providing manners and excellent manners classes, behavior modification, private training, agility sessions, scent detector and puppy classes at the new, larger location in the Sixth Avenue Commercial Center, near a roundabout and letters spelling, “City of Camas.”

When High, 42, was still working from her home, a few people asked for her help with their puppies’ socialization and training during the day.

“Puppies require a lot of attention and training when they are young,” she said.

The new puppy day school at High Expectations is about helping dog owners with the training they are doing at home.

“This breed of dog needs to be exposed to all they can — socialized with different dogs, people of all ages, sizes and colors, as well as different places, sounds and experiences,” Michael said. “Without all of that exposure and socialization, he was a scared, untrained, 90-pound dog.”

Michael said, with two years of training, Jake became “an amazing companion that was well trained.”

“Katie worked with the trainer and animal behaviorist that we had found for Jake,” he said. “It was because of that involvement that we became interested in working with her again, with Saxon.”

Jake died in June 2018.

In addition to their German Shepherd puppy, Michael and his wife have an older dog that they want to enroll in a class at High Expectations so she can experience the fun and socialization that Saxon is having.

Joe and Doni Phillips, of Vancouver, bring their one-year-old male German Pointer/Australian Shepherd “Maverick” to a manners class taught by Julie Mills, a certified professional dog trainer at High Expectations.

High is a Certified Behavior Consultant Canine-Knowledge Assessed and Certified Behavior Consultant Canine-Knowledge Assessed by the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers.

She also belongs to the Association of Professional Dog Trainers and is an American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen evaluator.

High said it has been nice letting her three dogs and daughter enjoy the loft space at home — previously used for dog training — whenever they want.

“It does feel relaxing,” she said, regarding her business relocation away from her home. “And it is nice to finally have one location for my clients to know and to go to.”