Rates and Frequently asked Questions
"Furry Godmother", "The Puppy Exorcist", and "Borders Without Doctors" are all part of Kealolo Canine Connection, a for-profit organization headquartered in Kailua, Hawaii. These DBA program names are not only fun, they are laid out as separate because the services provided involve quite different situations. The people involved in counseling you are not only dog lovers, they are globally known conservationists who save whales, dolphins, seals and many other species from death and extinction, and often use their own funds to do so! So if you think our rates are high, by all means find someone cheaper, but please don't think we don't care. And in fact, even though we aren't the cheapest trainers, we are always "in more demand" for our time than we can fulfill. So it helps if we learn to like you and your dog.
"Furry Godmother" is the real bargain. This is what some smart people will decide to do WHEN or BEFORE they get a puppy, and there is a basic 'puppy package' as well as puppy services offered under this program. This one is fun, lower stress, and gets your puppy and its owners off to a great start. (Of course, training the owners is more than half of the job!) We have NEVER had a puppy package customer regret the decision. You probably spent a little bit of money getting your pup, and you may well spend tens of thousands of dollars over his or her life. Investing now in the quality of that experience can repay itself many times in sanity, furniture, sleep, angry neighbors, averted lawsuits, and many other things you may not be thinking of now. The Furry Godmother can also help you pick your puppy wisely.
"The Puppy Exorcist" service exists because relatively few people actually do the "Furry Godmother" stuff with us or with another expert trainer. Typically, we will be contacted because the owner is at his or her wits' end, is not sleeping, has a torn-up house, a crazed young dog doing what it wants, and the stress on the family is terrible. This is harder and more expensive than training your dog properly from the beginning, but take heart! We also have turned around seemingly hopeless situations - or drastically improved them - for all of our clients. Again, it's a matter of training the owner(s) and the pup. It's an order of magnitude harder because both have to UN-learn bad behaviors. This service is a bargain at the price, but it isn't cheap because it takes travel and many hours of hands-on training by our best trainers using a custom approach for each situation. We do NOT take all cases, and dogs of aggressive breeds or dogs past puberty are only considered by us on a case-by-case basis.
"Borders Without Doctors" is included here even though it is a bit unlike the other services. It is a "rescue and placement" service for Border Collies and some other herding breeds. You may contact us about adoption or relinquishing a dog for placement, but please realize that there is a HUGE amount of time and expense associated with doing placement on this level and we are very much a 'custom' service, not an assembly line. There are always many more people wanting us to place dogs, or find them dogs, than we can deal with. Borders Without Doctors is run by donations, which means that either we need to periodically have some generous dog-lover give us a grant to handle all the BC's which need placing, or must charge significant fees to both the person relinquishing the dog and the person adopting. (We've tried it the other ways and we quickly go broke!) We have a 100% quality placement rate of the dogs we have accepted in the past.
KCC RATES & SERVICES - (table at page bottom)
"PRE PUPPY" CONSULTATION - Wonder which breed, which breeder, which sex, what breed-specific problems might be, whether the pup's temperament will be right for you, what sort of guarantees you should get from your breeder, and generally "what to do" in picking a pup to join your family? People who consult experts in all their other important decisions of their lives often give little thought about these vital puppy questions until it's too late to change a decision. For this service, you'll drive over and meet our trainer in Kailua for an hour, and then receive another hour of consultation over the phone during normal business hours, for a flat fee of $99.
"MY NEW PUPPY" STARTER PACKAGE
The first two weeks after you bring home your bundle of fur can be both joyful AND stressful for the puppy and the family. We'll show you and your pup the basics of how to:Establish a happy, respectful relationship with your pup
Understand life from the puppy's perspective
Keep your puppy safe (in the yard, the car, the house and the world)
Keep your possessions intact
Convince your puppy to sleep through the night
Keep your fingers and toes from being from becoming pincushions
Begin puppy obedience and tricks to get ready for puppy classes
Succeed in Housebreaking your pup
Three 2-hour sessions in your home. Regular $390.00 - Special Discount negotiated for Pet's Central Puppy Buyers or Earthtrust donors, $299 (plus standard travel fees from Kailua, see below)
GENERAL FEES are applicable to any of our dog-training services other than package discounts.All consultations charge for a minimum of 2 hours per visit plus driving time (as applicable).
The first hour of each visit is $75 and each succeeding hour of that visit is $55, billed in quarter-hours.
Travel Time to your home or other preferred location from Kailua is charged on a roundtrip basis at $37.50 per hour for all visits and packages. This makes it less expensive if you can schedule to avoid rush hour. Depending on location, our schedule, and other variables, this can sometimes be adjusted.
PHONE consultations are done prepaid only, during regular business hours as a trainer is available, and billed at $10.00 per 15 minutes, BUT only once a KCC trainer has met the puppy and the owner(s).
"MAJOR COMMITMENT" LONGER-TERM TRAINING:
(Must be preceded by a standard initial 2-hour consultation)10 hours or more prepaid: $100 per 2-hour minimum visit and $45 for each additional hour per visit (plus standard travel time as noted above). If refund requested prior to time being used up, pricing retroactively reverts to standard rates to calculate any refund due.
Services
Rates
Time and Location
Obedience Training
Per Session$75.00 1st hour
$55.00 each additional hour
plus travel2-hour minimum
at your home or nearby fieldObedience Training
Package Discount$55.00 1st hour
$45.00 each additional hour
plus travel2-hour minimum sessions
5 prepaid sessions minimum
at your home or nearby fieldTravel Free (Kailua Only) Kailua Travel $10.00 per 15 minute increments outside Kailua Pre-Puppy Consultation
(all breeds)$99.00
(50% discount if combined with any other service)Kailua and over the phone My New Puppy Package $390.00 - or
$299.00 for Earthtrust donors and Pet's Central Puppy Buyer (if sign up with 10 days of purchasing puppy)Three (2-hr) sessions
in your homeAll Other Services $75.00 1st hour
$55.0 each additional hour
plus travel - this is Standard FeeIn-Store Puppy Products
Consultationstandard fee At Pet Store(s) Introduction to Outdoor Dog Sports standard fee Depends on activity Breed and Puppy/Dog Selection standard fee Owners choice- such as pet stores, shelters, dog shows
Etc."My Obnoxious Teenage Pup!" standard fee 2 hour minimum
in your home"MY NEUROTIC RESCUED/ADOPTED DOG" standard fee your home Introduction to Border Collies standard fee Kailua Phone Consultations $10.00 per 15 minute increments prepaid, existing clients only
Return to KCC Home Page - Furry Godmother - Puppy Exorcist - Borders Without Doctors