Canine College is a dedicated dog training facility that has been serving the Fort Drum and Watertown area of northern New York since 2012. We offer a wide variety of classes and activities for dogs of all ages and skill levels: from basic puppy classes to AKC Canine Good Citizen and trick dog titles, and from Service Dog training to advanced scent detection skills for working dogs.

Canine College was founded in 2012 by Sandra King and originally operated under the name Cosgrove K-9s, offering private classes and in-home boarding. We became Canine College in September 2015 when we moved into a building shared with Best Friends Doggie Day Spa on Eastern Boulevard. It quickly became apparent that Canine College needed room to grow and expand, and we moved to an old warehouse on Edmund Street in spring 2016 where we could do so.

In January 2017, Canine College made the switch from offering training, daycare, and overnight boarding to becoming a dedicated dog training facility, moving into its current home on NY State Route 283 (outer Pearl Street). This new facility is conveniently located a few minutes from Fort Drum’s Mount Belvedere gate, across the street from Jessie’s Pet Spa, and seconds down the road from Valley Veterinary Clinic.

Canine College’s new facility provides an open and well-lit area for training.

Our purpose-built odor detection wall is used to train scentwork for sport and real-life applications, including Nosework and bedbug detection, and does double-duty as a room divider, allowing trainers to slowly introduce dogs who are fearful, reactive, or aggressive, to the group training environment.

Our treadmills help us meet dogs’ exercise needs during day-and-train sessions and can be rented by our clients to ensure their dogs get adequate exercise even when temperatures in the area begin with a “minus” during those long and cold winter months.

In winter 2021, we also installed a dedicated grooming room and are now able to provide our clients with all basic grooming needs, including baths, ear cleanings, nail trims, and anal gland expression. Having a grooming room inside our training facility also helps us carefully desensitize young, nervous, and fearful dogs to body handling and the overall grooming experience: something grooming salons often don’t have the time to do and other training facilities don’t offer.

Lastly, our client seating area provides a place to chat, watch other dogs work, and browse our training books and magazines.