Our Favorite Dog Training Locations in Virginia Beach Virginia
Welcome to a new blog post series on my favorite places to train dogs. I always strive to be as transparent as possible with what the dog training programs will look like. Hopefully this will give you a glimpse into what is possible with our programs.
Bayview Farms Park:
This large area gives lots of options for training challenges! Located just off Shore Drive in the Chics Beach area, this park is conveniently located near Town Center and the North End of Virginia Beach. Depending on which parking lot you choose you could work the large field, near the dog park or the disc golf course.
The dog park is positioned for approach from the parking lot and from the back side to give your dog many chances to practice their skills. Many dogs benefit from watching the dogs suddenly show up in the parking lot and excitedly drag their parents towards their friends. If your dog struggles with being too excited when friends suddenly appear, this becomes a great spot with lots of practice opportunities.
I also like bringing dogs with a history of aggression to this park because it is so spread out. We can find a safe spot to allow the dogs to safely watch people and dogs without being so close the dogs begin to get nervous about approaching strangers. The space also allows plenty of room to escape if something goes wrong.
First Landing State Park
What a wonderful gem in the middle of the city! This park is located near the Virginia Beach Oceanfront and allows many training opportunities! I enjoy teaching dogs to swim at the Narrows, at the 64th Street entrance. In the summer you can find many beach goers with their boats pulled up on the shore creating a great socializing experience!
Working on their Polite in Public skills near the visitors center creates a great place to teach pullovers and focus around runners, bicycles, other dogs and hikers. This is also a wonderful place for a long line decompression walk once you get farther into the park. This dog training location is conveniently located near the North End of Virginia Beach.
Woodstock/ Providence Park
These parks are located on the western side of Virginia Beach, close to Chesapeake. These are technically two different locations, but since there is only an interstate between them, I will lump them into one dog training location. While both parks have great playgrounds for watching tiny humans, and nice trails and open space for working your dog and having a short decompression walk, they each have their own unique dog training benefits.
Woodstock has a large fenced dog park next to the entrance so you immediately know how many dogs are playing. For some dog training scenarios, too many dogs might be too difficult for your dog. This park also has the skate park which often has bikes, skateboards, rollerblades and scooters to help with your dogs socialization to things that go fast. Just off the parking lot is a nice sized field for watching that is off the bike path.
Providence Park is home to Kempsville Pony Baseball where throughout baseball season you can find many strange looking kiddos ready to play as well as wagons, bats, helmets and noises to socialize your puppy to. In the retention pond, there is a family of nutria who usually create nice stinky distractions for the dogs. Sometimes you can see them in the field at dusk. Many of my dog training clients have accidentally found their dog very curiously sniffing the reeds. 
If you think your pup could use some help in some of these locations, schedule a phone consultation with us to discuss your challenges and get you on the right path to success.