These fun, 50-minute sessions are designed to give you and your young pup the best possible start. During each session, your pup will get to see and gain confidence around other pups and people in a safe environment. PLUS, we’ll cover important puppy topics in each session. Our trainers will present the latest, research-based information and practical exercises on the most critical topics in puppy raising. These sessions are an ideal way to get early, positive socialization for your pup and to prepare for Manners 1 class.
Our Puppy Preschool sessions focus on passive socialization and providing positive, novel experiences. Only the “Greetings” sessions will include the puppies interacting directly with each other. Click here for our recommendations on socializing your pup.
We recommend that puppies start attending these sessions as soon as possible, after receiving two sets of vaccinations. Designed specifically for young pups, puppies MUST be 16 weeks or younger to attend these sessions. Ideally, your pup should attend Puppy Preschool sessions (at least one per week) until they age out at 16 weeks of age. Try to catch each of the four rotating topics at least once. Then, make plans to attend Manners 1 for training all the behaviors essential for a great dog. Rotating preschool topics:
- Leash Basics – Great Start for Leash Walking
- Puppy Biting – Puppy Biting and Handling
- Jumping – Jumping and Off Cue
- Drop-it – Resource Guarding Prevention and Trading
- Greetings – Manners when encountering new people and pups (includes limited, direct interaction)
- Pups must be 9 – 16 weeks at the time of the session
- We require that your pup has a minimum of two sets of vaccinations, plus 5 days prior to coming to WAGD.
- Puppies from the same household may not attend the same session
- $30 for each 50-minute session
If you took our Online Puppy Seminar, yay for you! We trust that you got some great puppy raising strategies. Note that you’ll create a different login to enroll in our in-facility classes. After enrollment, watch for a confirmation email with specific, detailed information.
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Your Instructors
Dylan Benedetto
Dylan began his dog training career in 2022 while managing a local doggie daycare and boarding facility in Deep Ellum, TX. Dylan completed WAGD’s rigorous Trainer Education Program in 2024. Prior to that, he attended multiple in-person seminars from some of the industry’s most respected trainers, including Mike Shikashio, online training classes and canine first aid/cpr courses. Additionally, he’s worked extensively with a canine behaviorist to address significant fear-based reactivity issues in his own adopted rescue dog. Dylan has worked in the Great Puppy Day School program at WAGD getting lots of hands-on experience using WAGD’s positive training methodology to give puppies the best start possible.
Before entering the pet care industry, Dylan was entrenched in the DFW restaurant scene. One day in 2019, he went to the SPCA after work and adopted his first dog Jax (a shepherd mix) who was seized from his previous owners. Inspired by how behavior modification changed their lives, Dylan joined WAGD in November 2023 to pursue his education with the goal of becoming a canine behavioral consultant. Dylan loves problem solving through challenging canine behavior problems and coming up with unique training plans that best fit each dog and owner.
Joy Hampton
Joy joined WAGD as a pet trainer in 2026. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in clinical psychology. Before graduating with her master’s she realized that animal training would be a better career/personality fit than counseling.
She has always been an avid animal lover and became a vegetarian at 12-years of age. Even in high school and college when she didn’t know her life would lead her to a career with animals, she volunteered at Roger’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, worked a summer job at a veterinary clinic and another summer job in college with the education department at the Abilene Zoo. She attended her first animal training convention with the American Zoological Association in 2010. From there she trained to be a dog trainer at PetSmart, where she continued for about 16 years.
Joy loves helping dogs be the best family members that they can be, and helping families understand and care for their dogs.
Stephanie Schwanke
Stephanie joined What a Great Dog! in August of 2020. She is a shift manager and Pet Manners trainer in our Frisco location. If you have visited our retail store you may know her as “Aunt Stephanie”. All the pups know she’s always ready to give some extra love and treats, for good behavior of course.
Before joining What a Great Dog!, Stephanie managed a pet boarding, daycare and grooming facility in McKinney for 12 years. She has shown her dogs in conformation and obedience for over 25 years. Stephanie and her dog, Brooke, took manners and CGC classes from Maureen in her barn in Prosper 13 years ago. She was taught and loved the positive reinforcement training that Maureen coached her and all of us on since she has started.
Since Stephanie has been active in working with dogs, she has had Siberian Huskies, Chesapeake Bay Retrievers and German Shepherds. Currently she and her husband share their home with Stella, a 3-year-old German Shepherd rescue that they adopted just weeks before the Covid lockdown. She is her “work in progress”.
Stephanie hopes with her experience to provide our WAGD families with helpful advice and guidance to assist them in having lifelong GREAT DOG family members.
Victoria Johnson
Victoria is a trainer for Manners classes, Puppy Preschool, Barn Hunt and private lessons. After joining the WAGD team in 2020, she completed WAGD’s Trainer Education Program and the Karen Pryor Academy Foundations course. Absolute Dogs’ Pro Dog Trainer and Pro Dog Trainer Geek programs were completed in 2021 and she is enrolled in their ongoing Training Academy and PDT Club focusing on positive games-based concept training.
Victoria discovered WAGD in 2017, where she worked her rescue Chi/Terrier, Audrey, through Manners, Agility, and Tricks classes and attained several tricks titles. She currently works with Audrey and her other Chi/Terrier rescue, River, in Barn Hunt, Tricks, and Freestyle. River, too, has earned multiple Tricks titles.
Exposure and hands-on experience in dog conformation, breeding, and training of Standard Schnauzers during her early years kicked off her love of working with animals. Numerous dogs (rescues, mixed breeds, and purebreds) have been owned, trained, and cared for. In over a decade of equine riding, training, and competing, Victoria developed an affinity for working with “hard case” horses using natural horsemanship methods. This desire to work with animals who have challenges naturally spilled over to dogs.
While completing a Bachelor of Science degree in Speech—Language Pathology and Audiology at UT-Dallas, she worked at a doggie daycare/boarding facility that also assisted in temporary fostering for a rescue group. She had many opportunities to observe dog behaviors in group settings and help dogs overcome struggles they were facing such as fear and anxiety. Through both formal and informal studying and experiences, Victoria has acquired a particular fondness for working to build confidence and optimism in dogs through utilizing rewards-based methods within a concept framework to build solid relationships between owners, their dogs, and the world around them.