Madison’s #1 Dog Trainer!
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Dog Training
Experts In Madison
Sit Means Sit provides professional and personalized training. We cater to all breeds, ages, sizes or temperaments.
Our programs offer lifetime support so you can reach out to our trainers as new obstacles occur throughout your furry friend’s life.
We always start with a free consultation so you can come in and see our facility and learn more about our programs!
We can help canine owners with:
- Leash Pulling
- Jumping
- Reactivity
- Anxiety
- Puppy Training
- Running Away
- Basic and Advanced Obedience
- Building Your Bond with Your Pet
- And Much More!
Dog Owners Reviews
We love customers and their dogs. They love us.
Training that Works
We said YES! .. To keeping the dog. Our family acquired a high energy Australian shepherd into our already crazy home with two toddlers. We felt overwhelmed and defeated with the puppy’s resource guarding and reactivity issues when we brought him home. We were on the verge of rehoming him but sit means sit went…
Mati N.
I can only say wonderful things about Mike and his team at Sit Means Sit. Everyone is so helpful and works as a team together and with their clients. If I ever have a question or problem with my animals they give me lots of advice and tools to resolve an issue. I go twice…
Harless L.
I took my German Shepherd, Roc, to Sit Means Sit for help with decreasing his aggressiveness and some additional clean-up work with obedience. I am extremely satisfied with the support and work that Mike and the rest of the team put in to make our experience a positive and successful one. Roc is a lot…
Paige D.
This place is amazing! I have a 1 1/2 year old shepherd who was reactive to basically everything that moved. I had tried two other training companies in the area without seeing any progress before coming to sit, and it was the best decision I could have made! I did the 2 week immersion program…
Contact Us
Have a question? Want to schedule an appointment? Fill out the form, give us a call, or shoot us an email and we will be in touch.
Dog Training Classes
Any Dog Any Age Any Problem
Private Tutor Program (Private Lessons)
One on one sessions with one of our professional trainers are great for highly anxious and aggressive pets, or just owners who want to be super hands on with training.
With shorter sessions than our Day & Train, Private Tutoring is great for animals who have a low threshold for environmental stressors or physical limitations. You remain at the lesson during the sessions.
*Six months of unlimited group classes included.
Day & Train
Our most requested program – combining the results of our professional trainers working directly with your fur baby AND working with you to teach you how to get the same excellent results at home!
Day Camps put your canine on the fast track to learning new skills. When you drop your pet off for the day, our team will get started learning your pet and the underlying causes of their behavioral issues. We figure out what motivates your pet to learn so we can achieve long-lasting results. Your furry companion will get continual reinforcement and reward throughout the day, helping them to retain more information.
*Optional LIFETIME, UNLIMITED group classes.
Group Classes
*Only available to existing customers*
We have different levels of group classes available for anyone who has completed a private training program with us first and has group classes included in their training package.
Group classes can be purchased with a training package, or at the end of your training program if you decide you want to add it on later.
Bite Prevention and Lunch & Learn Programs
Do you work for a veterinary clinic, groomer, or boarding kennel? Do you and your staff love working with canines and learning about new training methods? Sit Means Sit would love to come out to you for our Lunch and Learn Program. Lunch is on us!
Our professionally trained staff will teach you tips and tricks for training four-legged friends. We will also cover bite prevention and canine behavioral problems.
We believe that balanced, attention-reward-based training is the best method for pets and owners. We would love to introduce ourselves and our furry companions, share the latest scientifically proven methods, and provide some fun entertainment!
To set up your lunch and learn, just call our office at 608-561-3647.
Puppy Training
Designed for new puppy owners to get started out on the right foot. We will teach you how to create good habits with your puppy and mold them into the perfect family pet. We have two options for young puppies:
Puppy Group Class: A 6 week long group class where we will provide an opportunity for your puppy to get proper socialization and provide information on all of your puppy-raising questions including housetraining, chewing, and teaching practical skills such as coming when called and other fundamental skills. In the last class you will have the opportunity to earn your AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy certificate. We keep a small pup to instructor ratio so you will have plenty of guidance from our trainer. Sign Up here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/759064691927?aff=oddtdtcreator
Puppy Primer Lessons: In these private sessions, you will learn better bonding techniques, basic obedience, confidence building, and how to avoid common mistakes with puppies. Our trainers will help steer you in the right direction and away from common puppy training myths.
Transformation University (Board & Train)
With our board and train program, your pet will get the best of both worlds! This means they will spend their day at our training facility working around many different distractions and then will go home with one of our experienced trainers to spend their evenings in a home setting. We only take one board and train at a time so your four-legged friend gets lots of personalized attention and training tailored to their specific needs.
Dog Trainers & Staff
Professional trainers. Attentive friendly staff.
Mike WheelerOwner
Mike and his wife Paige are the owners of this Sit Means Sit. Before moving back to Wisconsin in 2012, Mike was the original owner of a Sit Means Sit in Texas. Canines have always been a part of Mike’s life. He has always had a very special bond with four-legged friends and a natural talent for training, even as a young child.
Before training animals, Mike served in the Army for 5 years. After getting out of the Army, he began working with a lot of friends and their canines and getting amazing results. His love for transforming pets to help them be a better part of their families is what drove his ambition to train fur babies professionally. As a result, he started Cen-Tex K9 Academy in 2004 in Temple, Texas. Within a few short years, he decided to join the Sit Means Sit franchise to be a part of a training community focused on the growth and knowledge of canine training.
Mike has attended several seminars for obedience and police K9 training, as well as clubs for protection work. This includes training for personal protection canines, dock diving, detection, barn hunt, and more. He has helped with training therapy and service canines, specifically helping the United States Tennis Association in designing a program where players’ service animals can be in the game with them. He is a certified Pet Tech CPR and First Aid Instructor and a part of Go Team Therapy Dogs with his furry companion, Gauge. During the summer, he enjoys hiking, kayaking, cooking/grilling, and traveling.
Paige WheelerCo-Owner
Paige always had canine companions growing up and developed a passion for them at a very young age. Her first job as a sitter and walker for all of the neighborhood pups sparked her passion for helping pets and their families. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Finance from UW- La Crosse in 2015. As soon as she moved back, she got her first puppy on her own, a ten week old Shepherd/Lab/Husky mix that she named Nitro. She went on to work at a pet daycare for a while before working in finance.
As Nitro grew older, he started to develop anxiety and reactivity, which ended up starting Paige’s path to this Sit Means Sit franchise. This is how Paige met Mike and they wed in 2019. Her passion only grew stronger after joining Sit Means Sit as she began helping both pets and their humans become more connected, the way Sit Means Sit helped with her and Nitro.
Paige is a certified Pet Tech CPR and First Aid instructor, certified trainer through Sit Means Sit, and part of the Go Team Therapy Dog team. She has attended many training seminars and events over the years, as well as takes her own canines to sports like dock diving, barn hunt, and PSA.
In her free time, Paige enjoys traveling, spending time with family and friends, and, of course, spending time with her pets.
Brenna ForrestLead Trainer
Brenna grew up always having two fur babies in the home at a time. Her family had many different types of breeds and sizes throughout the years, and she developed a love and appreciation for all animals. As she got older, she couldn’t imagine going through life without a four-legged best friend by her side. Before she left for college, her family added another rescue to my family: a Lab/Terrier mix named Daisy. When Brenna moved to her first apartment, she brought Daisy with her.
Before becoming a trainer, Brenna had worked as a Hostess, Server, and Bartender. In 2021, Brenna joined the Sit Means Sit team and worked her way up to Assistant Manager in 2023! Her compassion for people and animals shows with every client and pet she works with. She is a naturally easy going person and loves to help people.
When not training animals, Brenna is usually visiting with friends, kayaking, camping, hiking, or watching Netflix with Daisy.
Josh FitzgeraldTrainer
Josh came to us with an extensive background in training people. In 2018 he and his wife got their first pet together, Kida. Shortly after that, Zuko joined the picture, and both went through the Sit Means Sit program as clients. In 2023, Josh joined the team to put his training skills to use by improving the lives of canines and their owners.
You can find him trying out new and weird recipes or in various tabletop gaming groups when he’s not with animals.
Rachel SvetlikOffice Coordinator
Rachel is a self proclaimed cat lady, though really, she is an all around animal lover. Growing up she had pets ranging from turtles to birds to pups, instilling her love of animals. While she has no canines of her own, she lives with three cats, only acknowledging one as her own. Rachel has also become her friend’s go-to pet sitter, watching their canines, cats, birds, guinea pigs, and whatever pets they get in the future.
She has always been interested in working with animals so she was excited for the opportunity to work for Sit Means Sit. While she works in the office, she enjoys seeing everyone’s pets come through training and seeing all of the progress they’ve made.
In her free time Rachel enjoys hiking and bird watching, always making sure to have her camera with her to catch whatever wildlife she sees. She also enjoys cooking, tabletop role-playing games, and telling everyone they should listen to her favorite podcasts.
Service Areas
We proudly serve the following areas in Madison.
Cities
- Edgerton
- Fitchburg
- Middleton
- Monona
- Stoughton
- Sun Prairie
- Verona
- Belleville
- Cross Plains
- Dane
- Deerfield
- DeForest
- Maple Bluff
- Marshall
- Mazomanie
- McFarland
- Mount Horeb
- Oregon
- Rockdale
- Shorewood Hills
- Waunakee
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Sit Means Sit has 157 locations across the US and Canada.
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