Searching for Essex County dog training usually starts after the third failed walk. Owners in Newark, Montclair, West Orange, Bloomfield, and Livingston find Dan Gentile when they want a dog that listens at home, not just one that behaves on a leash for an hour.
City and suburb both come with their own distractions, and a dog that cannot settle makes every one of them harder. Our board and train program rebuilds the dog’s everyday behavior from the ground up. The change is usually clear within two to three weeks.
Quick Answer
If you’re searching for professional dog training in Essex County, NJ, you’ve come to the right place. At the Dan Gentile Dog Training Center, we’ve been transforming the relationship between dogs and their owners for over 40 years. Dog owners throughout Essex County trust us to handle what other trainers couldn’t.
Real Results from Real Families
Forty plus years of daily training. A genuine twelve-acre center instead of a strip-mall room. Owner instruction at pickup so the work sticks, and free lifetime consultations long after your dog graduates.
Veteran-Owned and Community-Focused Dan Gentile is a veteran-owned business, and the structure and straight talk that come with that shape everything here.We take healthy dogs of every breed from three and a half months and build real-world obedience through structured, full-time training. The right program depends on where your dog is starting from. We do not accept dogs with aggression issues.
Train While Boarding is the core program. Your dog lives with us, trains daily, and comes home genuinely changed. Learn more
Boot Camp is the intensive route for dogs with stubborn, long-set habits that need a harder push. Boot Camp details
Behavior Modification handles the specific issues that wear owners down: pulling, barking, jumping, destructive habits, or refusing commands. Learn more
Vacation Training turns time away into a head start. Leave the dog with us and pick up one that has learned while you were gone. Vacation training
Our center is on twelve acres in Howell Township. From Essex County the drive is roughly fifty minutes to an hour down the Parkway or the Turnpike.
Essex owners make that run all the time. The county is busy and full of distractions, which is exactly why a dog trained in a calm, structured setting comes home so much steadier.
We also welcome dog owners from across New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Distance is rarely a barrier when you’re looking for results that genuinely last.
Wondering if the drive is worth it? Read what our clients say, many of them made the same trip from Essex County and wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. See all testimonials
Your dog is looked after every hour it is here. The twelve-acre Howell Township center provides:
Open indoor and outdoor runs so your dog can stretch, play, and decompress between sessions.
Climate-controlled kennels that stay comfortable from peak summer to deep winter.
An on-call vet around the clock and a caring, practiced staff.
It is a true training environment rather than a warehouse, and your dog is worked with and respected every day. Tour the Training Center
Owners from Essex County, including Newark, Montclair, West Orange, Bloomfield, and Livingston, make the trip to our facility in Howell Township. Here is where we are:
Dog owners from across New Jersey, many traveling from Essex County, share their experiences after working with Dan Gentile. Read all reviews on Google
★★★★★
“In two weeks my energetic little pitbull went from not listening to anything to obeying commands quickly. The little training session at pick-up was especially helpful to ensure we’re doing the right things to reinforce the training. It was tough letting our girl go for two weeks but it was well worth it.”
– Sarah Cascone, Verified Google Review
★★★★★
“I have had many dogs trained by the Dan Gentile Dog Training Center and all were extremely positive. Before I was recommended to Dan Gentile, I had a trainer tell me my dog could not be trained. Dan proved him wrong.”
– Santo Chiarelli, Verified Google Review
★★★★★
“My goldendoodle was not the greatest listener when we dropped her off. When we came to get her two weeks later, she was a well-mannered family member. We always receive compliments on her behavior. So thankful that we brought her to Dan!”
– Kathy Magro, Verified Google Review
★★★★★
“Dan and his crew turned our headstrong puppy into one able to listen and follow commands. He learned how to sit, stay, heel, come, down, and the first night home he lay quietly under the dinner table for an hour surrounded by 8 boisterous adults. It was amazing.”
– Johanna Schoen, Verified Google Review
★★★★★
“I have been using Dan since 1989, he has trained at least 8 of my dogs and I would use him over and over. He is knowledgeable and gets the results required to successfully train a dog.”
– Steven Bouer, Verified Google Review
★★★★★
“I have entrusted Dan and his team with the training and care of my dogs for 17 years. Never have I been disappointed. The care and professionalism is amazing!”
– Patti W, Verified Google Review
Essex packs a lot into a small space: one of the biggest cities in the state in Newark, and some of its most walkable, upscale towns in Montclair and Millburn. City dogs need composure around crowds and traffic. Suburban dogs need to behave on busy Montclair sidewalks and around neighbors. Our board and train delivers the real-world control both demand.
Our 12-acre facility in Howell Township is approximately fifty to seventy minutes from most of Essex County, including Newark, Montclair, West Orange, Bloomfield, and Livingston.
Families from Newark, Montclair, or West Orange generally make the drive in about 50 to 70 minutes. Our 12 acre facility in Howell Township is easy to find, and the trip down is straightforward once you are heading south.
We provide board and train programs including Dog Training and Boarding, Boot Camp for an accelerated pace, Behavior Modification for targeted habits like leash reactivity, and Vacation Training so your dog trains while you are away. Dogs train every day on site, which is why most settle into reliable behavior in about two to three weeks.
We take dogs of all ages. Puppies do best starting around three and a half to four months, but older dogs with years of habits from Newark sidewalks or ingrained stubbornness from a leafy Montclair backyard turn around well too. There is no age limit for good training.
Every program includes an owner instruction session when you pick your dog up. We teach you the specific commands and techniques so your dog listens just as well on a busy Essex County street as they do here. Our approach does not rely on crates or confinement. We build a dog that wants to do the right thing.
You are never on your own. Every dog comes with free lifetime consultations. If your dog gets rattled by something new on the streets of Newark or starts testing limits in your West Orange yard, call (732) 938-5040 and we will guide you through it.
Just call (732) 938-5040 and let us know about your dog. Dan Gentile has more than 40 years of experience and is a veteran. We will discuss your goals, explain which program fits, and get everything set up.
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