Training as a Lifestyle: The Mystic Paws Academy Way

At Mystic Paws Academy, we believe dog training shouldn't be a chore—it should be joyful, natural, and woven into everyday life.

Train Through Play, Bond Through Fun

Forget rigid training schedules and boring drills. Our approach transforms every moment with your dog into a training opportunity—whether you're relaxing on the couch or exploring the neighborhood. Through play and connection, you'll teach your dog to be a well-behaved member of both canine and human society.

What Makes Us Different

We don't ask you to carve out chunks of time for formal training sessions. Instead, we teach you to make training a lifestyle. Anytime you're spending time with your dog becomes a chance to reinforce skills, strengthen your bond, and build reliability.

The Result?

A dog who is:

Trustworthy off-leash (when appropriate)
Reliable and predictable
Well-mannered in any setting
A joy to live with and take anywhere

This is how we train our own dogs, and we want to share that joy with you.

Mystic Paws Academy offers all this and so much more. Ready to transform your relationship with your dog?

What We Offer

Dog Training

Six levels of courses take you from beginner to well-trained member of canine society, including AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy and all levels of Canine Good Citizen. This is the basis of all of our training, including advanced classes!

Our space is clean, warm, friendly, and inviting. We love families and children, and maintain the space with our own families, children, and grandkids in mind!

Training

Seminars

Education is a priority for MPA. We teach many seminars on dog safety, communication, and even neuropsychology! Our educator proudly is a Dog Bite Prevention Educator and AKC Canine Ambassador!

Get to know deeply know and understand dogs! We encourage the entire family to come learn together, including kids over the age of 5.

Seminars

Fun and Games

We offer a variety of fun classes you can take to exercise and bond further. We teach Trick Dog, AKC Fit Dog, Hoopers, Scentwork, Rally, Treibball, and Obstacle Coursing! Fun for the whole family! YES! We teach kids!

Participation in basic classes grants you access to our drop-in style sessions where you can come in and exercise your dog in a limited group setting, always with a trainer on hand to answer questions or offer help!

Fun and Games

Rescues

We have a complete program for rescues/shelters, their fosters, and their adopters to help prevent rehoming. We have a multi-tiered approach to our rescue program, including helping shelter staff, foster families, and new adopters.

We also offer a 10% "give back" program for those that partner with us, along with collecting donations specific to the rescue or shelter that we highlight monthly!

Rescues

Hi, I'm

Heather Pohlman

And My Mission Is To Help You Make Training a Lifestyle

I've been training dogs my entire life, but professionally for over 30 years. I've done multiple sports and events over the years, and taught classes ranging from obedience to tricks, rally to stunt dog. I realized along the way that training isn't easy, and sometimes it doesn't feel fun, and then we burn out. I knew there had to be a better way, and so we've developed training through play!

But more importantly, we believe the entire family should be involved, and that dog training can be joyful and exciting! My mission is to keep children and dogs safe in a household, to prevent dogs from being rehomed, and to help anyone who handles dogs regularly, whether it's a foster, a shelter worker, adopter, groomer, or any other canine professional, to deeply understand the art of canine communication and why dogs behave the way they do.