Briana Stringer, who holds CPDT-KA certification and serves as an AKC Canine Good Citizen evaluator, founded DogJoy in 2016 after more than a decade training dogs in the Austin area. According to her site, she began working with dogs at an Austin animal shelter, then trained at a boarding and agility facility and a pet superstore before launching her own mobile training business in 2003. DogJoy represents her effort to combine training, boarding, and daycare on a single property.
The Pflugerville facility sits on 10 acres and includes outdoor play yards, a splash park with a swimming lagoon, and private boarding rooms with attached patios. Their site describes a structured approach they call R.E.P.S. (Reinforcement, Enrichment, Play, Socialization), which they distinguish from open dog-park-style play. Training is designed to be woven into boarding and daycare stays rather than confined to separate sessions.
Puppy certification for puppies as young as eight weeks, Canine Good Citizen preparation, and a Reactive Rover class addressing barking and lunging. They also offer an off-leash social class described as trainer-supervised play focused on building control around other dogs. For dogs that aren't suited to group environments, a separate hotel boarding option provides one-on-one care, though their materials indicate this is primarily reserved for established training clients.
