The Best Care for Your Best Friend: A Complete Guide to Top Dog Boarding and Training

Your dog is family — and when it comes to their care, training, and wellbeing, they deserve the best that the Greater Phoenix Area has to offer. Top Dog Boarding and Training, founded in 2004 by Shawn Thompson and serving the greater Phoenix Valley from its Tempe facility, has built a reputation over more than two decades as the Valley's premier destination for professional dog training, premium boarding, and the full spectrum of canine care services that Phoenix Area dog owners trust with the animals they love most. Here is your complete guide to Top Dog Boarding and Training and why Shawn Thompson's extraordinary background and genuine passion for dogs makes this the dog care destination that Greater Phoenix families come back to again and again.

Who Is Shawn Thompson?

Shawn Thompson is the founder of Top Dog Boarding and Training — and his credentials as a canine professional are genuinely extraordinary. With more than twenty years of canine training experience, Shawn has earned multiple national titles in various sport dog trials and has been a team qualifier for several world competitions — a level of competitive achievement that places him among the most accomplished canine sport trainers in the United States.

Shawn learned the craft of training high-level sport dogs under some of the world's most elite canine trainers — a foundational education in the most demanding and technically sophisticated dimension of canine training that gives him a depth of understanding of dog behavior, learning theory, and training methodology that most trainers simply never develop. That elite-level foundation — combined with his genuine passion for helping ordinary pet owners develop better relationships with their dogs — is what makes Shawn's approach to client training so consistently effective and so genuinely distinctive.

When he founded Top Dog in 2004, Shawn made a deliberate and meaningful choice to channel his elite sport dog training expertise toward helping everyday families train and develop their household pets into good canine citizens. That choice reflects something important about who Shawn is: a world-class trainer whose greatest satisfaction comes not from competitive titles but from the transformation he sees in the dogs and families he serves every day.

Shawn himself owns four dogs — Dave, Sky, Boujee, and Nuke — and is currently focused on training his competition dog Dave, a Belgian Malinois, in the sport of Schutzhund. The fact that Shawn continues to compete and train at the elite sport level alongside his client work is not just interesting personal trivia — it means that every technique and training philosophy he teaches to clients is actively tested and refined in the most demanding canine training environment that exists.

Top Dog Boarding and Training has been featured on Channel 10 News for its Doggie Boot Camp program — a recognition that reflects the company's standing as one of the Phoenix Valley's most trusted and credible canine training and boarding operations.

Services: A Comprehensive Range for Every Dog and Every Family

Top Dog Boarding and Training offers the full spectrum of canine care services — from training programs designed to transform behavior to premium boarding options that give dogs a genuine home away from home.

Boarding: Top Dog's boarding program is built around a philosophy that dogs should feel genuinely at home during their stay rather than simply warehoused in kennels. Boarding dogs can sleep in their own beds, play with their favorite toys, and enjoy scheduled one-on-one play times with Top Dog's highly qualified staff — creating a boarding experience that reflects the genuine care and individual attention that every dog deserves. The facility at 9255 S. Priest Drive in Tempe provides Phoenix Valley dog owners with a trusted, expert-staffed boarding environment that gives families genuine peace of mind when their travel or life commitments require overnight pet care.

Private Lessons: For dog owners who have the time, ability, and desire to personally develop their training skills alongside their dogs, Top Dog's private lessons provide the structured, professional coaching experience that produces real results. Private lessons are conducted by Top Dog's professional trainers — including Shawn himself — who coach owners step by step through the specific skills and training techniques that address their dog's individual challenges and behavioral goals. The private lesson format creates a genuine partnership between owner, dog, and trainer that produces not just a well-behaved dog but a more confident, knowledgeable, and effective dog owner.

Boarding with Training — The Doggie Boot Camp: For dog owners who do not have the time to invest in personally conducting their dog's training, Top Dog's Boarding with Training program — widely recognized as the company's flagship service and featured on Channel 10 News as Doggie Boot Camp — provides the most comprehensive and efficient path to a transformed, well-trained dog. Dogs stay at Top Dog's Tempe facility for a two to eight week comprehensive training program conducted entirely by Top Dog's professional team, with owners receiving thorough instruction on how to maintain and reinforce their dog's new training when their dog returns home.

The Boarding with Training program is ideal for busy Phoenix Valley families whose schedules do not allow consistent daily training investment, for dogs with significant behavioral challenges that require intensive intervention, and for owners who want the most rapid and comprehensive behavioral transformation available. The program's duration — from two to eight weeks depending on the specific goals and the dog's individual needs — reflects a genuine commitment to thorough, lasting behavioral change rather than a superficial quick fix.

Touch Up Training: For dogs who have completed previous training programs and need a refresher, or for well-trained dogs whose behavior has gradually drifted from its peak performance level, Top Dog's Touch Up Training provides the targeted reinforcement and recalibration that gets behaviors back to their best. Touch Up Training is the maintenance investment that keeps training investments from degrading over time and ensures that the behavioral standards families have established with their dogs remain sharp and consistent.

Dayboarding: Top Dog's dayboarding service provides flexible daytime care for Phoenix Valley dogs whose owners have commitments that make home management difficult during the day — whether that means home renovations, unusually busy work days, housework that requires uninterrupted time, or any other situation where a dog's supervised daycare needs arise. Dayboarding at Top Dog means that dogs are spending their day in an expert-staffed, enriching environment rather than alone at home.

Bathing: Top Dog's professional bathing service adds a practical grooming dimension to the company's care portfolio — allowing clients to combine their dog's boarding or training visits with professional bathing services that return their dogs clean, well-groomed, and looking their best.

Additional Services: Going Beyond the Basics

Top Dog Boarding and Training's additional service offerings reflect Shawn's depth of expertise and his genuine commitment to serving every dimension of clients' needs related to their dogs.

Training Evaluation: Every dog that trains at Top Dog first completes a free evaluation — a thorough assessment conducted by a professional trainer that covers the dog's specific challenges, behavioral history, and training goals. The evaluation allows Top Dog's team to recommend the most appropriate training approach and program for each individual dog and family, ensuring that every training investment is as targeted and efficient as possible. The free evaluation also gives prospective clients the opportunity to experience Top Dog's professional approach and philosophy before committing to a training program.

Testing: Top Dog offers testing for Canine Good Citizen (CGC), CGC Advanced, therapy dog, service dog, and protection dog certifications — providing Phoenix Valley dog owners with access to formal evaluation and certification services across the full range of canine working roles. The company also offers litter evaluation under the Volhard Puppy Aptitude Test guidelines, providing breeders and prospective puppy buyers with expert temperament assessment that informs placement decisions.

New Dog Consultation: For families considering adding a new dog to their household — or wondering how a new dog would integrate with an existing one — Top Dog's new dog consultation service provides expert assessment and guidance that dramatically reduces the risk of mismatched adoptions or purchases. Shawn and his team can communicate with breeders and shelters, assess specific dogs being considered, evaluate temperament compatibility, and provide the comprehensive guidance that helps families make confident, well-informed new dog decisions.

Why Top Dog Stands Apart in the Greater Phoenix Area

The Greater Phoenix Area has no shortage of boarding and training options — but Top Dog Boarding and Training's combination of Shawn Thompson's elite-level training background, two decades of client service, Channel 10 News recognition, and a genuinely comprehensive service portfolio creates a dog care offering that is simply in a different category from most competitors. The free training evaluation — which removes the financial barrier to getting professional assessment of your dog's specific needs before committing to any program — reflects the same confident, client-centered philosophy that runs through every aspect of how Top Dog operates.

Contact Top Dog Boarding and Training

Ready to give your dog the best care, training, and boarding experience the Greater Phoenix Area has to offer?

🌐 Website: https://topdogaz.com/ 📧 Email: topdogcenter@gmail.com 📞 Phone: (480) 650-1650 📍 Address: 9255 S. Priest Drive, Tempe, AZ 85284 📅 Book Online: https://pawpartner.com/pz/book?p=1700571 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/topdogarizona 📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/topdogaz

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References:

Top Dog Boarding and Training. (n.d.). Services. https://topdogaz.com/services/

Top Dog Boarding and Training. (n.d.). Shawn Thompson — Founder. https://topdogaz.com/our-pack/shawn-thompson/

American Kennel Club. (n.d.). Canine Good Citizen Program. https://www.akc.org/products-services/training-programs/canine-good-citizen/

Schutzhund USA. (n.d.). Schutzhund Sport Information. https://www.germanshepherddog.com/

U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). Tempe, AZ Community Facts. https://www.census.gov/