Paw-sitive Puppy Start

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When your dog has confidence and a balanced personality, you'll have fewer behavioral problems, and they'll have more opportunities to have fun.

Don’t Miss the Most Crucial Weeks of Your Puppy’s Life

From 8 weeks to 6 months, your puppy undergoes powerful genetic and developmental changes that will shape their future. Confidence, trust, manners, personality, and emotional balance are all being formed right now — once this window closes, you can’t go back and redo it.

Every single interaction teaches your puppy something. Whether you mean to or not, you’re training them with every look, word, and moment of attention or inattention.

The question is — are you teaching them the right things?

Our exclusive Puppy Foundations Program is designed to make sure you don’t miss a single critical step. This program was designed with, and initially for, a local veterinarian. Because real results take time, patience, and total focus, we only accept one puppy at a time — ensuring your dog gets the expert, personalized training they deserve during this once-in-a-lifetime stage. The sooner you do it, the better. We prefer to get puppies right at 8 weeks of age, but certainly before they are 12 weeks old.

Spaces are extremely limited — apply now to reserve your puppy’s spot.

Please note that this is not obedience training. We will not be attempting to build obedience training skills as we do in our board-and-train program. Your dog will be well-positioned to enter our board-and-train program as soon as they are old enough.

Benefits of the Puppy Start

Manners

Don't let your puppy turn into a monster!

We will set boundaries and discourage bad behaviors such as destructive chewing, scratching and biting. We will also create predictable routines to help your puppy feel secure.

Less Fear

of Vets & Groomers

Handling work gets your puppy used to being handled and touched in sensitive areas like ears and toes.

Socialize for a more Balanced Personality

A dog who has had proper, intentional and sustained socialization and normalization training will have a more balanced, less anxious personality.

Housebreaking

Prevent accidents in the house by helping your puppy understand where its acceptible to go to the bathroom.

Leash Introduction

We will introduce your puppy to the leash as well as gentle direction to make walking your puppy on a leash a pleasant experience.

Phase 1: Bonding, Structure, Sensory Socialization/Normalization

Focus: Building Trust, crate training, house breaking, normalizing every day life.

Environmental Exposure

Continued exposure, to vacuums, blenders, doorbells, TV's, as well as Humans of different appearances, surfaces, car rides, handling by others.

Name Recognition, Engagement

Puppy gets used to his name and we practice paying attention to the Humans!

Positive Exposure

Socialization doesn't mean your dog wants to play with every person or dog they meet.
Positive and passive neutral exposure to a variety of sights/sounds, environments and people.

Into to Place

Jumping on people, or barking when they come to the door is not usually considered good manners

Intro to Leash Pressure

Respecting leash pressure, tethering and structured walks inside.

Phase 2: Confidence, Core Obedience Foundations

Focus: Building Trust, crate training, house breaking, normalizing every day life.

Environmental Exposure

Continued exposure, to vacuums, blenders, doorbells, TV's, as well as Humans of different appearances, surfaces, car rides, handling by others.

Name Recognition, Engagement

Puppy gets used to his name and we practice paying attention to the Humans!

Positive Exposure

Socialization doesn't mean your dog wants to play with every person or dog they meet.
Positive and passive neutral exposure to a variety of sights/sounds, environments and people.

Into to Place

Jumping on people, or barking when they come to the door is not usually considered good manners

Intro to Leash Pressure

Respecting leash pressure, tethering and structured walks inside.

Phase 3: Generalization & Impulse Control

Focus: Apply learned behaviors in public settings, add light distractions, and reinforce emotional stability. (Assumes Vaccinations are complete.)

Environmental Exposure

Continued calm crate behavior with noise or movement around

Recall from a Distance

Stronger long-line recall

Positive Exposure

Interaction with the owner/trainers dogs who are fully vaccinated - inside the home.

Dog-friendly patios or parks outside of dog parks (we will not go in to dog parks)

Exposure to household and neighborhood commotion without participation .

Intro to home skills

Place with increased duration + distractions (doorbell, vacuuming, etc.)

Manners: polite exits, sit at thresholds, automatic sits when stopping

Calm “settle” periods in the house (during meals, work hours, etc.)

Intro to Leash Pressure

Loose Leash walking in mildly distracting areas

Phase 4: Maturity, Structure, Transition Prep

Focus: Build reliability, maintain calm in stimulating environments, and prepare for reintegration into the owner's home.

Environmental Exposure

Stengthen independence through solo create time during busy human activity

Recall from a Distance

Beginning of offlease recall on a long lead

Positive Exposure

Interaction with the owner/trainers dogs who are fully vaccinated - inside the home.

Dog-friendly patios or parks outside of dog parks (we will not go in to dog parks)

Exposure to household and neighborhood commotion without participation .

Intro to home skills

Place with increased duration (20+minutes)

Manners: polite exits, sit at thresholds, automatic sits when stopping

Calm “settle” periods in the house (during meals, work hours, etc.)

Intro to Leash Pressure

Heel position introduced vis luring and shaping. Structured leash walks in public areas

How it Works

Your dog will live in my home for a minimum of 28 days
I will raise your puppy to a Standard
If it takes longer than 28 days, that's what it takes, and there are no additional charges to you

Your dog will not stay in a warehouse or separate kennel facility
To achieve greater success, we begin training in a home environment around friends, family, neighbors and their dogs
Your dog is cared for and monitored 24 hours a day

Trained at a minimum of 6 locations for conditioning and exposure to distractions
Socialized around other people and dogs, in public places to improve confidence and reduce anxiety
Get acquainted with the process of getting into a vehicle and embarking on a trip.

At 9 days, get an update of our progress, including areas to be addressed and things we are focusing on
Continue to monitor your dog's progress on our Facebook page
Receive video clips of training sessions
Make sure to Like, Share, and Comment!

After training the dogs we train the Humans!
Our 2-3 hour graduation lesson includes critical dog owner and handler skills, including leash handling, reinforcement drills, and canine leadership - everything you need to maintain your dog's training
The tools we use to train your dog come home with your dog. They will be customized to your dog and we will teach you how to use them, it's all included. No upsells, and no hidden fees.

At the end of the program, you'll receive lots of documentation including a 30 page guide, e-collar instructions, vocabulary and house rules, as well as links to training videos by James Hamm
We're here to support you for the life of your pet
If there is anything you are unsure of or need help with, contact us, and we'll make arrangements to help you until you get the desired results
If you need help, you are welcome to come back with your dog as many times as necessary so that I can work with you as a team