Dog Training:
Are you interested in a German Shepherd puppy, but want it started on its “dog training” journey before bringing it home?
While some of our customers are eager to bring their puppy home as young as possible, many families prefer to include some preliminary dog training. When purchasing one of our German Shepherd puppies, will you be tackling potty training and basic obedience on your own? Or, are you looking for basic dog training to have been started before bringing your puppy home? Both options are available. Some families are ready and able to lay that foundation themselves. For others, it makes sense to get some help in readying their puppy to make the transition from our home to yours. Whichever option makes more sense, we can help.
Dog Training Options
Puppy Boot Camp
Our puppy boot camp has two options from which to choose. Option one in our puppy boot camp is a 4 week training. Option two is a full eight weeks. Both training options start at 6 weeks of age.
Rather than going home at 8 weeks, we keep your puppy with us until either 10 or 14 weeks of age. During these weeks your puppy will be introduced to intensive puppy training designed to smooth your puppy’s transition from our home to yours. A well-trained puppy is a happy puppy. And a happy puppy makes for a happy owner.
What to expect from our puppy boot camp training?
Phase 1 of our puppy boot camp:
As early as possible, its helpful to name you puppy. Early on in our puppy boot camp, we start teaching your puppy name recognition. From there we teach your puppy to sit, down, adding basic leash training, heel on leash, crate training, potty training, and finally we start teaching your puppy to stay on command. Phase 1 training should be considered introductory training. This initial step where we start with thirty days of training by no means gets puppy across the finish line in its dog training journey. Not at all! Think of this like starting the marathon rather than the finish line. Your puppy should be making age related progress in these areas. In addition to starting these basic aspects of obedience training, your puppy will come into our home with the goal of socialization. With six children of our own, our home is busy place. Bringing your puppy into our home continues the socialization process (We begin all our puppies with early neurological stimulation within a day or two of birth. The socialization in our puppy training; then, is a continuation of that process we begin at birth).
Phase 2 of our puppy boot camp:
Phase 2 of our puppy boot camp continues strengthening your puppy’s name recognition, leash training, heel on leash, sit, stay, crate training, potty training. Phase two also introduces your puppy to other dogs and animals. During this second phase, distractions are added to leash training. While walking your puppy we will bring along an adult dog that is not on leash. Your puppy will be expected to obediently heel, walking and sitting by the handler despite the distraction of this older dog playing and running free beside the puppy. This tool of brining along an off leash dog is a fantastic way to step up obedience training in this second phase. Puppies are expected to sit quietly beside the handler despite this older dog playing and running free. But this is life. Further distractions are added such as new surroundings and other animals.
Going on a walk with your dog. Meet your neighbor and stop for an impromptu conversation. You don’t want your dog pulling on the leash and whining. You want your puppy sitting quietly for five or ten minutes until your conversation is finished. A disciplined puppy will walk calmly beside you even if a squirrel or other animals runs close by while in the park.
Custom dog training options
Some families will want more work than is available through our “puppy boot camp” options. For these families, custom training options can be available on a case by case scenario. At times, we can do an additional “third” month of puppy training. In other cases, we recommend the customer takes their puppy home at the end of puppy boot camp phase two, then return after 7-8 months for additional training. How we proceed with custom dog training options will often be determined by the level of training a family might be wanting. Are you primarily looking for a good family protection dog? Or, is your end goal a trained guard dog that is capable of doing bite work and will guard and bite on command. Once these kinds of questions get answered, we can map out a plan for custom dog training options.
Puppy Training Cost
Puppy Boot Camp Phase 1: $1500
Puppy Boot Camp Phases 1 and 2 combined: $2800
Our dog training goals during puppy training.
Our main focus in our puppy boot camp phases is to give your puppy the ability to better adapt to his or her new home and family. Our dog training options give your puppy a jump start in learning good manners. This goes a long ways towards setting the stage for a smooth transition from our home to yours. We don’t bring in employees to work with your puppy. A big part of our joy in raising working line German Shepherds is the time we get to spend with them as dog trainers. We typically limit ourselves to not more than three or four puppies at a time. we bring puppies into our home. They snuggle with us in the evening as we watch the news. They curl up at our feet under the table while we sit around the table. So if you are thinking of adding dog training when purchasing one of our working line German Shepherd puppies for sale, let us know early. This can help us get you on our dog training list.
*** Our puppy boot camp ought to be understood as introductory. Your puppy will have learned basic obedience skills, but these are skills you will continue teaching and reinforcing when your puppy comes to your home. Many families will choose to continue with additional training as their puppy grows older. This is especially true for families interested in protection training. This sort of puppy training is typically not started even in its most basic forms until your puppy is 6-12 months of age.
