Puppy Prep Program

  Training Overview


Just got a puppy and need some immediate help? It's not as easy as it may first appear!

We're here for you. In our Puppy Prep Program, we will help you with two types of services:

Private Lessons at Your Home or Our Facility

We will meet with you at your home, our facility, or over Zoom in order for several private lessons to discuss the most common topics, including:
Potty training is the trickiest part of the puppy stage. Should you use pee pads? How often should you take him out? Do you need to take him out in the middle of the night? What do you do if he pees on your carpet? How do you handle potty training when you are at work all day? We will help you answer these questions and many more, including taking your living situation into consideration.
The puppy stage is the most crucial time for socializing a dog, so he is comfortable with other dogs and people as he gets older. If your dog misses the window of opportunity as a puppy, he may develop unwanted behaviors such as reactivity and a lack of trust. But should you take him to dog daycare? Dog parks? What if another dog barks at him? What if he barks at other dogs? Should you board him when you go out of town for a week? We can help you answer these and many more questions about socialization. Puppy teeth are razor sharp, and puppies love using them to shred your arms or hands while they are playing with you. Should you punish him for biting you? Is play biting teaching him that biting is OK? We can help you understand how to properly address play biting and save your skin. We strongly recommend crate training for most puppies, especially because your dog will almost certain be in a crate or enclosure when at daycare, the vet, the groomer, boarding, and likely even when traveling. Is being in a crate like being in jail? Are you a bad person for having him in a crate? What type of crate should you buy? What if he cries or barks when he goes in his crate? Should you have him in a crate while you are gone? How long should he be in the crate? We can help you implement crate training so your puppy loves it.

The program includes three sessions. If you need more, we can certainly add them. We can provide fewer sessions if you want, but the scope of the topics would be reduced and the free puppy social wouldn't be included.
We recommend that we come to your home unless you live outside of our travel radius. This helps us see your home environment and how to best address potty training and crate training in your environment. The price includes access to our TrainTrack™ online portal, where you can easily access handouts and other materials that we discuss with you.
This program is geared towards a lot of fundamental information to help you get started. If you want to work on manners training (e.g., listening, leash walking, focus, not jumping, etc.), those would occur in normal private lessons. Just ask us about this.
You can request other topics if not mentioned above.

Free Puppy Social

The cost of the Puppy Prep Program includes a free puppy social, so you can get started right away with all-important socialization.

Puppy socials are an hour of games, training exercises, and rest time, all with puppies of a similar size and temperament.

We have three types of socials:

• Whippersnappers, for puppies who are playful and rambunctious
• Tiny Tots, for smaller, younger puppies
• Confidence Builder, for shy puppies

You can learn more about puppy socials by going back to the main Training page, and choosing Puppy Socials.

Price

The price for our Puppy Prep Program is:

• $405 total, for three sessions
• $30 additional if we come to your home for the three sessions
• The program includes one free puppy social