Started Puppy Training Program
This program is for family's that want a started puppy. I will help you choose which puppy is the best fit for your family from the litter of puppies you will be purchasing. Usually this is done when the puppy is 7 to 8 weeks old.
Our puppies are well socialized beginning at day 3 after they are born. We incorporate a method called the “Super Dog Program” that is used to develop a confident, smart, ready to learn puppy and dog. We also puppy test our litters to see what puppy will be successful as service dogs, hunting companions and most important a great family pet before they go to their new family.
Your puppy will stay with us here at Kentfield Kennels until he/she is 4 months old and will receive daily training. Our positive reinforcement methods help to build a relationship with respect and trust, not fear and punishment. We use treats, toys, praise - whatever your dog finds rewarding. These methods help to create dogs that are happy and enthusiastic to learn. This method of training often provides quality, long - lasting results. You may also want to sign up for a course with the American Kennel Club to get a head start with your training when you bring your puppy home, click here to sign up for the free coarse.
We are offering brush up classes for our trained puppies here at our Sebastopol, CA kennel on Saturdays from 12:30 - 1:00. Class size is limited, please make reservations.
Each puppy enjoys our special area built for our training program, their own clean, comfortable crate and individual kennel. We encourage our puppy's family to bring a sturdy stuffed animal and/or bedding that your puppy will sleep with and will take to his/her new home. This makes the transition from our kennel to the puppy's new home much easier.
We do require all started puppies in training have dog health insurance. Accidents and injuries are rare, yet they do happen.
Our Started Puppies in our training program are trained to qualify for their Canine Good Citizen Certificate at the end of our program.
We are fortunate to have an American Kennel Club evaluator on site that is able to perform the CGC test. Clients will be able to take the test on the day you take your Started puppy home and submit the application to the American Kennel Club to have this title added to their puppies pedigree.
The Canine Good Citizen Program lays the foundation for other fun AKC activities such as AKC Rally, Obedience, Tracking, Agility and a new addition- the AKC Therapy Dog title.
For more information about CGC Certificates and qualifications click here
Areas we focus on using voice commands
& hand signals
- Crate training
- Sleeps all night in crate.
- Encourage outdoor potty
- Introduce walking calmly on leash
- Heel on leash without pulling, including following the handler when turning left and right.
- Sit automatically when handler stops walking.
- Walks politely without jumping up on people or sniffing excessively at humans.
- Sit, stay & come
- Sit
- Stay
- Come directly to front & center of handler when called.
- Discourage jumping
- Allows a stranger to pet while puppy stays in a sit position.
- Puppy will not get up, jump or bark when a stranger approaches or while it is being petted.
- Introduced to Wait
- Wait at gates and doorways
- Wait for food dish to be place on floor
- Exposed to Walking up & down stairs
- Bait training
- Rewards puppy for learning a new command.
- Teaches a soft mouth.
- After command is successfully learned reward is transitioned to petting and "good dog"
- Nipping & mouthing corrections
- Socialized with other dogs & lots of people
- Socializes with all dogs here including adult dogs.
- Learning dog pack manners.
- Exposed to "Quiet"
- Stop excessive barking
Please remember that these are Started Puppies that have been introduced to these training points, they will need to continue in training when they go into their new family home to establish good habits that will carry on into adulthood. As with children, they will test you to see if you know what they can do.
These puppies have learned to learn and are eager to please you. Enjoy them as much as we have!
You will be invited to visit your puppy every 1st & 3rd Friday or Saturday of the month if it is being trained at our Sebastopol, CA kennel. We have found it is best to limit visitors that are coming to see their started puppy to just 2 adults per visit, you may bring your children, but it makes the visit a little more distracting.
When your puppy has had their second vaccine we encourage you to take the puppy out for a walk in a local park or just down our private road so that your puppy can get to know you & you can see how your puppy is progressing.
We also train puppies at our apprentice Jenny of OKE Labradors kennel in Maxwell, CA. Our kennel in Crescent, OK that is run & managed by our son, Jake trains a limited number of puppies on our 40 acre ranch. This location is perfect for family's that want a puppy that is trained around horses & cattle. When the puppies are finished being trained at our Oklahoma kennel we will fly back to pick up puppies and bring them back to California.
Please read our visitation requirements before coming to our home and kennel. This is not the time to try to introduce another pet to your puppy, you want to devote 100% of your attention on your new puppy for these short visits.
We work with a limited number of puppies in this program. This assures that your puppy will get the time it needs to become a puppy ready to learn and eager to please for your family. We have found that our excellent puppy raising from the day the puppy is born makes our training program quite unique and successful.
All of our puppies are registered with the American Kennel Club, micro-chipped and enrolled in the AKC ReUnite program before they go into a new family home. Our puppies are also given 3 separate puppy shots, treatment for Coccidia & giardia, heartworm and flea treatment started. This service is included in training fee paid weekly for your puppy. Puppies will have a complete puppy packet including information on shots, worming schedule and medication that has been given, that you will need to share with your vet. A written guarantee, and the basic schedule of sleeping and feeding that the puppy has been raised on will also be some of the information in your puppy packet.
Our fee for this service is $400 a week for a minimum of 8 weeks of training.
