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The Importance of Training

Puppies are precious and a wonderful addition to the family. Obedience training offers your puppy the best chance of becoming a well-mannered dog you can take just about anywhere. Training your puppy yourself can be fun and rewarding but it's also a great idea to tap into the puppy training support resources around you.

 

Following is an excerpt from a well-respected puppy training book, The Monks of New Skete, which reinforces the importance of early training.

Excerpt from The Monks of New Skete: The Art of Raising a Puppy

 

The Juvenile Period (12 Weeks to Sexual Maturity)

 

"Beginning at 13 weeks you will notice more pronounced expressions of independence; the pup that only last week was in your shadow, who seemed well on her way to being trained, now begins to ignore you when you call, and during play and play sessions you have to work extra hard to keep her attention. Her rapid growth produces a corresponding increase in activity that makes her highly excitable and difficult to manage; while she does need plenty of exercise, for most owners this translates into walks with lots of pulling and lunging. Bad habits develop quickly. When guests come to the house, the juvenile pup turns into a juvenile delinquent, jumping up and making herself a pest, continually demanding more attention. It is also common for pups at this age to become very mouthy, so that by teething period (4-6 months), they are chewing on everything, people included. To top things off, your puppy will probably go through a second fear period when his behavior swings from independent and bratty (12-14 weeks), to being periodically cautious and fearful (16-24 weeks), even of things he had been formerly comfortable with.

 

Patience alone is not sufficient to get through these months. Now, more than ever, your pup needs the guiding, stabilizing presence of a competent and understanding pack leader. Take an active role in this process. Preliminary training, appropriate discipline and a reassuring attitude from you are all key elements in helping your pup through this challenging period of her life. Perhaps the biggest mistake you can make with your pup is to put off this early training under the mistaken assumption that training is what happens to a dog after six months. When owners fail to begin puppy training as soon as they adopt their pup, the pup begins to train himself. After several months of the pup doing as she pleases, ‘untraining’ will most likely involve sterner training techniques."

 

Training with Stofer's Labs
 

AKC Start Puppy and Canine Good Citizen Training & Certification. Kim Stofer is an approved AKC Evaluator and Trainer of the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) certification program. We encourage dog and puppy owners to train and test following the Canine Good Citizen and Star Puppy protocols.

 

Stofer's Puppy Training Options. Need help getting your puppy sleeping through the night, potty trained, obedience trained and molding your puppy into a well mannered well-trained dog? We will not only train your puppy, we will also train you and your family how to continue your puppies training. Below are suggested time frame options but we can customize the length of your training to your specific needs. To see an example of what we will be teaching your puppy, watch this YouTube training video

 

  • Puppy Booster ~ includes head start & foundation on Crate, potty, and basic obedience training. $700 for the 1st week & $700 for each additional week. Includes food, shots and deworming while in training.

 

  • Puppy Starter ~ We will giver your puppy a head start in the following areas: each day we will work on getting your puppy to sleep through the night in a crate, potty training, tie station, basic obedience training and manners. We will teach you and your family how to continue the training. The first 4 weeks of training are without distractions. Training duration: 4 weeks - $2,800. Includes food, shots and deworming while in training.

 

  • Solid Puppy ~ We will giver your puppy a head start in the following areas: each day we will work on getting your puppy to sleep through the night in a crate, potty training, tie station, basic obedience training and manners. We will teach you and your family how to continue the training. The first 4 weeks of training are without distractions. The second 4 weeks are with distractions so that your puppy will be more solid. AKC Canine Good Citizen test training for therapy dogs. Training duration: 8 weeks - $5600. Includes food, shots and deworming while in training.

 

  • Mature Puppy ~ includes the above description of solid puppy, (additional charge for public training).  Well trained Family, Therapy, or Service Dog tailored to your needs. Training duration: 16 weeks - $11,200. Includes food, shots and deworming while in training.

 

If you would like training for your new puppy, email kim@stoferslabs.com

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Here are a few suggestions and resources to help your training efforts.

 

  • Our YouTube training video demonstrates the basic obedience commands you will want to start teaching your puppy at 8 weeks old.  You can also view additional training videos on youtube under "Stofer's Labs".

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  • It is important that you do not say the same command over and over if your puppy is not responding (he will learn to tune you out). Say a command once and help your puppy to follow through. You must continually remind yourself that training is 80% Praise and 20% discipline. If you reverse these numbers you may cause your puppy to be insecure, afraid, or overly defiant. Puppies also need time to just be puppies. Like cats, they have sudden spikes of energy which cause them to run wildly around the house. (They are very similar to kids).

 

 

  • When your puppy is 16-weeks old and fully inoculated, I recommend taking them to basic obedience classes. Training is offered here at Stofer's Labs or at your local pet store such as Petco, PetSmart, etc.  By participating in a group class, your puppy will learn to obey you around other dogs.

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Enjoy this season in their life because they grow up so fast. If you need a place for your puppy/dog to stay while you are away on vacation or at work, we board and train dogs all year. Click here for more details.

 

Stay positive, be consistent, love them unconditionally and don’t ever give up. 

 

Service or Therapy Dogs. Many clients purchase our dogs for use as Service or Therapy dogs. We can start your pup's foundational obedience and manners training at Stofer's Labs. We then recommend that you work with a certified service dog trainer near you to fine-tune your pup's skill development to meet your personal service needs.

"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."

~ Philippians 4:8

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