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The definition of “concept” is something conceived in the mind. A thought or a notion. So in terms of dog training, it means to teach a dog how to think. How to have thought in what they are being taught, and how to make choices.
We pick up our puppies between 7-10 days of age. We start training the day mom and the pups arrive at our facility. Our first trainings start with BioSensor Training and Early Scent Introduction.
Yes. We first and foremost want to make sure mom and all puppies are healthy. We believe starting as soon as possible is best for many reasons. The Biosensor and ESI require handling of the puppies. This human contact when the pups, eyes and ears are not open, speeds the puppy’s capabilities of learning. We have started a litter as late as four weeks on the program. While we found the end results were the same, it does take more daily time. There are other parts of the program being taught at 4 weeks, so while you can start later, sooner is better!
If you miss a day here and there it is no problem. There are specific items that will be taught when the puppies are certain ages. The time goes by quickly, so you would want to try to train even for a short session or concept every day. You will learn that each pup has a different personality, therefore they learn at different rates. You don’t want to miss the learning opportunity for any pup.
Obviously, this will be determined by your litter size. When the puppies are under four weeks, for an average litter of eight, it is about an hour or so for the entire litter. As the puppies start school and begin other adventures, it could go to an hour and a half or two hours. At 12 weeks when they begin the extended socialization, it does take longer, as you will be taking puppies places, walking the neighborhood, and so on.
No. We will mark the behavior once ACCOMPLISHED with a “yes” or “good boy” or “good girl”. We do not shape the puppies.
No. We do not lure the puppy in any of the training we do. We will use food as a reward, once they have completed the task, however, the food is never used to make the puppy do any sort of command.
Yes we do! At four weeks of age, we place a DVD in the player and it is approximately 45-60 seconds long. We are teaching them the concept of imitation by them watching. It is all in how you hold the puppy, the amount of exposure, the specific time you do this, that sets the puppy up for success. We had a puppy from a litter that at 4 weeks, he watched the DVD only two times. We asked for his “sitting” and he did it not only once, twice, but three times! We have this video on our Facebook and Instagram page. It was posted on August 8, 2017.
When the pups are two weeks old, we use a foot bath, and then a baby pool. As they get closer to 5 weeks we want them to be in a little deeper water where we can place items they can stand on. We use a portable pool purchased from Amazon for $150.00, that is 26″ deep. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FQD5ZPG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 You can get creative and use anything that is 20″-26″ deep.
Anything can be used to create levels and platforms for the puppies. Age-appropriate heights and items are necessary. Your items for equipment will change as the puppy ages. Boxes, stools, wood planks, work great for the yoga. We use balance pods, balance beams, sensory mats for our body awareness.
Yes. We use scent throughout our entire program, start to finish. There are specific scents we use with potty training, riding in the car, obedience training, matching, and object recognition. We share all of these with you and teach you how to interpret the Early Scent Introduction as well.
Dogs have specific ways to communicate with us. They will either be a personality that will focus and give great eye contact, others will bark, others will nudge. You will learn the difference and see puppies actually “talking back” with us.
We do not have a personality test, we have a way to determine personality long before personalities begin to unfold at 7 and 8 weeks. Specific scents, reactions to the water, the texture of the fur (in labs), reactions to various items of exposure will literally tell you the personality of the puppy so that you can gear the training needs for that particular pup as early as 4 weeks old.
While naturally, you would be able to charge more for your puppy, the biggest benefit will be by making a difference. Breeding is a job that is many times thankless. Endless hours, and clients really never know what an emotional roller coaster it is. They look at these cute puppies and think what an easy job. We know all of this can not be further from the truth.
The majority of society needs to be educated on just how smart puppies are. Breeders have known this for quite some time, yet never have had the tools to educate their clients. As the saying goes, the proof is in the pudding. Now your clients will see how amazing their puppy really is. Having an educated owner will help the rescue and shelter rates drop. You will help us change the world one puppy at a time!
Being a trainer is competitive. Often it is hard to find a consistent profitable client base. Having a niche or specialty can make all the difference. There are a couple of ways you could approach.
Possibilities can include:
The business model we chose, was to work with a breeder and bring the puppies and mom to our facility when they are 7-10 days old, conduct research and sell the trained puppies.
Work in conjunction with a breeder(s), charging the breeder for your services. The breeder could then charge additional for the puppies which would cover your fees.
You can work with a rescue that has litters of puppies. You could adopt the litter and then rehome at rates that would cover your cost. This will be different as you won’t have the mom. Some items such as stair training will be slightly different.
Approaching a service organization that specializes in early development for puppies for assistance work.
Turning the program into age-appropriate private puppy lessons. We actually started our research this way. With this, we found we did not do your traditional 1 hour session once a week. We did 15-20 minute sessions four times a week, for basic, and with the socialization, it was an hour. Many new puppy owners think socializing a puppy is just simply letting every person pet the dog, and taking them new places. This is not the way a puppy under 16 weeks should be socialized. This is actually how many puppies become fearful, from an owner not socializing the proper way.
These are just a few ideas where our program can be taken to benefit your business. We would love to hear any other ideas that you would like to try the program with. We hope you will join us in changing the world one puppy at a time!