Samantha from Scottsdale, AZ contacted us as soon as she decided to purchase Brody, a Golden Retriever from a local breeder. She knew she wanted to start training as soon as Brody was brought home.
We gave Samantha some very helpful tips to start studying even before he came home…including books to read, supplies to purchase and how to set up her apartment for his care. As soon as Brody was brought home we scheduled puppy lessons to begin simple and engaging training. We began by using treats as a form of enrichment and relationship building and used a technique called “luring” to help Brody begin to understand behaviors and how to associate them with commands. We also started Brody off walking around dragging a cat leash so he could start to understand how a leash would feel.
Samantha had decided to sign Brody up for our Puppy Boarding School program and we scheduled his stay with us for after Brody’s third round of booster vaccinations, so we knew he would be completely safe around the other dogs he would be engaging with. This meant his stay was when he was about four months old.
Brody was a quick learner and easily had a foundation for commands like “place”, “come”, “sit” and “down”. He was also a good leash walker as Samantha had already begun teaching him how to understand that pulling was not an option while on leash. On walks he would get excited to see other dogs, but not over react to them and he would listen to commands when needed.
Brody’s biggest success was socializing with the other dogs during his stay. He learned how to politely greet and play with other dogs. He started to understand play bows, pressure, corrections and pauses. Brody has even become a helpful dog in teaching others how to play well because he stays with us whenever Samantha has to travel out of town. Brody is a wonderful dog who we are so glad to see regularly and continue not only his training together, but with others as well.
