Foundational Imprint (4-8 Weeks)

In-House Litters Only Not For Hire

 

 

 

 

Our three guiding principles when it comes to dog training are patience, honesty, and commitment. First of all, dogs of all levels and breeds will test your patience.  But nowhere is this more significant than with high-drive K9.  It takes a unique individual to handle dogs willing to go through them to get at what they want.  Secondly, a trainer must be equally honest about each dog's potential as well as their limitations; 'every dog has holes' meaning character flaws much like their human handlers. Finally, there is commitment. A trainer must be persistent and resolute to complete the job. A well established fact in this field is that training K9 is a marathon not a sprint. 

 

The beginning before the beginning; the foundation. Our in-house bred litters get a leg up as their training on their second to third day of life with bio-sensor stressing. This is primarily environmental, increasingly loud background noise, handling of paws, simple touch, handling upside down, and unpredictable surfaces. Generally contracted outside litters do not arrive until the fourth week when eyes and ears have developed. At this stage we encourage competition among siblings biting of pant legs, chamois on flirt poles, introduce wobble boards, and introduce travel kennels that serve as shelter, comfort, and individuality. But there is a catch.  We only introduce on average three travel kennels, which must be competed for. Between week four and eight we focus on the bite and food drives almost exclusively. Meal times become a loud, dynamic, and stressful environment for these four weeks—a sort of 'puppy hell-month'. During this time they learn to ignore all other distractions and focus exclusively on the task at hand. In fact during these weeks our litters are at their toughest to handle. For our 'design' we encourage and promote over the top food drive as we find it the quickest process for later clicker shaping. A food driven dog can do more reps than a toy reward dog hands down. As we do not deal in 'green dogs' we need motivated learners in order to make the best of the single year most pups will stay with us. This intense focus on building food drive will almost always lead to a future of spinning in kennel and clawing at the corners when initially aware of feeding time. Also trainers may be prone to bleeding from reward hand. But all of these behaviors can be relaxed and mitigated once the connection between dog and trainer develops. Initially we just want raw power. Our analogy that we feel best explains our aim is that like a sculptor of marble, we can take away, but we cannot add. Therefore these first few weeks cannot be wasted.