Puppy training
House training, crate training, socialization, bite inhibition, basic obedience, polite manners. Our Puppy 4-Lesson Package starts at $350. Older puppies who need a jump-start get the 1-Week Foundational board-and-train. Real structure, no platitudes.
The critical windows
Puppies have biological windows for socialization and foundation learning. Missing them is not the end of the world, but training during them is dramatically more efficient.
This is the single most important developmental window in your puppy's life. Positive exposure to people, dogs, surfaces, sounds, environments, handling, and grooming during these four weeks builds confidence for the next 12 years. Miss this window and you spend the dog's adult life backfilling.
Crate training takes hold. House training becomes reliable. Basic obedience (sit, down, come, leash walking) clicks. The puppy can hold short sessions of attention and start retaining skills.
Bite inhibition is locked in. Polite door behavior, place command, calm settling become real skills. The puppy is mentally ready for slightly more demanding structure — this is when the difference between an "okay" puppy and a great one shows up.
Adolescence is coming. Dogs that have not had foundation work by this point start regressing into pulling, jumping, ignoring cues, and selective listening. Foundation laid now means the adolescent regression is short and shallow rather than long and deep.
The right starting point depends on your puppy's age, your schedule, and how much structure you want from day one.
4 sessions at our Mullica Hill HQ
Best for: Owners who can travel to our facility. Lower cost, group-friendly atmosphere, exposure to our other client dogs in a controlled way.
4 in-home sessions
Best for: Owners who want the work done in the environment the puppy actually lives in. Higher cost reflects travel and the in-context training.
1 week residential at HQ
Best for: Older puppies (4-5 months+) who need a jump-start. The same Foundational program our adult-dog clients use, scaled to puppy attention span. Best when you want the fast restart and want the manners locked in before adolescence.
The 4-Lesson Package is the first step. Many of our puppy graduates move into one of the three following programs as they hit adolescence.
Take the 10-item AKC Canine Good Citizen test. We are an on-site evaluator. From $1,050.
See CGC3-week Transformational board-and-train at 6+ months. Off-leash reliable in real environments. $6,000.
Off-leash programFor puppies with the temperament for hospital, school, and library visits. From $1,200.
Therapy programNow. The day you bring them home. The socialization window is open from 3-4 weeks and closes around 16 weeks — every day inside that window matters. We start our 4-Lesson Package as early as 8 weeks (the day after most puppies come home from a breeder).
Yes, with appropriate precautions. The behavioral risk of under-socializing a puppy is higher than the disease risk of careful, controlled exposure. We expose puppies to clean environments, screened dogs, hard surfaces, sounds, and handling — not random dog parks and unvaccinated dogs. AVSAB and the AAHA both recommend early socialization paired with vaccination as the safer combined approach.
Yes. Puppy mouthing peaks around 8-14 weeks and is part of how puppies learn bite inhibition — the skill of controlling jaw pressure. We teach you the redirection and structure that resolves it within a few weeks. Puppies that never get coached through this often grow into adult dogs with poor bite inhibition, which is a much bigger problem.
Our 4-Lesson Package is one-on-one, which gives your puppy targeted attention and your family direct coaching. Structured socialization with our screened dogs is built into the on-site sessions. We do not run open-enrollment group classes because puppy class chaos is often counter-productive for the dogs that need the most coaching.
Tell us on the consult. Rescue puppies with fear issues, missed socialization windows, or early bite history sometimes need a longer protocol than the 4-Lesson Package. We will recommend the right starting point — sometimes that is the Foundational 1-Week Board & Train, sometimes it is private lessons with a behavior-mod overlay.
Most clients move into private lessons on an as-needed basis, or step up to the Foundational 1-Week board-and-train around 4-5 months for the deeper proofing. Some go straight into the Transformational 3-Week for off-leash work at 6+ months.
Yes. Half our puppy clients have puppies from other breeders or rescues. We do not require you to have a Bucks-bred puppy to enroll. We do recommend you bring the puppy's health records to the first session.
Tell us about your puppy — age, breed, what is going on at home. The first 30-minute call is free.