A Strong Start for a Lifetime
The earliest weeks of a puppy's life offer a remarkable opportunity to begin shaping the habits, responses, and manners that will follow them into the future. At Kingridge, we thoughtfully use this precious time to introduce positive, gentle training and the foundational skills that will serve each puppy, their family, and all those who cross their paths throughout life.
The result of this early training is a puppy that grasps the basics of pleasing people for positive reward and has a head start for successful future learning. Our goal is not to send home a perfectly trained eight-week-old puppy. Rather, it is to help each puppy discover that learning is enjoyable, people are worth listening to, and calm cooperative behavior brings positive rewards.
We are a member of the International Association of Companion Animal Behavior Counselors and are passionate about training puppies. We are confident that our documented training regimen and positive-reward system are unsurpassed. Our early foundation gives families a meaningful head start as they continue the training process at home and into the future.
During weeks four through eight, we focus extensively on foundational obedience, good manners, and successful early house and crate training.
Bringing a new puppy home is one of the most exciting events you can experience. You are embarking on a precious relationship with your new Labrador Retriever that will bloom over the years as you journey together along the path of life! Sometimes however, undesirable habits and behavioral challenges can strain the relationship from the start.
We seek to prevent many of these challenges by giving each Kingridge puppy a solid foundation in obedience beginning during the fourth week of life. It is truly amazing how eager they are to learn, how quickly they develop appropriate responses, and how well they retain the new patterns they have learned with review and consistency. Of course they may still have an occasional accident or a stubborn moment. Our puppies are still just that: puppies. They are guaranteed to provide you with lots of unbelievably cute, absolutely adorable puppy antics!
Bringing home a puppy who has been raised with a strong foundation in obedience can help reduce future behavioral difficulties and provide a meaningful head start for continued puppy classes. Furthermore, it helps to facilitate a pleasant integration with your family when your new Labrador puppy can be a respectful member of your home.
Skills Established Before Going Home
Early Potty Training
Potty training begins at four weeks and integrates with the Seven Steps of Socialization. We start teaching our pups the process of eliminating outside. It takes the puppies some time to grasp the concept of house training, but by eight weeks and through a lot of consistency, close observation, and a predictable routine, our puppies begin forming the important connection between the urge to eliminate and going outdoors. They will still need patience and continued reinforcement after going home, but they leave us with a meaningful foundation already in place.
Crate Familiarity
Here at Kingridge, each puppy is introduced to their own brand-new crate at six weeks that becomes his or her own throughout their time with us and goes home with their new family. Crate training is introduced positively, slowly, and very gently. Our goal is for each puppy to view the crate as a private, comfortable den associated with rest, security, and good things. Although it may seem that puppies would naturally enjoy being in a crate, that is not always the case. Familiarity and trust must be built gradually. We take our time gently helping each puppy feel comfortable resting in his or her own space so that it is a peaceful experience filled with positive reinforcement. They are fed in their crates, given special toys to enjoy while inside, and soothed with Canine Lullabies as they slowly become accustomed to longer periods of rest and enjoyment.
Puppy Manners
We work extensively on age appropriate manners, including keeping all four paws on the floor when receiving attention, remaining calm around food, and developing gentle mouth behavior to reduce nipping from the very beginning.
Recall and Name Recognition
We begin the foundation for a reliable recall through whistle recognition, repetition, and positive reinforcement. Once each puppy has been thoughtfully matched with their new family, we begin incorporating their newly chosen name into our daily interactions and training sessions. This allows them to begin recognizing and responding to their new name before arriving home.
Sit and Stay
Puppies are introduced to the basic commands of "sit" and "stay" for attention, meals, and special treats. We have found that this early introduction provides a helpful foundation for teaching an extended stay, down, and other commands as the puppy matures.
Walk on Lead
Each puppy is gently introduced to wearing a collar and moving alongside a person on a lightweight lead. Through brief positive experiences, they begin learning to remain attentive to their handler rather than pulling away or attempting to direct the movement themselves. Becoming comfortable on Lead at this early age gives our puppies another meaningful head start for future training, outings, and obedience work.
We are delighted to offer future Kingridge families the benefit of this early obedience foundation. Because so much of a Labrador's earliest learning takes place during these formative weeks, we use this precious time to establish skills and manners that will serve the puppy, their family, and all those whose lives they touch.
The Puppy Journal
A Seamless Continuation at Home
We encourage each family who welcomes a Kingridge puppy into their home to remain consistent with the training that we have established. Training offers rewards far beyond obedience alone. The time spent learning and working together helps build trust, communication, and the foundation for a strong, lifelong relationship.
We provide each family with a detailed training journal documenting the work completed with their individual puppy. It records the skill introduced during the earliest weeks, the puppy's progress, areas in which they are excelling, and areas in which they are improving.
In the custom journal that you receive with your Kingridge puppy, we provide detailed activities to work on for the first month of puppy ownership. This creates a seamless transition in training and passes on the rewards of each pup’s early training to their new home. It is very important to continue the positive obedience training building on the foundation that we have built. Plus, with the Kingridge Puppy Journal, you will find that training is actually a lot of fun for both you and your furry new family member!
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.
Colossians 3:23