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Puppy Training A puppy's experiences before the age of six months play an important role in determining his or her ultimate potential as a retriever. If you want your puppy to have a head start on development as a competition retriever, or if you do not have the time to socialize and train your puppy, consider retriever puppy training. Puppy training includes socialization, manners, gentle obedience training, lots of birds, exposure to gunfire and decoys, and plenty of marking practice in various types of cover, terrain and water. Training is based mainly on repetition and reward and is designed to produce maximum confidence and enthusiasm for retrieving. All puppies receive lots of physical contact and are held and petted daily. They spend time in the house learning house manners. We also take them to downtown areas and parks to build their confidence around traffic and other noises and strange people. Visitors to the kennel are encouraged to help with the socialization process. By the age of six months, most puppies in our program will heel, sit, and come when called quickly, happily, and reliably. They will respond immediately to a whistled "here" command at distances of 50-100 yards. Their enthusiasm for birds will be well-developed. The range at which puppies mark and retrieve at that age varies with their rate of development, but we teach them all to sail out with confidence on land or water, and to actively hunt the area of a fall. Many puppies are doing simple doubles and retrieving at distances over 100 yards in water (weather permitting) and 200 yards on land by this time. Also by the age of six months, puppies we train have good manners and do not jump up, mouth people's hands, or barge into anyone. They know their names and the "kennel" command, and more importantly, they understand the teaching-learning relationship. Usually they progress much faster than average through early formal training. We will accept puppies in training at any age above six weeks. Please call or email us if you are interested in placing a puppy in our training program. We can be reached at (910) 245-2603 between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern time. You can read about our approach to puppy raising and training in the articles on puppies in our Library.