The Property

Nestled in the heart of Capay Valley, we offer our canines a secure farm experience with fenced yard, acreage, and orchard. With a peaceful pastoral setting and high-touch experience where puppies and dogs learn, grow and thrive in nature.

We limit enrollment to a selection of puppies per cycle. This ensures your dog receives dedicated, one-on-one attention, sessions and care.

Our expansive farm provides a rare highly controlled environment for young puppies that may not be ready for 'real-world' socialization. Here, safely we build foundation skills, confidence, impulse control, recall and more. Your puppy returns home a balanced well mannered family companion, prepared for a lifetime of adventures.

Puppy Training Program

Week 1: Foundation, Bonding, & Farm Familiarization

The focus is on acclimating the puppy to the new environment, building a bond with handlers, and establishing core behavioral foundations.

• Environmental Acclimation: Introducing the puppy to unique farm sounds (wind, distant livestock, engines) and textures (gravel, mud, tall grass, hay).

• Hand-Feeding / Non-verbal habit building exercises

• Core Marker Training: Charing the verbal markers to build clear communication.

• Name Recognition & Focus: Reward - Based eye contact games around light outdoor distractions.

• House Training Basics: Establishing a strict, consistent routine for crate training & potty schedules.

• Basic Positioning: Introducing mechanics of "Sit", "Down", & "Hand Targets".

Week 2: Socialization & Controlled Exposure

This week utilizes the farm setting to safely expand the puppy's worldview during the critical socialization window.

• Impulse Control: Teaching "Leave It" with low-value items & waiting calmly for the food bowl.

• Leash Foundations: Introducing pressure-and-release concepts & the "heel" position on flat, uniform paths.

• Novel Objects Exploration: Walking over, under, and around farm items like tarps, stairs, and ramps to build body awareness.

• Handling & Grooming Prep: Daily cooperative care handing (touching paws, ears, brushing out farm debris) to prepare for future vet & grooming visits.

• Livestock Desensitization: Safely viewing larger animals (cows) from a secure distance to reward calm, non-reactive behavior.

Week 3: Real World Manners & Distraction Proofing

Training moves into active farm areas to test commands under higher leves of real world distractions.

• Reliable Recall (The "Come" Command): Practicing long-line recalls across open pastures & dirt paths, competing with outdoor scents & moving objects.

• Advanced Impulse Control: "Stay" & "Wait" protocols at pasture gates, doors, & entryways.

• Loose Leash Walking: Walking calmly past active farm distractions like moving farm hands, moving vehicles at a distance, or animal scents.

• Polite Greetings: Teaching the puppy to sit to greet visitors instead of jumping.

• Structured Play: Supervised socialization sessions with stable vaccinated puppy neutral adult farm dog-Milo!

Week 4: Independence, Proofing, & Owner Integration

The final week cements the behaviors in multiple contexts & prepares the puppy to successfully transition back to their families.

• Off-site Proofing: Short excursions off the farm to ensure behaviors transfer outside the farm environment .

• Duration & Distance: Extending the criteria for "Sit-Stay" & "Down-Stay" while handlers move further away.

• Create confidence: Practicing independent downtime in the create during active farm operations to prevent separation anxiety.

• Graduation Assessments: A comprehensive review of all commands to ensure consistency & reliability.

• Owner Handover Session: A mandatory, hands-on session where I teach families how to maintain cues, markers, & routines at home.