The Rrrest of the Story
Sometime back, I mentioned vagugly about some changes that were going to take place at Wilderwood.I didn't want to say much back then, as I didn't know many of the specifics fully, and still had a lot of questions in my mind about them. Since the change starts Oct. 1 and my updates would change, I'd figure I'd let you all know what was going on.
There are many different reason why we are changing things up, I think it for the good. I can't say I agree with everything, but am willing to give it a go.
The way we were:
Wilderwood has done things a little different than other schools from the get go. And for me it was defiantly a learning curve. (And of course now that I start learning it, it changes! lol)
Most of our pups came from breeders or shelters; around the typical 5-8weeks old, soemtimes a little older.Their first stop would be the kennels, where our puppy trainers would work with them for 6 months, training about 30 commands.
Once they had those nailed down, they would proceed to foster homes, who would keep and socialize the pups for about 4-6 months. Around 9 months old, the pups would come in to us trainers for advanced training where they would stay for about 3 months, moving once a month to a different trainer. (grr)Than came Graduation where the families came for 8 days and trained with their new dog. The End.
The way it will be: (come Oct.1)
We are chopping out the major part of the foster program, and mainly going to work with older rescue pups around 6 months and a above. We will still use some puppies from breeders our President likes...such as Bouviers pups and Golden-doodles; they will go immediately to foster homes (yay) and stay there for about six months, than move out to the kennels, where we will train with them for 20 weeks.We will have volunteers who will come and take the dogs for specific outings during the week, while they are in the kennels.
Once hit week 20, we Trainers start looking for foster homes for the dogs to go to for about 4 weeks until its time for them to graduate.
What does this mean for me?
It will take some adjusting to be sure, but there will be a lot of puppy pictures here!! :-))
There are many different reason why we are changing things up, I think it for the good. I can't say I agree with everything, but am willing to give it a go.
The way we were:
Wilderwood has done things a little different than other schools from the get go. And for me it was defiantly a learning curve. (And of course now that I start learning it, it changes! lol)
Most of our pups came from breeders or shelters; around the typical 5-8weeks old, soemtimes a little older.Their first stop would be the kennels, where our puppy trainers would work with them for 6 months, training about 30 commands.
Once they had those nailed down, they would proceed to foster homes, who would keep and socialize the pups for about 4-6 months. Around 9 months old, the pups would come in to us trainers for advanced training where they would stay for about 3 months, moving once a month to a different trainer. (grr)Than came Graduation where the families came for 8 days and trained with their new dog. The End.
The way it will be: (come Oct.1)
We are chopping out the major part of the foster program, and mainly going to work with older rescue pups around 6 months and a above. We will still use some puppies from breeders our President likes...such as Bouviers pups and Golden-doodles; they will go immediately to foster homes (yay) and stay there for about six months, than move out to the kennels, where we will train with them for 20 weeks.We will have volunteers who will come and take the dogs for specific outings during the week, while they are in the kennels.
Once hit week 20, we Trainers start looking for foster homes for the dogs to go to for about 4 weeks until its time for them to graduate.
What does this mean for me?
- I'll be working dogs at the Kennels 3 x a week.
- I won't have a SD in my house. (If I am required to, I am going to request having 1 that will stay the entire 6 month period, the switch once a month is ROUGH on my house/ life style)
- I get to work with my trainer co-workers and learn from them regularly (yay)
- More time to work and train and feel confident about the training these dogs receive.
- More Bubbles and Texas time
It will take some adjusting to be sure, but there will be a lot of puppy pictures here!! :-))
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