Early Conditioning, Socialization & Training
The moment our puppies are born they are cared for and nurtured in our home with love. We are intentional to provide emotional support and incorporate human connection daily.
To ensure success, we start early by introducing two valuable science-based practices to each individual puppy from 3–16 days old, as this is a critical period of brain and nervous system development.
Early Neurological Stimulation & Early Scent Introduction
Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) involves brief, controlled exercises that help strengthen neurological resilience and improve a puppy’s ability to handle mild stress and recover quickly. Early Scent Introduction (ESI) introduces puppies to new, natural scents in a calm way, building sensory confidence.
Together, ENS and ESI help puppies learn that new sensations are safe and manageable, laying an important foundation for adaptability, emotional steadiness, and confidence—qualities that support future therapy work, as well as a smooth transition into family life.
Check out the video where our puppy helper Lucia is demonstrating ENS & ESI with one of our puppies ❤️ 🐾
Puppy Culture & Temperament Testing
In addition to ENS & ESI, we integrate other daily Puppy Culture practices including manding where puppies learn to the default sit, and making eye contact before anything positive happens (petting, feeding, puppy tractor ride, etc). This hardwires good manners rather than jumping, barking and pawing. We also introduce new toys designed to promote early neurological stimulation such as the jungle gym in the video clip below.
When the pups are 7-weeks old, both our certified dog trainer Luke Scanlon (CPDT-KA) of Copper Clover Dog Training and our Therapy Dog trainer help administer the Volhard Puppy Aptitude Test (PAT) for each pup. The temperament testing results are used as a tool for training after puppies go home and Luke begins working with our families.
Find out more about Puppy Culture in this short YouTube video.
Socialization
As our puppies grow, we transition into structured socialization and foundational training designed to build confidence and adaptability. They're exposed to real-world sounds - fireworks, thunderstorms, construction noise - and introduced to people of all ages in positive, low-pressure settings. Each puppy receives weekly nail trims, daily paw work, and body massage, so that being touched and handled feels natural and good from the very start. This early body awareness lays the groundwork for therapy work and sets every puppy up to be a calm, confident companion at home.
One of our favorite milestones is the kitchen walk, where puppies encounter the appliances that will be part of their daily lives. The coffee grinder is always a crowd favorite. From there, we build on that curiosity with car rides, stroller walks, golf cart rides, and more.
Our future therapy dogs get even more intentional exposure. A recent visit to our dentist's office gave a few of our pups their first taste of real-world comfort work - and the staff, who were absolutely over the moon for some puppy therapy on their lunch break, got just as much out of it.
Crate training begins early through crate games that make the crate a place puppies actually want to be. Once weaned and weather permitting, puppies head outside six or more times daily to reinforce the idea that outside is where potty happens - giving families a great head start before go-home day.
That foundation is set so families go home with a puppy that understands socialization, then we provide suggestions on how to continue socializing with their families. We connect everyone with Luke, our puppy trainer, for weekly puppy classes with only our puppies beginning at 12 weeks. Each session includes a puppy reunion, and the week our puppies go home Luke meets individually with every family to make sure they're set up for success. (Pictured: one of our 9-week-olds at Lowe's Garden Center, helping pick out plants and charming everyone in the process.)
Our puppies naturally draw people in wherever they go. One family joked that they felt like a “celebrity” with how many people that stopped to say hello. These moment are a win-win: the community enjoys a little puppy therapy and our puppies gain invaluable experience calmly and confidently greeting new people in real-world settings.
Obedience Training
Many of our families in the Raleigh area have the benefit of our local trainer Luke. He offers special packages for a 6-week puppy training class with private consultation options to give the puppies a solid start.
We send weekly newsletters to prospective puppy families to ensure everyone is prepared. Luke also provides guidance prior to his classes, which start when puppies are 12-weeks-old. The classes are not only informative, they also provide a sibling reunion each week that the puppies and their families enjoy.
We highly recommend all puppies have obedience training so they can be a part of your family and join you on outings and vacations, whenever possible. Goldens like to be with their people; this means having a well-trained dog is critical and necessary for a happy and healthy dog/human relationship.
Canine Good Citizen (CGC)
CGC is an AKC ten-skill training program that focuses on teaching the basics of good manners and obedience, instilling the values of responsible ownership, and strengthening the bond between you and your dog at home and out in the community.
We recommend CGC certification once your puppy is old enough (typically at least 1 year), and CGC is a pre-requisite to the 7-week Therapy Training class. Luke can certify local families for CGC, and we can connect anyone who is interested to our trainer for therapy dog certification.
