Labrador Companion Puppies - Koven Dog Training

Home	Our Facility	Companion Labradors	SAR Dogs	K-9 Search Team
Search Team Volunteers	Obedience Classes	Agility & Flyball Camp	Training Equipment	K-9 Ownership Application

Our family companion Labrador puppies and young adults will make an excellent addition to your home. Husband and wife owners and head trainers Steve Koven and Jean Damon have been training dogs and working with dog owners for over 20 years. Our business is family-run; raising and training dogs is our full-time occupation. We do not believe in cookie-cutter dog training. Each puppy is hand-picked for temperament from high-quality AKC registered bloodlines from breeders here in Wisconsin. Our goal is to meet our customers’ needs precisely and provide the highest quality of training for each individual puppy or dog. The cost of a family companion Lab is $3000.00 plus sales tax.

The parents of our companion dogs are OFA certified for hips, EIC clear, and we offer a 2-year guarantee on the health of your new family member. All our dogs are current of the following: spay/neuter, rabies, distemper combo, lyme, bordetella, Heartguard, and Frontline. Our companion dog training covers behavior and social skills with people and other dogs, crate training, and obedience. The obedience training covers all commands on and off-leash, as well as an introduction to basic agility training, which builds self-confidence. Training starts when our labs are 3 months old. They go through a thorough training regiment 6 days a week, and graduate the family companion program at 7 months of age, when they will be ready to interface with their new owners. Listed below are the commands that we cover.

OBEDIENCE COMMANDS

HEEL - walking nicely with loose lead on left side of handler
AUTO-SIT – while on Heel command, dog will automatically sit on the left side when handler comes to a stop
AUTO-STAY – after auto-sit, dog will automatically stay until commanded to move, or released off of command
WALK AWAY - handler leaves dog while on command
LOOK AT ME - dog looks at handler
COME – recall to handler
CENTER – auto-sit directly in front of handler
FINISH (HEEL) – dog moves from center position to the right behind the handler and auto-sits on handler’s left side
FREE SIT – dog sits on command, usually from free mode
STAY CLOSE – dog keeps close to handler, but is not on Heel command
DOWN – lie down
RECALL TO SIT – dog commanded to sit from a down position
STAY - hold position and don't move
OKAY – dog is off command, free
QUIET – stop barking, whining etc
NO – correction word generally followed by verb or descriptive of what the dog should not be doing, or the command that the dog broke (ie. no – sit)
NO BITE – do not mouth or peck at hands or feet of handler
OFF – do not jump (on people, furniture, etc)
LEAVE IT – don’t mess with that
DROP IT – dog should spit out whatever should not be in mouth
ENOUGH – time to stop
EASY – slow down, relax, or concentrate
GOOD! – praise and reward
GET YOUR BIRD! – go get toy
BRING ME YOUR BIRD! – retrieve toy
RELEASE – let go of toy or object that is allowed in dog’s mouth
STUTTER STEP – stop in place
HERE – direct dog to a spot
HURRY UP – go potty
IN – go in (house, car, crate, etc)
GO GO GO! – speed up, encourages drive

AGILITY COMMANDS

READY – keys dog up to start, usually get a bark
SET – placement of dog
COME – return to handler
OVER – dog goes over jump
IN – dog enters an obstacle (ie tunnel)
UP – dog climbs up an obstacle (ie A-frame)
EASY – slow down, concentrate
HERE - directs dog where to go
STAY – Hold position and don’t move
OKAY – dog is off command, exercise is finished
GOOD – praise and reward dog
GO GO GO! – builds up drive and speed
TURN AROUND – dog turns around

There is no such thing as a robotic dog. This means that having a well-trained dog requires consistent reinforcement of commands and good behavior. It is imperative that you, as the new dog owner(s), continue to exercise your new family member daily, as well as routine obedience workouts 3-4 times a week, and always follow up on your commands. Because of the amount of training already done with our dogs, this will be relatively easy for you to accomplish. Without this maintenance of your dog’s training and behavior, the solid foundation that you started with can slip, and regression in training will occur. It is much easier to maintain your dog’s level of training than to retrain a dog once it has regressed. We will give you a solid well-trained puppy/dog, and everything you need to maintain it. On your scheduled pick-up day, you and your family will spend the day at our facility interfacing with your new best friend, learning how to work with and train your dog. Our goal is for you to acquire a high level of comfort and confidence in your skills with our K-9/handler interfacing program, and we will work with you until this is achieved. Upon completion of this program, you will receive a certificate of completion of training for obedience and agility, as well as all your training gear (6 ft leather lead, training collar, nylon choker, and light lines to continue your off-leash work). You can always count on us for any follow-up help or questions you may have. On site delivery and training at your location is available anywhere in the continental United States. Additional costs will apply.

Please look through some examples of our family companion training.

Click here to view the Family Companion Slide Show

DOGS AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE

Our next group of family companion labrador puppies will be ready for interfacing in spring of 2010. If you are interested, please begin to make inquiries. If you would like to meet our puppies, obtain individual pictures and personality profiles of the puppies available, see a training demonstration, or have any questions, please feel free to contact us. The following pictures were taken on February 12, 2010. These puppies range from 11 to 16 weeks of age.