The day of your puppy’s pickup will have started like the rest in the training center. However, after your puppy’s morning training, they will have been whisked away for a bath. The bath is often a pleasant experience for water-loving labs, and we do our best to help pups become acclimated to taking baths before pickup day. 

After the bath, we will do our best to dry your pup – this (the hair dryer) is often the much scarier part of the process for puppies, and our focus is always on helping the pup have a positive experience. This is essential for your long term ability to dry your puppy, so please forgive us if your puppy is slightly wet during pickup!

By now, your puppy has likely figured out that this is not their average training day. This can be stressful! We put your puppy in a crate or pen on a towel and a frozen kong, which is a soothing treat. One of our staff members stays close by to ensure that your puppy is able to relax before pickup. 

Our lead trainer waits outside for you to arrive. After you park, she will lead you down a steep set of stairs into our food prep room, where your puppy will be waiting to meet you.

Most clients envision this as a guaranteed tackle with kisses from their puppy, but please be prepared for a more slow approach. Puppies who are stressed by a change in routine sometimes react by moving more slowly or sticking by familiar people at first.

This is normal! It does not mean your puppy will be anti-social. Their brain has been programmed for caution at this age for their own safety (because if a puppy encounters something new in the wild, it’s much wiser to go check in with mom than to charge forward to investigate). 

We will go through your puppy’s training cue by cue, and you’ll get a chance to try out the cues yourself. Puppies have short attention spans so we try to go through this efficiently as possible. We teach the puppy that the cues that they have learned from us also apply to you, and you will have a chance to ask questions. Let’s keep in mind how much the puppy has experienced already – a bath, a blow dry, and a training session. That’s plenty of excitement for most puppies for one day!