Care & Training

We are pleased to share a unique aspect of puppy rearing to our program. Not only do we offer an early socialization program but we take seriously our puppies’ temperaments and teachability when we place our puppies into their forever families. Wendy Volhard, a leading animal behaviorist and trainer has designed a very accurate assessment that can be performed on young puppies as a predictor. This tool allows us to determine your puppy’s areas of strengths and growth areas (areas that might need extra attention). You may read more about the Volhard method by looking at www.volhard.com. Our goal is to provide excellent pet puppies that are highly sociable.

We also incorporate the guidance of Avidog. This is a more expanded way to raise puppies and to offer early socialization. We work hard to provide an emotionally stable puppy that is well suited to be a family pet.

We also regularly provide puppies to be trained as service companions or facility therapy dogs for hospitals, nursing homes, and schools. Our socialization process and screening process allows us to select therapy dog candidates and we are proud to offer this service to our families and our puppies. We refer these puppies to families looking for a therapy candidate and recommend they continue training with us at Fieldgate Farm.

Beyond early socialization and handling techniques, we offer puppy training programs, doggy day school, board and train, and private lessons. Even the most well-behaved dogs can always use a little training. There are 3 professional dog trainers on staff here at Fieldgate Farm: Mica, Ava, and JoAnna. Our trainers specialize in positive, science-based, fear-free, behaviorally sound, and individualized training. Our number one goal is for owners to get the most out of their relationship with their dog(s).