About Old House Labradors

Old House Labradors is first a Labrador Retriever breeder, and the training page is easy to miss behind the litters and pedigrees – but the program on it is a real one, with named packages, a stated scope and titles at the end. The site's own summary is that it "offers a wide variety of training", covering basic obedience and beginner introductions to obedience, agility and rally as sports.

Board and train

The main program is a monthly board and train. The dog lives on site and the month is built around whatever the owner's goals are, with daily training and care; owners can add further months. The site also says a dog can be tested for a title during the stay, naming obedience and the AKC Canine Good Citizen as examples – which means the assessment does not have to be a separate trip later.

The started-puppy route

The other program is the Starter Dog Package, and it is an unusual one worth understanding. It is offered to people buying a puppy here: instead of collecting an eight-week-old, the puppy stays and starts work at about two months old with socialization and exposure to small challenges, then completes the program at four months and goes home. The published scope is crate training, house-breaking, house manners and beginner obedience – attention, sit, down, stay in both positions, come when called, loose-leash walking, leave it and drop it. The site is candid that this is aimed at people who would rather skip the hardest weeks, naming "hunters, trainers, breeders, and even just families that want a well-behaved dog without as much hassel".

Customizing it

The started-dog program can be extended and directed: the site lists adding months, working toward the AKC CGC or up to CD title requirements, teaching more specific house manners, or going down a gun-dog route with introduction to retrieving, introduction to guns and collar conditioning. It also asks, plainly, that owners keep the education going at home afterwards – by working with a local trainer, attending a puppy class, or simply practicing.

Where it sits

The address is on Mount Morris – Nunda Road, at the far northern edge of this area, which for most of Steuben and Allegany is a long drive – but a residential program is the one kind where distance matters least, since the dog makes the trip twice rather than you making it weekly.