SVCC Schnauzer
Puppy Prep School
Pennsylvania (PA)
At SVCC Schnauzers Your Puppy’s Education Begins Before They Come Home!
SVCC Puppy Prep School’s mission is Raising Confident, Socialized, Well-Trained Miniature Schnauzer Puppies.
You want a wonderful, beloved family pet, right? We lay the foundation to develop a puppy that loves to learn!
We begin with basic potty training, getting puppy to sleep through the night, learning to follow a lure to enable learning more complex commands, socialization with people and dogs, the basics of grooming, taking the puppy for car rides and visits to new places. This is the foundation for puppies who have graduated from our SVCC Puppy Prep School and enables you to develop a beloved family member when you bring your puppy home.
Imagine bringing home a puppy who already knows how to learn!
A puppy who has been practicing sit, down, spin, touch/come, and watch me for weeks already.
A puppy who has experienced grooming, household noises, car rides, new people, other dogs and adventures outside our home.
A puppy who has been learning where to potty, how to settle, how to sleep through the night and how to live happily alongside people and other dogs.
That is what we do at SVCC Schnauzers.
Our puppies begin learning with Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) starting at 2 days old. From their earliest weeks, our puppies are raised inside our home surrounded by people and our trained adult Schnauzers. They learn through play, observation, positive reinforcement, repetition and with lots of love.
All puppies are with us until they are 8 weeks old. Families may choose for their puppy to continue in our SVCC Puppy Prep School for up to four additional weeks of individualized training. Think of it as a Montessori school for puppies. Each week of SVCC Puppy Prep School is $375 (in addition to the price of an 8 week old puppy.)
Each puppy progresses at their own pace while developing the confidence, curiosity and love of learning that we want them to carry throughout their life.
We aren't simply preparing a puppy to leave our home. We're preparing a puppy to thrive in yours.
What Is a SVCC Puppy Learning?
Depending upon your puppy's age and individual progress, your puppy will be working on:
Learning & Manners
Following a lure
Sit
Down
Spin
Touch
Watch Me
Come When Called by Name
Learning to focus even when distractions are present
Life at Home
Potty-pad training
Sleeping through the night
Spending appropriate time independently
Living comfortably with other dogs
Developing predictable routines
Grooming
Miniature Schnauzers require lifelong grooming, so we introduce this early.
Puppies become familiar with:
Combing and brushing
Standing on a grooming table
Clippers and grooming sounds
Blow dryers
Having their paws, ears, face, and body handled
Socialization & Confidence
We intentionally introduce puppies to:
People of different ages and appearances
Household noises
Car rides
New environments
Shops and public places
Friendly dogs
Everyday sights, sounds and activities
Our goal isn't simply to teach a puppy a list of commands.
Our goal is to create a confident puppy who LOVES learning.
The First Weeks of a Puppy's Life Matter
A puppy doesn't suddenly begin learning on the day you bring them home at 8 weeks old. They have been learning all along - from a few days old they are learning!
They learn whether people are safe.
They learn how dogs interact.
They learn how to respond to unfamiliar sounds.
They learn whether new experiences are interesting or frightening.
They begin developing habits.
That is why we believe puppy education begins with the breeder—not after the puppy goes home. See more about our available puppies here.
If you prefer you can train your puppy at your home. You’ll find videos showing us in the SVCC Schnauzer Training Prep School (in our home in Haverford, PA) in the playlists on our YouTube channel. Our videos provide step by step guidance and all the ways we work with our Schnauzers to be well-trained, socialized, and happy doggies. Please see our YouTube Channel Playlists!
Customized Up to 4-Weeks
Puppy Training Program
All puppies need:
1. Structure & Boundaries, 2. Training & Coaching, and 3. Love & Affection. Our YouTube Videos and Playlists show you how we provide these so that you can do this in your home too. Begin this as soon as you get your new puppy. No matter what age the dog is when you first get the dog, begin with the same sequence we show you on our YouTube videos.
A Day in the Life of A SVCC Puppy Prep School Puppy
If there is space available when you select a puppy, you may enroll your puppy in SVCC’s Puppy Prep School to get your puppy ready to be a life long learner. Even when a puppy goes to our Prep School there will be a transition when the puppy comes to your home and you will need to continue the training.
Day-to-day life in our Schnauzer Prep School looks like this from a puppy’s perspective:
We wake up in our home next to our siblings and pack leaders.
We go potty on potty pads. Shasha (Shawn) and our Mom and Doggie Aunties begin teaching us to be potty pad trained when we are just 3-6 weeks old! By 12 weeks old puppies have an established potty-pad routine.
We all do fun tricks together and eat our kibble breakfast as rewards. Then we have more potty breaks.
We listen to a wide variety of sounds and experience something new every day.
We also watch the older doggies, our Canine Coaches, doing obedience and tricks in person and on our YouTube Channel just before our nap time. We sleep well because we are tired from learning so much! The whole sequence of what we learn is shared in YouTube videos you can watch along to see how this training evolves.
This training routine repeats many times each day as we practice the new thing we are learning.
We watch the older trained puppies first and then practice what we saw being done. We are highly motivated by both toys and food – and we are inspired to want to learn. We learn so much by watching our pack!
At six weeks old we begin follow a treat as a lure, and we hear the word, “Yes!” every time we do something well. We get food and toy rewards many times every day as we learn to “sit,” “down,” “spin,” and “touch.” We also learn our names. The older dogs, our Canine Coaches, know fun tricks like “slide,” “wobble,” “dance,” “jump,” and “roll the ball!” We all enjoy watching visitors laugh when we do our fun tricks together.
Some schnauzer puppies are working on basics, like learning “sit” and “down,” and then “spin” in a well planned sequenced routine, while others are working on more challenging things like having a solid 5 minute “stay” or coming when when called while there are lots of distractions.
Once we’ve learned the basics inside, then after we’ve had all our necessary shots, our training sessions can move outside so we get comfortable being outdoors too.
It always feels fun, like a Montessori kindergarten classroom where the learning is customized to each schnauzer puppy. We have LIMITED space available for Puppy Prep School and if you are able to do the training yourself, you can follow along our YouTube Playlists that will show you step by step how to do the training in your home to integrate the puppy into your life easily beginning at 8 weeks old.
Socialization & Desensitization
From the time our eyes and ears open, Shawn Kent Hayashi (also known as “Shasha”) introduces us to many sounds and situations we might encounter later.
Shawn plays all kinds of noises for us, and Jim introduces us to one of his favorite toys, vacuum cleaners — we have a collection of 9 different types! We experience blow dryers, grooming clippers, and anything that could be scary if we don’t encounter it as a young puppy.
We also learn to be well-socialized in many scenarios.
We meet new people as we go to Ardmore, Wayne, and many surrounding towns in the Philadelphia PA area! We meet lots of people - Some big, some very little, some wearing hats, costumes, and others singing. They come to play with us or we go visit them.
In the SVCC Schnauzer Prep School we often go sit in the car, we go for rides, and we are carried around shops in an outdoor mall, a farmer’s market or a park close to where we live so we can be outside and see people and dogs who are not in our pack interacting nicely.
If we have not had our last DAPP shot we are carried or we are in a stroller when we go out in public. We are not allowed to walk on the ground outdoors until after we are have the last DAPP shot at the vet’s office.
Happy, Healthy, Thriving Companions!
Once we have gotten the final DAPP shot from the vet, then we are able to go freely out in the world!
After completing our Prep School training program, a puppy…
Will follow a lure, sit, down, touch, watch me, and come on request
Is well socialized to interact with people of all types, ages and sizes
Has grooming experience and is comfortable on a grooming table and being combed
Has experienced household noises and sounds that can be scary to older dogs if they were not exposed to them when they were young
Is up to date on vaccines and de-worming
Is confident learning new skills and in new environments
Has an established potty-pad routine
Sleeps through the night
Is comfortable meeting new dogs in supervised situations
Please allow your puppy to have nap times as well as alone time every day in a play pen when puppy comes to your new home.
YOUR PUPPY LEAVES PREP SCHOOL.
YOU DON'T LEAVE the SVCC Community!
You are invited to join our Community on YouTube, where you can stay in touch with us, watch training videos, and connect with our social group for playdates!
