Looking to purchase a pup or dog with training?
Northwoods Training Kennel LLC offers different levels of started dogs and also offers puppies with training packages. We never know when we will have dogs to offer for sale but you can purchase a puppy from one of our litters and a training package to go with!
Things to know before pursuing a started to seasoned dog from NTK:
We crate train and big advocates for crate training. We do not house break dogs. This is the easiest thing to do for clients with some effort. I don't have the house space or time to acclimate/house break dogs when I spend all day working dogs in the kennel or outdoors.
Training never stops.... ever. No matter if you bring home a puppy or a seasoned dogs, they are not cars to park in garages with push buttons to start and run when you are ready. They need daily interaction, tune up training, and consistency.
Dogs chew, shed hair, bark, act well behaved when expected to and misbehave when you turn your back. They take advantages of situations just like children. They are animals.
Started to seasoned dogs need time to adjust. This can take 2 weeks to 2 months and even longer for some dogs depending on their temperament and your leadership. Dogs need time to learn their new leader, new family, and other "pack" members.
Our job here at NTK is to train you a working dog to perform tasks to a desired level. We are not magicians, modern day pet gurus, or follow the latest trends that society pushes. Dogs are dogs. Don't buy a dog to have if you can't maintain the dog properly and put effort in. We live in an instant oatmeal society, a dog doesn't and never has.
I don't bend my training to fit when season starts.
Things to know before pursuing a started to seasoned dog from NTK:
We crate train and big advocates for crate training. We do not house break dogs. This is the easiest thing to do for clients with some effort. I don't have the house space or time to acclimate/house break dogs when I spend all day working dogs in the kennel or outdoors.
Training never stops.... ever. No matter if you bring home a puppy or a seasoned dogs, they are not cars to park in garages with push buttons to start and run when you are ready. They need daily interaction, tune up training, and consistency.
Dogs chew, shed hair, bark, act well behaved when expected to and misbehave when you turn your back. They take advantages of situations just like children. They are animals.
Started to seasoned dogs need time to adjust. This can take 2 weeks to 2 months and even longer for some dogs depending on their temperament and your leadership. Dogs need time to learn their new leader, new family, and other "pack" members.
Our job here at NTK is to train you a working dog to perform tasks to a desired level. We are not magicians, modern day pet gurus, or follow the latest trends that society pushes. Dogs are dogs. Don't buy a dog to have if you can't maintain the dog properly and put effort in. We live in an instant oatmeal society, a dog doesn't and never has.
I don't bend my training to fit when season starts.
How do we determine the training programs and stages?
Training isn't just about making a dog do things on command or to do certain tasks by a certain milestone. Training dogs is about mental development as well as physical maturity. Not every dog is ready for certain stages of training at the same rate as another. Molding a program to a dog is better than being disappointed when a dog can't mold to the program.
Do I need a tracking dog? Can a dog do both sheds and tracking?
When clients call the first thing I ask is how many deer do you plan on tracking a year? If your answer is under 5, I wouldn't consider a tracking dog. You would not be able to sustain enough real life experience for the dog to learn from in order to be useful on a hard track. Ideally for the average person you would need 20+ deer a year to give the dog enough work to progress the training to have a useful tracking dog. Very good dogs see double to quadruple that amount per season.
Tracking dogs can be shed dogs too! The seasons don't interfere at all as well.
Tracking dogs can be shed dogs too! The seasons don't interfere at all as well.
Pricing
(Unless we see huge supply chain increases these prices are set for 2023-2024.)
Started Puppy: $4,000.00
Advanced Puppy: $5500.00
Intermediate: $ 7000.00
Finished: $8,500.00
(You are allowed 1-2 areas of training included in the pricing above. For example shed hunting and waterfowl or sheds and upland and so on. We DON'T do waterfowl and tracking combinations.)
(Unless we see huge supply chain increases these prices are set for 2023-2024.)
Started Puppy: $4,000.00
Advanced Puppy: $5500.00
Intermediate: $ 7000.00
Finished: $8,500.00
(You are allowed 1-2 areas of training included in the pricing above. For example shed hunting and waterfowl or sheds and upland and so on. We DON'T do waterfowl and tracking combinations.)
Started Puppy 8 weeks - 5 Months Old
Puppy: $2000.00
Training: $2000.00 (Includes vaccinations, deworming, and general care/board)
Training: $2000.00 (Includes vaccinations, deworming, and general care/board)
- Learning how to learn and to be receptive to training
- SIt, here, kennel, place
- Getting used to a leash, being tied, pressure
- Retrieving skills, creating consistency
- Introduction to sheds and scent
- Starting searching for sheds
- Bird/Gun ( we do this with all puppies)
- Riding, lots of walking, introduction to water (pending time of year)
- Socializing with other dogs and people
- Crate Training
- No jumping, manners, boundaries
Advanced Puppy 8 weeks - 8 Months Old
Training: $1500.00
This is a continuation of the started puppy.
This is a continuation of the started puppy.
- We solidify the obedience commands with more consistency and through greater distraction.
- Sit, stay, heel, here, kennel, place, load
- Progress retrieving after teething is complete
- Hold Conditioning
- Collar Conditioning
- Searching for and finding antlers in different cover based on pups natural ability
- Helping the dog gain confidence, gain mental maturity and consistency. Its important for a shed dog to feel comfortable being independent of you to range out.
Intermediate Dog 12 Months Old
Training: $1500.00
- This is a continuation of Advanced Puppy
- We continue working on solidifying obedience in different environments and working through different distractions.
- Continuing Collar conditioning
- Force Fetch
- Applying the FF to shed hunting courses
- Working on various terrain, water, and weather conditions
Finished Dog 14 Months old +
Training: $1500.00
This section of training is mostly field time, finishing up on manners, obedience and really bringing everything together into one finished product.
This section of training is mostly field time, finishing up on manners, obedience and really bringing everything together into one finished product.
Tracking
Advanced Puppy 8 weeks - 8 Months
Puppy: $2,000.00
Training: $3500.00
Training: $3500.00
- Learning how to learn and to be receptive to training
- SIt, here, kennel, place
- Getting used to a leash, being tied, pressure
- Being conditioned to a harness and GPS collar
- Introduction to hide, blood, liver, interdigital gland
- Bird/Gun ( we do this with all puppies)
- Riding, lots of walking, introduction to water (pending time of year)
- Socializing with other dogs and people
- Simple drags
- Drags through different scenting areas and conditions
- Once the pup can follow drags well we move to blood drops
- Once the pup can follow the drops or light sprays we work on interdigital combined with blood. Blood is lessened as the dog gains consistency and confidence.
- How much distance a dog can do well by 8 months varies. We are here to train skills, focus, and success.
- Getting used to flashlights and night walking
- No jumping, boundaries, manners
Intermediate 12 Months Old
Training: $1500.00
- Gaining distance on tracks and mental stamina
- Tracking across water
- Tracks that change cover areas (woods to field, field to woods)
- Increase in difficulty based on what the dog is ready for
Finished 14 Months old +
- All field time pushing the dog as far as we can take him/her.
- If the dog is here in the fall we will put in on some live tracks
Please be aware our job is to train the dogs to track individual scent trails, build confidence and skill. Tracking dogs need a lot of real world experienced before they can become seasoned, skilled trackers. Dogs in their first season need easy tracks to build confidence, real experience following interdigital scent trails before being put on harder tracks. The first season is the puppy season where they learn the ropes. Depending how many deer you get your dog on in a season will progress their training faster than only a few a year. Your handling skills also make a huge difference in how the dog performs.
If tracking deer was easy, everyone would do it and any dog could....
If tracking deer was easy, everyone would do it and any dog could....
Buying a started dog is always an exciting and sometimes nerve racking experience. We like to be as black and white as possible so both parties are on the same page. We will NOT hold a dog without a deposit down on the dog. Buyer WILL be subject to sign a liability form if the dog doesn't leave right away or continues training with us as apart of the purchase agreement. When we sell a started-finished dog, the dog will be overseen by our vet of choice, Dr. Lisa Reiter, before leaving our facility. We don't offer a guarantee. Our refund policy states that if you decide to back out of a started dog for any reason while the dog in training at our facility, we will relist, resell, and then refund you after the dog has sold in that order. You will be refunded the full amount you had paid down on the dog. The does not include remaining unpaid balance. If a dog "washes out" which can happen we can restart a new dog for you or offer a refund plan.