TRAINING PROGRAMS

OBEDIENCE TRAINING

In our obedience training we strive to train your dog in recall (here), sit, down, place, heel, and leash walking. We do REQUIRE up to date vaccine records from your veterinarian and if boarded, you provide the feed. We have two types of obedience training programs to choose from.

  1. Private Lessons: You and our staff will select a convenient time and meet once per week for about an hour to train your dog. Each week you will have homework to work on for the next week. These lessons are $50 each and will continue until you are pleased with your dog.
  2. Boarded: Your dog comes to Sunset Hill and stays with us for 7 days. During this time, we work with your dog twice per day and you will receive videos of our staff working with your dog so that you can continue at home. This typically gives your dog a good foundation in obedience. Our boarded obedience training is $250 for 7 days.

RETRIEVER TRAINING

$650 per month. We REQUIRE up to date vaccine records from your veterinarian and you provide the feed. We encourage our clients to come every 2 weeks or so to visit their dog and learn to work with him/her throughout their training journey. All our Gundog programs begin with obedience (please see the obedience training section for a description of that). A good hunting companion must above all be obedient to ensure enjoyable time in the field or on the water. You, as the client, tell us what you are looking for and we will tailor the training accordingly. Some only want a “duck dog” and some are looking for a hunt test champion. Depending on what you want, we offer three levels of training.

 

  1. Started: (3-4 months of training required) When your dog as completed training, he/she will be able to retrieve singles (one bird at time), heel and be steady to shot, sit and here on command as well as to whistle.
  2. Seasoned: (4-6 months of training required) When your dog has completed training, he/she will be able to retrieve doubles (marking 2 birds shot in the field or on water), heel and be steady to shot, retrieve blinds (birds not marked by the dog) using casting (hand signals and whistle commands) and diversions (birds shot while the dog is retrieving another bird).
  3. Finished: (6-8 months of training required) When your dog has completed training, he/she will be able to retrieve triples (marking 3 birds shot in the field or on water), heel and be steady to shot, retrieve blinds (birds not marked by the dog) using casting (hand signals and whistle commands), diversions (birds shot while the dog is retrieving another bird, and will be steady to honor (sit quietly while another dog retrieves the bird). The finished retriever will be running longer marks and blinds than the seasoned retriever and will be more polished all around.

UPLAND TRAINING

$650 per month. (6-8 months of training required) We REQUIRE up to date vaccine records from your veterinarian and you provide the feed. We encourage our clients to come every 2 weeks or so to visit their dog and learn to work with him/her throughout their training journey. All our Gundog programs begin with obedience (please see the obedience training section for a description of that). A good hunting companion must above all be obedient to ensure enjoyable time in the field or on the water. You, as the client, tell us what you are looking for and we will tailor the training accordingly.

When your dog has completed training, he/she will scent and point birds, be steady to wing and shot and retrieve.

VERSATILE TRAINING

$650 per month. (6-10 months of training required) This is a combination of retriever training and upland training. Please refer to those sections on the website.