4-Week
Doodle
School™

Stokeshire Designer Doodles offers pre-trained doodle puppies through our 4-Week Doodle School™ program — available exclusively to families who have placed a puppy with us. Unlike programs that train generic puppies for resale, every Doodle School puppy is matched to a specific family before training begins, and the program is tailored to that family's goals and lifestyle.

Our trained doodle puppies graduate at approximately 12 weeks of age with a meaningful foundation in crate comfort, potty rhythm, early obedience, grooming desensitization, leash exposure, and emotional regulation — the skills that make the transition home dramatically smoother.

Most Doodle School graduates will have been introduced to Sit, Down, Come, Kennel, Wait, and a positive interrupter ("nope" or similar) using positive reinforcement and hand signals. These are introductions — not finished behaviors. Consistency and continued practice at home are what create reliable, durable commands.

The more significant outcomes aren't commands — they're emotional. A Doodle School graduate arrives knowing how to settle, how to accept handling, how to recover from novelty, and how to exist calmly in a home environment. That nervous system foundation is what makes everything else trainable.

The value of Doodle School isn't primarily in the commands — it's in the first weeks at home. Families who bring home a Doodle School graduate consistently report that the transition was calmer, smoother, and significantly less overwhelming than they anticipated. The puppy already knows the crate. The potty rhythm is already started. The handling is already familiar.

For families with young children, demanding schedules, or first-time puppy owners, the investment typically pays for itself in the first two weeks. For families committed to continuing professional training, Doodle School provides the foundation their future trainer would otherwise have to build from scratch.

No. And any program that promises a "fully trained puppy" at 12 weeks should be approached with skepticism. Puppies, like children, are individuals with developing minds and natural learning curves. What Doodle School produces is a meaningful foundation — not a finished product.

Think of it as Kindergarten: key skills are introduced, routines are established, and the puppy arrives prepared. Long-term mastery requires continued practice, consistency, and — ideally — ongoing work with a professional trainer in your home. We strongly recommend all Stokeshire families continue with a professional trainer after their puppy comes home.

Traditional board-and-train programs place dogs in a kennel or training facility environment during the day and return them to a crate at night. Stokeshire Doodle School is fundamentally different: your puppy lives in a trainer's home, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for the full 4-week program.

This means every moment — meals, naps, play, outings, evenings — is an opportunity for gentle, consistent shaping. The trainer's home becomes your puppy's first world outside of Stokeshire, and the transition to your home is a continuation of a home life already in progress — not a shock from kennel to family.

Additionally, our program is exclusively for Stokeshire puppies and begins during the critical 8–12 week imprinting window — a period most board-and-train facilities don't accept dogs at all, since this age requires constant supervision and specialized developmental knowledge.

Stokeshire Doodle School is available for all puppies raised through our program, including Australian Mountain Doodles, Golden Mountain Doodles, Bernedoodles (standard and mini), and other Stokeshire-bred companions. Because training begins at 8 weeks and is calibrated to the individual puppy's temperament and development, the program adapts to each dog's natural pace and personality — regardless of breed cross.

Absolutely — and we communicate this clearly with every family. Doodle School is the beginning of a training journey, not the end. We strongly encourage all families to work with a professional positive-reinforcement trainer in their home after go-home, and many of our families go on to pursue AKC Canine Good Citizen (CGC) certification and beyond.

The foundation we build makes every subsequent training experience more effective. A puppy who already knows how to settle, engage, and accept handling is a puppy any professional trainer loves to work with.

Most likely, yes — and that's developmentally normal. The goal of our potty training protocol is a predictable rhythm and an established awareness, not perfection. Your puppy will understand the concept of going outside and will have a practiced schedule. The frequency of accidents at home will depend on how consistently you maintain the routine established in training.

The first few weeks at home require the same timed-outing rhythm your trainer used. Families who follow the established schedule consistently report a dramatically smoother potty training experience than families who start from scratch with an 8-week-old.

If you live nearby, visits may be scheduled directly with your trainer when appropriate and consistent with your puppy's routine and safety. We're thoughtful about timing — early in the program, visits can disrupt the bonding and settling process. Your trainer will advise on the right window.

Regardless of proximity, families receive weekly updates, photos, and progress documentation through the Stokeshire App™ throughout the program.