““What Your Doodle Prep School Tuition Really Covers””

All-Inclusive • $875 Per Week • In-Home Stay & Train

If you’ve ever looked at our training program total and thought,
“Wow… that sounds like a lot just for training,”
this post is for you. ✨

At Smeraglia, we don’t just “train dogs.”
We carefully raise Super Puppies — healthy, confident, happy companions who are ready to step into your family and your life with ease. Behind every dollar is a real person staying up late with your puppy, cleaning up messes, soothing fears, and gently shaping a little heart that has been entrusted to us.

Below is a full, transparent breakdown of exactly what you’re investing in when you choose our 16-week Super Puppy Program. Spoiler alert: it is so much more than commands.

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What Your Doodle Prep School Tuition Really Covers

All-Inclusive • $875 Per Week • In-Home Stay & Train

When families first see a total like $13,980 for the full 16-week Super Puppy Program, it’s easy to think:

“That’s a lot just for training.”

But the truth is:
You’re not paying $13,980 just for obedience work.

You’re investing $875 per week in a completely all-inclusive, in-home stay-and-train program that covers every single need your puppy has while living with our professional trainers.

It also covers something you can’t easily put a price tag on: the emotional labor, patience, gentleness, and wisdom it takes to guide a sensitive young doodle through some of the most important, messy, and vulnerable weeks of their entire life.

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How the $875/Week Breaks Down

Each week, your puppy’s tuition is $875, and that amount includes:
•   Professional Training – approx. $300/week
Daily one-on-one and small-group sessions, obedience, manners, confidence building, and customized work based on your puppy’s temperament and goals (family companion, therapy prospect, etc.).
•   Boarding, Food & Daily Care
Safe, cozy in-home lodging, premium food, structured routines, supervised play, enrichment, rest time, and loving hands-on care.
•   Grooming & Coat Care
Regular baths, brushing, nail trims, coat maintenance, and gentle grooming table handling so your puppy learns to enjoy grooming instead of fear it.
•   Medical & Veterinary Care
Ongoing health monitoring, vaccines and parasite prevention as needed, wellness checks, and all basic vetting.
When your puppy completes all four training blocks and reaches Block 4, the spay/neuter surgery is included (comped).
•   Media, Videos & Communication
Weekly video updates of training progress, personality, and milestones so you stay connected and involved throughout the journey.
It is the client’s responsibility to download and save these videos for a keepsake.
•   Crate, Toys, Treats & Supplies
Crate, bedding, toys, treats, training tools, and everything we need to keep your puppy happy, safe, and learning.
•   Transportation
Safe and reliable transportation to and from veterinary appointments, grooming, and scheduled outings.

There are no surprise add-on fees for boarding, routine vet visits, grooming maintenance, or media updates—it’s all included in the weekly tuition.

And behind each of these bullet points is a trainer who is up at 2 a.m. listening to a homesick puppy cry in the crate, cleaning up yet another accident, and choosing—over and over—to respond with patience, gentleness, and positive reinforcement instead of frustration.

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Our 4 Training Blocks (16-Week Super Puppy Path)

Your puppy’s journey is divided into four 4-week BLOCKS. Each phase builds on the one before it, and each one brings its own unique challenges, growth, and heart work—for the puppy and for the trainer.

Block 1 – Starter Puppy Program (Weeks 1–4)

Investment: $3,495

Block 1 is, without question, one of the messiest and hardest phases—and also one of the most important. This is where your puppy leaves behind everything they have known: their littermates, their routine, their familiar environment. They are suddenly in a new place, with new people, new smells, new expectations.

Foundations: potty training, crate training, name recognition, basic commands, handling, confidence, and early social skills.

What this really looks like behind the scenes:
•   We are the ones who listen to the crying and barking in the crate all night long, night after night, while your puppy learns that the crate is safe and not scary.
•   We clean up the poop in the crate and the accidents on the floor, again and again, with love and consistency instead of irritation.
•   We gently introduce all the brand-new things your puppy has to be exposed to in order to grow into a confident, well-adjusted dog.

Puppies also naturally go through several fear periods in these early stages. If those fear windows are not handled properly, you can actually do more harm than good. This is where experience matters. Handling fear with harshness or aversive tools can create long-lasting insecurities. Handling fear with calm confidence, positive associations, and patience builds trust and resilience.

Block 1 also includes something that almost no other training program in the country can offer: a built-in “match assurance” window. During these first four weeks, our trainers are watching your puppy up close every single day—temperament, sensitivity, energy level, confidence, how they recover from stress, how they bond, and how they line up with the lifestyle your family has described. If, after this close observation, we (the trainer, our team, and you as the client) genuinely feel that this puppy is not the best fit for your family—or that there is another puppy in our program who would be a better match—this is the time when we can make that change. Within Block 1, you have the rare ability to lateral-move to another puppy within our program without losing your training tuition. We can offer this because we are both the breeder and the training program. If you were working with a trainer in another city who doesn’t have access to a carefully evaluated pool of puppies, they might tell you, “This isn’t the right dog,” but they cannot rematch you. We can. That’s why Block 1 is not just hard work—it is a priceless layer of protection and peace of mind for your family.

In Block 1, we’re not just teaching skills—we are building the emotional foundation that everything else rests on.

Block 2 – STAR Puppy Program (Weeks 5–8)

Total Investment Through Week 8: $6,990

Advances obedience, leash skills, manners in the home, and the ability to listen around moderate distractions.

By Block 2, puppies are beginning to understand the “language” of training—but that doesn’t mean it gets easier. They’re gaining confidence, testing boundaries, and still working through developmental stages and fear periods. This is where:
•   We continually reinforce good choices and calmly redirect the not-so-good ones.
•   We hold the line with consistency so the puppy feels secure.
•   We keep training positive and relationship-based, even when the puppy is pushing and testing.

We use positive reinforcement training, not harsh, aversive methods. Aversive training uses intimidation, fear, and pain to force compliance—and with a doodle, that can literally break their little spirit.

These dogs are not German Shepherds, Malinois, or Dobermans. They are very sensitive, human-like dogs who feel everything deeply. You have to know how to train a doodle. When you train them right, their hearts open up and they blossom. When you train them harshly, they shut down.

We see, far too often, puppies who leave us beautifully soft and confident, then go to another trainer who uses aversive tools and methods—and it breaks their little hearts. It undoes confidence and trust that took months to build. That’s why we’re so passionate about sharing our philosophy: gentle, consistent, positive, and deeply relationship-focused.

Block 3 – Social Puppy Program (Weeks 9–12)

Total Investment Through Week 12: $10,485

The “out & about” phase: car rides, public outings, new places, new people, and controlled exposure so your puppy becomes confident and adaptable in real-world environments.

This block brings its own emotional and training challenges:
•   New environments can trigger new fears—a strange sound, a slippery floor, a crowd, traffic noise.
•   Our trainers are constantly reading the puppy’s body language and emotional state, helping them work through those fears rather than avoid or suppress them.
•   We pair new experiences with positive reinforcement, safety, and calm leadership so that the world feels big and exciting, not scary and overwhelming.

Done wrong, socialization can overwhelm or traumatize a puppy. Done right, it creates a dog who can walk into life with confidence. Block 3 is where we carefully thread that needle.

Block 4 – Super Puppy Program (Weeks 13–16)

Total Investment Through Week 16: $13,980

This is the finishing school phase—the point where your puppy is polished, confident, and ready to come home.

By the time we reach Block 4, we’ve invested months of emotional and physical energy into your puppy. We’ve held them through fear periods, cleaned up the messes, and celebrated tiny wins that add up to huge transformation. Block 4 is where all that love, structure, and consistency comes together.

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🌟 Block 4: 16-Week Super Puppy Program Highlights

By the end of Week 16, your puppy doesn’t just “know some commands”—they come home as a fully prepared Super Puppy.

Here’s what that looks like:
•   📚 Command Mastery
A solid understanding of SIT, DOWN, COME, STAY, LEAVE IT, and more—with focus on distractions, duration, and distance.
•   🐾 Advanced Manners
Your puppy is coached to make good choices: limiting mistakes like jumping and mouthing, rewarding calm behavior, and ignoring attention-seeking bad habits.
•   🌜 Crate Training
Able to sleep up to 8 hours quietly through the night with no accidents, and to rest calmly during daytime naps. We tailor crate routines to match your household schedule.
•   🏡 House Training
A predictable potty schedule and clear signals when they need to go out, built around your family’s typical routine.
•   🎈 Personality & Temperament
A confident, well-rounded puppy, thanks to proper socialization, exposure, and thoughtful handling.

•   ❤️ Health & Wellness
Weekly health checks, up-to-date vaccinations, parasite prevention, and spay/neuter completed during this phase.

•   🎥 Personalized Media Updates
Weekly video updates, graduation photos, and a professional groom before going home.
•   🚦 Obedience & Everyday Behavior
Control over common puppy challenges like jumping, mouthing, chewing, pulling, and over-excitement, with clear structure and routines.
•   🌍 Real-World Socialization
Travel and exposure to different environments (surfaces, sounds, people, and places) that create a well-socialized, behaviorally sound puppy.
•   🕒 Customized Daily Schedule
Eating, drinking, and potty routines are adjusted to match your home life, so the transition is smooth when your puppy arrives.
•   🛁 Grooming Familiarization
Gentle introduction to brushing, ear cleaning, nail trimming, and teeth brushing, making future professional grooming visits much easier.
•   🏅 CGC Ready
With continued practice at home, your puppy is well on the way to earning their Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Certification) after 1 year of age.
•   🆔 Microchip & Safety
Your puppy leaves with microchip identification and all veterinary records organized for you.
•   🤗 24/7 In-Home Care
Around-the-clock care in our trainers’ homes, making sure your puppy is not just well-trained, but a great match for your family.

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Additional Benefits You’ll Notice at Home
•   🚫 Fewer housebreaking accidents
•   ✅ Obedience to basic commands
•   🏥 Excellent health maintenance and records
•   🐶 Confident, worry-free socialization
•   📖 Ongoing training support and guidance
•   🚶‍♂️ Safer walks and car rides
•   🏠 A smoother, calmer transition into your home

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Our Commitment to You
•   🔬 Extensively health-tested parent dogs
•   👨‍🏫 Raised by professionals with service/therapy dog quality in mind
•   🤝 Visitors welcome by appointment to meet our well-trained, housebroken pups

And there’s one more thing we are very proud to say:

Our trainers have, collectively, more doodle training experience than anyone in the world.
The English Goldendoodle was started right here, and we’ve been breeding and training these dogs for many, many years. We didn’t just read about doodles—we helped pioneer them. We know how their minds work, how their hearts feel, and how to bring out the very best in them with kindness, structure, and expertise.

This is why we care so deeply about what happens after your puppy leaves us. When a doodle that has been raised with gentle, positive training is handed over to a harsh, aversive trainer, their sweet spirit can be damaged. It breaks our hearts when we see that happen. These dogs are sensitive, intuitive, almost human-like in their emotional world. They need people who understand that.

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In Short…

$875 per week covers everything your puppy needs—training, boarding, food, medical care, grooming, toys, crate, media, transportation, and 24/7 professional care.

You’re not just buying training;
you’re investing in a carefully raised, healthy, confident Super Puppy who has been loved, understood, and guided by some of the most experienced doodle trainers in the world—ready for life with your family. 🐾💖