Puppy socialisation, and much much more…
- What drives our puppies to behave the way they do – why do they bite so much?
- How to harness and steer their natural behaviours for fast and keen responsiveness to do as you ask
- How to communicate clearly with your puppy so that you can keep his attention – even with distractions
- How to manage and prevent unwanted behaviour and set your puppy, and yourself up for success
- Different ways of teaching basic cues, such as sit, down, leave, stop, walking nicely on lead, and recall
- How we can then teach our dogs to hold their sits and downs for longer, recall with bigger distractions, etc
- Understanding our legal obligations and responsibilities as dog owners.
All classes will include opportunities for you to ask questions and answers, and we will look at some of the recent research and science that has furthered our understanding of how dogs think, and look at debunking some of the common myths you might have heard.
The aim of this class is to achieve a level of training whereby you can earn the ‘High 5’ badge, which will incorporate:
- A sit or down stay
- Walk on lead without pulling on lead
- Recall
- Emergency stop
- Leave
These will be at very basic puppy level and not to say that your puppy is safe to be off lead in public, but that you have demonstrated your commitment to being a great dog owner. The standard set should be easily achievable by all puppies under 8 months.
The basic principles behind our puppy class lesson plans… much more than sit, stay
Learning to communicate effectively with your puppy, so that not only are you able to ensure that they are understanding what you want from them, but also you are able to understand when they are unable to comply and are asking for your help, is the most fundamental foundation of a good lifelong relationship with your dog.
We use the clicker training method of training because it offers a very simple binary communication bridge allowing your puppy to learn the core every day essential skills quickly and with trust and confidence.
As well as teaching the basic commands, (now usually referred to as ‘cues’) we will also look at how to give your puppy a toolkit for all those unexpected situations, things that do not necessarily happen every day but might suddenly arise so that your dog is able to stay calm and focused and seek your support. A good robust desensitisation programme is incorporated in to our classes which will help ensure that your dog grows to be well rounded and able to make good decisions no matter what circumstances occur.
The third set of issues we address are every day handling. Some puppies seem not to mind having their feet and ears inspected, while others find it quite difficult, however teaching all puppies to accept being handled and managed by different people will make a real difference should ever the need arise.
And finally we look at learning about dogs in general. As well as maybe coming in handy in quizzes, there is a great deal of emerging science founded on research in to canine cognition, sand the history of how we came to live side by side with dogs, how the different breed types evolved and the amazing specialist roles different dogs play in our society is far to rich a subject to be overlooked.