Puppy

Puppies are not a blank slate but are born with a temperament inherited through their dam and sire and influenced by breed characteristics. However, a huge proportion of dog behaviour problems seen at maturity stem from lack of appropriate and extensive socialising and training during the first 20 weeks of their lives.

This process needs to continue progressively through 18-24 months but this one biological window of opportunity sets the scene for future years.

Building positive experiences in all kinds of environments and with all ages and types of people enables dogs to grow up comfortable and confident with everyday life. Equally essential is learning to communicate with other dogs appropriately through scores of chances to interact with a variety of friendly dogs during these early weeks, balanced with hours of just being in social situations and learning that the source of reinforcement is their human.

Our 6-week Puppy School courses cover essential Life, Social and Training Skills and with just 3-5 in the group there is plenty of individual time and coaching.

We create a calm, supportive environment and encourage each puppy to work at their own level and speed.

The syllabus includes an owners’ Foundation presentation which covers canine behaviour, learning and body language together with correct socialization and how to develop a great personal and working relationship for life with our Teamwork 24 programme. By enhancing your understanding of the furry ones, you can meet their needs, train effectively and create a happy well-balanced partnership!

Skills taught in class include:

• Settling and use of boundary mats
•  Impulse control
•  Interacting with people and dogs appropriately
• Creating an optimistic and confident puppy
• Veterinary handling
• Recall
• On and off duty lead work
• Positions such as sit, down etc.
• Leaving inappropriate stuff alone and giving things back to you

Training is 100% constructive and our Teamwork 24 programme shows you that this doesn’t mean a permissive society as management and ongoing rewarding of “good” behaviour prevents the naughty stuff becoming a problem.