PUPPY ENCOUNTERS

What better way to socialise your pup with other dogs than a puppy play session with others of a similar age (and maturity level!).

Puppy Encounters is a 30 minute social gathering run every Saturday at 3:30pm to give puppies between 10-25 weeks of age the opportunity to find their confidence and their bounce in a controlled environment. This is the most important time for you to start exposing your new puppy to as much as possible in this big world of ours.

Beginning your puppy’s social education from an early age is crucial as they begin to learn the social skills required for a well-balanced, self-assured dog. Once registered with Leaps and Bounds, you and your puppy will be able to mix freely in small groups with pups of all shapes and sizes of a similar age.  This gives them the opportunity to enjoy learning doggie etiquette and build relationships with other breeds through introductory play. You will see you puppy’s personality shine in these play sessions as they find their bounce and test the boundary between play and persistence with other dogs. They learn respect for other dogs and become able to interpret the body language of those that are bouncy, boisterous and up for a bit of rough and tumble verses those that are a bit more anxious and would feel more comfortable to interact at a slower, gentler pace. Manners are everything in the doggie world!

You will also be shown the skills to help teach your puppy to remain calm around other dogs, learn the correct way to introduce them to another dog on the lead, or equally important, not to assume they can say hello to every dog,  teach them to come away from another dog when asked and generally allow them to grow in confidence in natural surroundings.

We would like to invite you and your puppy along to help start your journey together in a safe, supervised and friendly environment.

Pre-Requisites:

• Must be aged 10-25 weeks old. Pups older than that tend to get a bit more over confident and heavy pawed so we enforce this to make sure the younger, smaller pups can enjoy their first interactions with other dogs in a controlled, calmer environment.

• For sessions running at our outdoor facility, pups must be seven days clear of their second veterinary vaccination to be able to participate. Those participating at our indoor facility meet a different set of standards and instead, must be five days clear of their first vaccination. This is because we are able to sanitise the hall floors with veterinary grade equipment to banish any bacteria that would be harmful to a puppy that has not yet had their full set of veterinary vaccination. We are not able to do this outdoors due to the nature of the environment… no amount of spraying could sanitise a field! We will always put the health and safety of your puppies first!