PUPPY PROGRESS

After completing the socialisation and basic training phase, it is time for your puppies to move forward to the next stage of their early learning experience: Puppy Progress.

This follow-on course is specifically designed for puppies that have completed our initial Puppy Socialisation course, building on the skills you have already developed and applying them to more serious, real life situations.

Around the 20-30 week age mark, your puppy will start to go through puberty the same as people. Much like a teenager, their hormones begin to rage and as a result, many of their behaviours and attitudes will start to change. They will act defiantly, push the boundaries, look you in the eye and steal that chicken sandwich you made for lunch straight off the counter. Defiance, boisterous behaviour and downright cheekiness are incredibly common attitudes that begin to develop at this age, which is why it’s so important to continue engaging in effective, reward based training after their first socialisation course. Through this course, we apply the fundamental behaviours (sit, down, leave it, recalls etc.) to real life scenarios such as road walking, off lead control up the field and impulse control. By practicing and proofing this important training, your pups will learn to make the correct choices when it matters with minimal prompting on your part.

During this course, we will focus on a more reliable application of behaviour. You will learn to;

• Recall your dog away from others, using long line leads to build a mutual sense of trust and ensure a positive outcome before braving off lead walks.
• Maintain control over your dog in a stay or wait command as we build in a variety of visual and audible distractions.
• Ensure your dog remains a well-mannered member of the family that will sit to be greeted by strangers, without jumping or barking.
• Learn methods that allow your dog to remain calm in an on-lead meet and greet with other dogs to stop them lunging or dragging you to say Hi to a stranger.
•  Continue to enhance loose lead control, adding in directional control.
• Extend your wait command for longer periods of time and including controlled recall and stop signals.
• Continue LOOSE LEAD work with added distractions that you may find on your walks, therefore combining an effective LEAVE IT command to your daily walks.
• Introduce the beginning of off lead walking in a safe environment to build your confidence in your dog’s abilities.

Whilst we always encourage attendance at our classes from a social perspective, we understand that some of the challenges you may face once your pup hit’s puberty can seem impossible to overcome and can become distressing. As such, we are more than happy to offer you a series of home visits, where one of our trainers comes to your home or local area to help you overcome these issues on a more personal level. Please remember that all behaviour is correctable and that we are here to support you every step of the way, whether you prefer group sessions or would feel more comfortable addressing these challenges on a private, 1:1 basis.

Please feel free to contact us for more details about the course, home visits and for any behavioural concerns. We are always here to help!