Puppy Pre-School
Puppyhood is a magical period of time in your dogs development that can set the tone for the rest of their lives with you. Puppyhood can also be stressful for owners. Puppies are learning how to speak human and exist in the great big human world and sometimes their doggie behaviors cause stress and frustration for us. Set them up for success with puppy pre-k!
In this course we focus on the foundations of your relationship with your puppy and add in life skills that your puppy will need to exist in a human world. Properly socializing puppies is key to getting that go anywhere dog that goes with the flow and its not about getting to greet as many dogs and humans as possible. We will spend a large portion of the class socializing puppies (e.g. exposing them to sights, sounds, strange people and events) and helping them learn to maintain engagement with you through all the silliness that life can throw at them. We will also cover preventative exercises for resource guarding, handling for vet visits/grooming, and common problem behaviors.
Our puppy class is appropriate for dogs 8 weeks to 6mo. We follow the ACVB guidelines which highlight balancing the risk of incomplete vaccination with the risk of long term behavior concerns. We ask that you keep your puppies on their regular vaccination schedule provided by your vet in order to maximize their protection. We disinfect our facility regularly and would be happy to speak with you further on the precautions we’re taking to keep your puppy safe.
Puppy Socials
Not all dogs need or want dog friends but they all need to know how to speak their own language. As humans we’re often out of the loop to the subtle signals our dogs are using to communicate with each other and its helpful to have dogs learn to speak dog from other dogs. Puppies especially benefit from the trial and error of playing with peers. Now. that does NOT mean exposing them to the free for all you find at most dog parks, daycares and gatherings. You want your dog to learn appropriate social skills from socially savvy dogs not the neighborhood heathen.
We offer structured play sessions with appropriate dogs and puppies supervised by our training staff. In addition to play time, we’ll also work on learning how to pay attention when fun is happening.