Your puppy’s ideal socialisation period is from 4 -16 weeks of age and it is during this time that we have the most influence over behaviour, ideally creating a happy, confident and well socialised adult dog. The first few months of a puppy’s life is the time when puppies are very accepting of new situations and experiences, often ‘bouncing back’ if they are exposed to a frightening or unfamiliar setting. This makes it the perfect time for introducing your puppy to the wide human dominated world in which they are going to live – a world filled with wheeled objects, hats, shoes, other animals, vacuum cleaners and funny smells. Needless to say, it is also a perfect time for learning about other dogs in all their shapes, sizes, sounds and smells.
Puppy preschool at WestVETS provides a clean, safe and supervised environment for your puppy to interact with other puppies and develop these crucial socialisation skills.
The 4 week course incorporates lessons such as basic commands and obedience, controlled play, health care and basic first aid, as well as the essential socialisation with other dogs and people. This time can also serve to familiarise your puppy with our vet clinic, making their future visits for their annual check-ups a happy encounter. The basic obedience learnt during these classes can also serve as a stepping stone towards more advanced obedience training.
Puppy preschool will start you and your puppy on the road to success by providing timely advice and vital opportunities for socialisation with people and dogs. Please contact WestVETS to book your puppy in.
Dog Obedience Classes
Following a course of Puppy Preschool, we recommend Juvenile Puppy Classes and Basic Obedience Classes for the majority of dog owners and their four legged friends.
Group classes are kept to a small number of participants so that each client is ensured individual quality attention when required. Three and five week structured classes are offered where all participants start and progress together.
Juvenile Puppy Classes (for puppies from 16 weeks to 6 months) are designed to target the individual puppy and owner’s needs as well as the pup’s temperament and behaviour. These classes are based on the early development of desirable traits and obedience, while providing ongoing exposure to new dogs and people. These classes lead both the pup and owner into a relationship of social structure, teaching the dog how to behave in a sound and productive hierarchy system. Juvenile Puppy Classes lift the pup’s compliance levels and start to desensitise the pups to being overly stimulated by high stimulation environments and effects.
Following the Juvenile Puppy Classes, the Basic Obedience classes cover topics and/or commands such as Focus Exercise, teaching the dog to target, coming in to your left hand side; Heel, to walk nicely on the lead without pulling; Sit; Sit-Stay; Stand; Stand-Stay; Down; Down-Stay; Return to heel, the dog will walk around behind the handler and come to the sit position beside the handler; Column Work and Control Exercises for Sociability.
WestVETS offers Puppy Preschool classes for pups aged 8 to 16 weeks – please phone for more information. For Juvenile Puppy Classes and Dog Obedience classes beyond the puppy stage, we work with and recommend Katrina Gomersall from the Craig A. Murray group of Specialist Dog Trainers. Katrina can be contacted on 0431 696 866 or via katrina@dogschool.com.au. Visit the website www.dogschool.com.au.
Puppy Preschool and Dog Obedience Classes are conveniently held onsite at WestVETS Veterinary Practice. With a safe, fully fenced and well-lit area for your dog’s obedience classes and ample client parking, the classes are fun and hassle-free.