Yes, you read
that right. Biting is necessary. It helps puppy learn
how to control his bite. Puppy biting seldom causes appreciable
harm, but many bites are quite painful and should elicit
an appropriate reaction—a yelp and a pause in an otherwise
extremely enjoyable play session. Thus, your puppy learns
that his sharp teeth and weak jaws can hurt. Since your
puppy enjoys play-fighting, he will begin to inhibit the
force of his biting to keep the game going. Thus your
puppy will learn to play-bite gently before he acquires
the formidable teeth and strong jaws of an adolescent
dog.
Forbidding
a young puppy from biting altogether may offer immediate
and temporary relief, but it is potentially dangerous
because your puppy will not learn that his jaws can
inflict pain.
Consequently, if ever provoked or frightened as an adult,
the resultant bite is likely to be painful
and cause serious injury.
Certainly, puppy play-biting
must be controlled, but only in a progressive and systematic
manner. The puppy must be taught to inhibit the force
of his bites, before puppy biting is
forbidden altogether. Once your puppy has developed
a soft mouth, there is plenty of time to inhibit the
frequency of his now gentler mouthing.
Why should all puppies go to school? By five
months of age much of your puppy's personality has been determined.
Early puppyhood is a critical time for socialization and learning.
This time will set the stage for the rest of your puppy's life.
This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime chance to show your puppy
how to confidently relate to other puppies, unfamiliar people,
and strange sights, sounds, and events. It is crucial that this
developmental stage is used wisely! Using a positive approach,
we focus on training for the pet and companion dog with the
emphasis on reliable responses.
You will learn to teach your dog to come when
call, to follow from a distance, fetch, hide and seek, sit,
down, and stand. Plus all of those normal natural "doggie
behaviors"... barking, chewing, jumping up, biting or mouthing,
and house soiling can be discussed.
Useful information about common problems and concerns
that you may have about your puppy's behavior will be provided
in our classes. We will begin to teach you, the owner, how to
teach your puppy. Puppies will be acclimated to other individuals,
things and situations. You will learn how to teach a puppy to
sit and take things gently from your hand as well as pass the
puppy.
We'll also discuss preventing resource guarding problems as
well as destructive chewing and getting on furniture. Upon gradation
your puppy will be well socialized and he/she will be well on
their way to having established great manners for life.
There are typically only 6-8 puppy participants
per instructor in each session. Your puppy must be between 9
and 19 weeks at the start of class to attend Ideal Puppy I.
For Ideal Puppy II, your pup must either be a graduate of Puppy
I or a similar class in another school.
Please bring a 6 foot leash, a flat collar
or Halti/Gentle Leader, and a tug toy. Bring a water bowl as
well. Treats of choice are soft training treats and your puppy's
kibble (set aside from a meal). Cut the training treats into
very small pieces as we will be using a large quantity! It's
best to bring a hungry puppy to class. Click
here for the complete list and to print what to
bring to puppy class.
What about vaccines? Should I be worried if
my puppy does not have all of her shots? My vet says not to
sign up until my puppy is older!
"Experience and epidemiologic data support
the relative safety and lack of transmission of disease in these
puppy socialization classes. In fact, the risk of a dog dying
because of infection with distemper or parvo disease is far
less than the much higher risk of a dog dying (euthanasia) because
of a behavior problem. Many veterinarians are now offering new
puppy owners puppy socialization classes in their hospitals
or nearby training facilities in conjunction with trainers and
behaviorists because they want socialization and training to
be very important parts of a wellness plan for every puppy.
We need to recognize that this special sensitive period for
learning is the best opportunity we have to influence behavior
for dogs and the most important and longest lasting part of
a total wellness plan."
Valuable Resources for you
The above quote about vaccination scheduling concerns is from an open letter written to veterinarians by
Robert K. Anderson DVM, Diplomate, American College of Veterinary
Preventive Medicine and Diplomate of American College of Veterinary
Behaviorists. To read and print the entire letter, please CLICK
HERE.
Still not sure if puppy class is right for your puppy? Here's a wonderful and comprehensive article about the importance of puppy classes excerpted from "After You Get Your Puppy" by Dr. Ian Dunbar.
Free book download! "Before You Get Your Puppy"
by Ian Dunbar, world renowned trainer and PhD behaviorist. is
great for understanding housebreaking and socialization. We
highly recommend it (even after you've gotten your puppy).
Read what others have to say about our Puppy Classes:
"We learned great socialization and basic skills. I liked
everything about the course! The instructors were great and
the handouts were very helpful."
"I loved the playtime for puppies and positive reinforcement
techniques. I give the class a 10 out of 10."
"The instructors were excellent and lots of fun. I especially
liked personally learning how to teach my dog different obedience
skills. I can't wait to take another class!"
"I most liked being shown how to guide my puppy into behaviors.
She is listening so much better! Thanks for a great course.
We will return for more."
This is for young puppies approximately 10-20 weeks old at
the start of class. Class priorities are teaching bite inhibition
(so your puppy develops a soft mouth), socializing your puppy
to people (especially children, men, and strangers) and other
dogs, and teaching basic manners such as sit, down, stand, and
come. Early intervention focused on early socialization and
behavior is the key to a happy lifelong relationship with your
dog. Shape behavior using early intervention and education.
Your pup will learn to control biting by playing with dogs his
age. It's important that your puppy learns to be comfortable
in strange settings and situations and to adapt to the world
around him and feel at ease with other dogs and people.
We will cover basic manners and preventing bad habits and behavior
problems. We will introduce basic obedience such as sit, down,
come, don't touch and follow. We will also discuss important
things like grooming, house training, and socialization. We
will show you good games to play with your puppy that are both
fun and teach your puppy self control.
Ideal
Puppy II
This is a continuation from Puppy I (which is a prerequisite,
or another class like it from another facility). Your puppy
is now a bit older and starting to think a bit differently then
when he was a little puppy. These classes emphasize self-control
and helping to direct your puppy's youthful exuberance towards
useful skills and fun games that you can play together. Focus
and attention will be important and we will work on coming when
called from all distractions. Walking on a loose leash, sit,
down, and stay are the basic obedience skills that will be covered.
As well, we will continue to work on good manners.
Adolescent
Dog
This class is for dogs six months to a year. This class emphasized
basic control and attention. The emphasis is on basic obedience
skills such as walking on a loose leash, sit, down, stay, don't
touch and coming when called.
Your older puppy can also benefit from our Focus
Foundation class.
Super Puppy
This 4-week class is for graduates of Puppy I and/or II (or similar) and are 6 to 12 months of age. Your pup must be friendly towards people and other dogs and have good play skills. This class is similar to Focus Foundation and Adolescent Dog except that we will also continue to promote good socialization skills through off-leash play and interaction (the skills learned in Ideal Puppy). We will work on sit, down stand and stay, adding duration, distance, and distraction, and using positive reinforcement (and the clicker for those that want to). Walking on a loose leash will be improved and we will work on training issues such as jumping on people. To provide mental stimulation for your dog (and have fun!) we will do some trick training in class. Attention exercises will be an important focus of this class as well.
Puppy Agility Fun!
Take advantage of your puppy's natural curiosity and abundant energy to introduce him or her to the fun sport of agility! This class will focus on some fundamentals of agility using puppy games that will utilize targeting, wobble boards, focus and basic obedience skills. Puppies will be introduced to sights, sounds, and techniques that are helpful toward building confidence without stress on baby joints. Clickers, treats and toys will be used for focus motivators. Class will help build your puppy's confidence and strengthen your bond and partnership. The goal is to create a dog that is engaged, focused and motivated as well as one that is confident, well socialized, and eager to offer behaviors and learn.
Some goals of the class include:
Reliable & fast recalls, sit/down stays
Building drive & focus
Toy motivation
Crate games
Surface desensitization (things that move, make noise and are elevated; hind end awareness )
Introduction to some agility equipment (focusing on familiarization and confidence building initially then shifting to obstacle performance)
This class is designed for puppies 5 months to 1 year of age. The class meets one day a week for approximately one hour. Classes are limited to 7 puppies. Dogs will need to have a crate, buckle collar or gentle leader, a 6 ft. leash (nylon or leather), and lots of tiny yummy treats (don't feed dinner before class)!
The class will focus on building a positive working relationship with your puppy using play, toys, and lots of treats.
Prerequisite: graduation from Ideal Puppy class (or similar in another school) or obedience class such as Focus Foundation; or approval from instructor or Training Director.
Ideal
Puppy I