Puppy Lifeskills Course

Prevent common behaviour problems, leading to a happy, polite, obedient adult dog.

Held on Tuesdays 6.45-7.45 pm at Companion Care Vets, Winchester, SO23 7XA 

       & Wednesdays at 7-8 pm in Upton Grey Village Hall, Basingstoke, RG25 2RA

Cost is £68.00

It’s Your Choice… do you want your puppy to be a nice, polite, obedient and happy adult dog?

If so, you need to start early! Many problems start in the first week of owning your dog! For help before you get your dog see the Pick a Puppy service, and for help in the first two weeks see the New Puppy Consultation.

Concentrating on your puppy’s behaviour and manners means that training obedience commands come much more easily. Often older dogs understand obedience commands but they choose whether to do them. Developing understanding, focus and willingness to work in your puppy ensures that conventional obedience training comes more easily later on. Your dog does not necessarily need to know lots of commands to be a well behaved dog. The Behaviour Clinic uses easy techniques to prevent problems occurring rather than using obedience commands to manage the behaviour once it has started. For example, dogs learn not to jump up rather than to get down when they are told. The development of your puppy’s personality and behaviour needs to start as soon as they start to experience the world.

Socialisation… To prevent fear and aggression developing it is important to socialise your dog early.

Socialisation is the exposure of your puppy to new experiences. It needs to be carried out carefully.  The puppy needs to be exposed gradually to new things whilst being happy at all times. A scary event can be detrimental to happy development.  Similarly, having no experiences can lead to problems such as fear and aggressive behaviour. There is a peak time that the dog is more receptive to new experiences. This is called the Critical Socialisation Period and is from 3 weeks of age, when they first open their eyes, until about 14-16 weeks of age. Before 14-16 weeks of age the puppy is happier to accept new experiences. At 14-16 weeks they begin to be suspicious of new things and so are less likely to happily accept them.  It is thought that this instinct helps to protect them in the wild so that the dog does not approach things it does not recognise as they become more independent.

The experience your dog has of people and other dogs during this time needs to be carefully supervised to ensure that your dog learns how to behave and is not frightened. This is where the lifeskills course plays such an important role.

In the class the puppies are very carefully monitored to ensure they are happy and socialising well with the other puppies and people.

Vaccinations… Puppies can start the course 1 week after their 1^stvaccination.

Puppies have antibodies from their mum’s milk which is topped up by vaccinations. To be fully protected in unsafe settings you will need to wait until normally 2 weeks after the 2^nd vaccination. The thought is now that your puppy may need another vaccine at 16 weeks to be fully protected. The problem is that waiting until then means that the critical socialisation period has passed. Most vets realise the importance of socialisation and have agreed that at 1 week after first vaccination the risk is minimal. The risk of developing behaviour problems is higher if your puppy is not socialised within the early socialisation period. It is fine to wait until after the full set of vaccinations as long as the puppy is within the age limit for the class if you wish. Any risk is minimalised as the hall is lined and the other pups are also vaccinated. Please also ensure your puppies are well and are treated for fleas and worms using products from your veterinarian before attending the classes.

Roll On Roll Off… The sessions are all stand alone. It does not matter which one you start on but you then need to attend on 4 consecutive weeks e.g. A,B,C,D or C,D,A,B.

Puppies start and finish the course at different times. This is intentional and beneficial for the dogs. The puppies get to meet more dogs over the course without exceeding numbers on one night. Each time a new puppy starts the puppies have to reassess relationships, which is a skill that they will need as an adult in order to prevent fights occurring.

Positive Reward Based Methods…The Behaviour clinic only uses positive reward based training.

Our techniques are bespoke to your individual situation and are designed to be carried out by people of all ages and abilities. We use methods so the puppy learns not to bother carrying out a problem behaviour, rather than telling it to stop after carrying out the behaviour.

Off Lead Play… Being on the lead can alter the dog’s body posture and reduce its ability to communicate with other dogs.

Being on lead can also make nervous dogs more likely to react aggressively. They are restrained and cannot “flee” and, therefore, feel they have to “fight”. The puppies need to learn how to greet on the lead too but it is not as hard to do as off lead as you have a “safety rope” and a bit more control. During the sessions the puppies interact off lead to facilitate the development of natural communication skills.  These classes will teach you and your puppy how to play off lead with other dogs, politely and happily. The older dog lifeskills course does more work with dogs on leads.  Having the puppies on lead is a lot easier to supervise but not the best for socialisation!

Does My Puppy Need to Play?… This depends what you want.

Personally we like nothing more than to see dogs playing happily with their friends on walks. For a well socialised dog, meeting other dogs is a pleasure not a scary event. Many dog trainers advocate keeping puppy on lead and avoiding other dogs to maintain full control. You can have both, off lead and full control!  Having your dog in a heel all the way round a field and having them not wanting to say hello to other dogs is great if there are no dogs around. Unfortunately many then are too frightened to leave the owner and react aggressively when they get too close to other dogs.

Off lead play needs to be supervised so that the dogs are happy and well-mannered at all times.  During the session you will learn to recognise good and naughty behaviours from the dogs playing and how to manage it.

Private group sessions can be arranged, please contact us.