This class is for puppies between 8 and 15 weeks of age at the beginning of the session.

Puppies in this age range are primed to be their most responsive to learning opportunities. This class is designed to do the following:

• Teach you to understand how dogs learn and to read their body language so you know how they are feeling/coping with new situations
• Help you to build a bond of trust with your puppy –- trust being the basis for a great relationship essential to facilitating learning
• Teach you how to play with your dog so that you become the most important source of all things good in their life
• Teach you how to teach your puppy basic behaviours (e.g., Sit, Down, Come, Wait, Walk on a Loose Leash, Go to your mat)
• Help you understand the many behavioural challenges you and your puppy will face as they grow and mature and how to deal with those (e.g., nipping, jumping)
• Introduce your puppy to a new environment, strange sounds & unusual objects in a safe place
• • This is to reduce the possibility of him/her developing fear-based behaviours
• Get your puppy comfortable with and accustomed to interacting with other dogs, large, small, pushy or reticent
• Teach you about safe/unsafe dog to dog interactions – how to recognize and deal with them at home and in dog parks
• Introduce your puppy to meeting with and being handled by unfamiliar people, to prepare them for the eventualities of children rushing at them and pounding them on the head, to going to the veterinarian
• Teach you how to get and maintain your dog’s attention, so that you can clearly communicate your expectations to the dog; this gives the dog the best opportunity to succeed at learning desired behaviours