- By Lucy Green at Lucy Green Dog Training
Week one of puppy class can be very exciting and sometimes a little nerve wracking for owners who have not attended a training class before. Wondering if your puppy will settle/be able to focus, or perhaps you are wondering if your puppy will be too distracted or vocal during class. There is no need to worry! As trainers we understand puppies bark, they get distracted, and they get tired. We are here to help you with your puppy in class, whether that be giving them a break, moving them to a different area for a five minutes or showing you where you can take them out to the toilet.
Puppy classes with Lucy Green Dog Training are designed to be fun and enjoyable for you and your dog. We put no pressure on your puppy to perform perfectly, and the idea behind puppy classes is that it teaches you as an owner the skills you need to train your puppy at home.
Your puppy may become a little unsettled during class. This is completely normal therefore we provide breaks within the class for puppies to go out and use the bathroom or just take some time using their snuffle mat. Whilst the puppies have their break, we have open discussions on different topics each week such as teething, enrichment, appropriate play and much more.
In your training course you will learn how to teach your puppy a variety of behaviours such as recall, loose lead walking, settling and many more! Each behaviour is broken down into steps to make it easier for your puppy to learn. We then build on each behaviour in the following classes.
In our puppy class we use food rewards when teaching new behaviours so coming with some of your puppies favourite treats will get you off to the right start! We tend to find that moist, meaty treats such as liver cake or JR pate are high value to puppies and can help motivate your puppy and keep them engaging with you during class.
Puppy training is all about relationship building between you and your dog, working as a team to accomplish learning new behaviours. We are here to support you with this and change exercises accordingly, making it easier for your pup if needs be or helping you progress the behaviour when your puppy has achieved learning the foundational behaviour.
When coming to class we ask that you bring your dog wearing a harness or flat collar. Harnesses with a chest clip and back clip can be really helpful when we are working on loose lead walking. We can use the lead attached to the chest clip when we are working on our lead walking and then attach the lead (or long line) to the back clip when we are working on other behaviours such as recall.
We use positive reinforcement based methods of training and as a member of the IMDT adhere to a strict code of ethics for dog training. We believe that training should be fun and above all we believe in being kind to dogs and kind to our owners, puppies are hard work and by attending puppy classes we recognise that you are a dedicated owner who wants the best for their pup.
To sum up, puppy classes are designed to be enjoyable whilst helping you and your pup get off to the best start with training. With the support of your trainer there to answer any questions and address any issues you may have along the way.
