Where Can I Take My New Puppy To Puppy School?!

[MyPuppyBuster]

Hi all,

I have recently become a new puppy owner (have never owned one before). My live-in boyfriend bought me a little black and tan Dachshund, called Buster, who is 3 months old and has been living with us now for 2 weeks. He is the most gorgeous little puppy and pretty well behaved. He goes to the bathroom outside 9 times out of 10 and is fairly obedient when we ask him to come, sit, etc....

Over the course of the 2 weeks, we have noticed that he is very, very shy when it comes to other dogs and gets very scared when we try to socialise him with other small dogs and puppies of our friends. Last night, one of our friends bought round his 17 month old dog and he got so scared that he wet himself The visting dog was by no means threatning and was only sniffing him!

I am trying to find a good puppy school, where he can learn to be around other puppies and learn (as well as myself!) some basic teachings. I live in the Alexandria/Erskineville area. My boyfriend works most nights (except Tuesday and Friday) and all day Saturday day and would really like him to be present. I also can't drive so I need to be able to walk there with Buster, without him getting too tired to participate in the school.

If anyone can suggest any good puppy schools, I would be very appreciativ (and any other helpful hints!).

Thanks!

Lucy

[Poodle wrangler]

Before classes, you need to make sure all vaccinations are up-to-date. Some obedience clubs let you start with a dog about 16 weeks old.

Some puppy classes aren't very good- they're run out of vet surgeries by vet nurses- and it all depends how good s/he is. Many have no dog training qualifications. They're also more expensive than the local obedience club.

If I were you, I'd ask here about a good book for general dog behaviour and training. I'd start there, then go to obedience. Skip puppy school.

Ask in the Training subforum about how to handle his apparent shyness.

Be very wary at offleash parks- if your pup is scared at home, a dog offleash park is the last place to take him. Don't allow other dogs near him until you have a strategy to deal with the problem. Sometimes people say their dog is friendly, but your pup might perceive otherwise.

[Kelpie-i]

If I were you, I'd ask here about a good book for general dog behaviour and training. I'd start there, then go to obedience. Skip puppy school.

Absolutely not PW!!

MyPuppyBuster, ALL pups need to attend training and socialiation classes during the critical socialisation period which is the first 16 weeks of the pup's life. It doesn't matter where you take him, just take him. The best thing you can do is find a school or place where the trainer holds a certification or qualification of some sort in dog behaviour and training. Most places who have such trainers will take your pup as young as 9 weeks old and as long as he has commenced his vaccinations and the other pups are all in the same boat, then you'll be fine.

Be very wary at offleash parks- if your pup is scared at home

I agree with this statement. Keep him away from off leash parks or areas where you don't know who/what the dogs are about.

[Eileen]

Hi all,

If anyone can suggest any good puppy schools, I would be very appreciativ (and any other helpful hints!).

Thanks!

Lucy

When I first joined DOL someone recommended Sydney Animal Hospital's puppy preschool at Erskineville, but I wound up going to one closer to where I live.

[Poodle wrangler]

I took my older dog to puppy school and it was OK for socialisation, but the OP says she has friends with friendly dogs she can do that with. Socialisation involves exposing the pup to lots of different things ..e.g. kids, vacuums, buses, traffic, bikes, car trips... and making the experiences as positive as possible.

I'm sorry I don't know anywhere in your area, but some puppy schools are rubbish, so it's worth having a recommendation.

I took my older dog to puppy school, but he didn't learn anything that I'd not already taught him by the book at home. I didn't have other dogs to socialise him with, so it was worth it from that point of view. With our new pup, no puppy schools were running at the time we got him- all were mid-way through and he wasn't able to join them- and we went straight into obedience at 16 weeks with no problems. I did some training at home before then and he was socialised with other dogs, kids, traffic, took him to my son's soccer etc.

Have a look at the Training/ Obedience/ Dog sports subforum, pinned topics, and start doing the Triangle of Temptation with your pup. They have to eat and it doesn't take long to include this as well.

Good luck with pup

[Erny]

... the OP says she has friends with friendly dogs she can do that with.

The OP needs to learn the principals of socialisation - ie not to overface the pup; what to do in the event the pup doesn't cope and how to recognise when the pup isn't coping. Also to identify when the pup is exhibiting inappropriate interaction so that she can teach the pup.

This often doesn't come without supervision and instruction from someone who has the proper knowledge/qualifications.

Not sure how many "friends with dogs" the OP has, but socialisation is about the pup being ok to meets lots of different dogs ... different colours, sizes, breeds and where possible ages. If the OP relies on only a couple of doggy friends, her pup's socialisation experiences to other dogs could be a bit limited. And the pup could grow to be ok with familiar dogs, but not unfamiliar dogs.

My avatar girl (since passed, but adopted when she was an adult) had this problem. She was comfortable with other dogs once she'd had some time to get to know them (ie took more than just one visit) and whilst I was able to improve her confidence in this regard, it was impossible to fix 100% .... because they were critical period issues (ie insufficient socialisation in her early puppyhood ..... especially the period between 8-16 weeks.

I'd certainly recommend going somewhere an instructor can help structure, supervise and explain socialisation techniques.

Socialisation involves exposing the pup to lots of different things ..e.g. kids, vacuums, buses, traffic, bikes, car trips... and making the experiences as positive as possible.

... it's worth having a recommendation.

... we went straight into obedience at 16 weeks with no problems.

This worked for you and for your dog, as it might for some others and theirs. But there are many out there where it hasn't and these are the ones we get to see .... because people find they have a problem that won't go away and they don't know what to do about it ...... and hope we can fix it.

Did you know that the socialisation experiences we give our pups actually has an effect on the physical shape and size of the dog's brain during development. And the development of the brain is in that 8-16 week period. Outside of that, the brain has essentially completed growth development and whatever shape it has taken by that stage remains that way.

Edited August 7, 2007 by Erny

[Hot_Dog]

is there any training schools in sydney's west??

my girl just turned one is that too late to be trained?......all she likes doing is sleeping all day...........hehehe maybe one day i'd like her to sit or something.......hehehe one day.

[Kavik]

Hi MyPuppyBuster

For Dogs Sake (in my signature) runs puppy classes on Monday nights, through DogLogic. Not sure how close they are to you, they are in Cleveland St, Chippendale.

Hot_Dog

Where in Sydney's west are you? I go to Western Suburbs Dog Training, at Bressington Park, Homebush. They hold pet dog classes on Saturday afternoons and obedience trialling classes (which I go to) on Tuesday evenings.

http://www.sinch.com.au/wsdtc/

[Hot_Dog]

hi!!!!

i'm in rooty hill just around the corner to where wonderland used to be.

so its not to late for her to learn stuff?.........she really loves sleeping.

[Kavik]

Certainly not too late to learn stuff! My youngest is 17 months and there are heaps of things I plan on teaching him still - some stuff you can't even start to do properly til they're older than a year anyway (like agility). - my nearly 8 year old dog still learns new tricks.

The key is motivation, if your dog likes to sleep a lot you may need to find something exciting to motivate her! What breed is she? What sort of stuff does she like? Food, toys, praise, tug?

[Hot_Dog]

Certainly not too late to learn stuff! My youngest is 17 months and there are heaps of things I plan on teaching him still - some stuff you can't even start to do properly til they're older than a year anyway (like agility). - my nearly 8 year old dog still learns new tricks.

The key is motivation, if your dog likes to sleep a lot you may need to find something exciting to motivate her! What breed is she? What sort of stuff does she like? Food, toys, praise, tug?

shes a mini dachshund. and shes very picky with food though but loves to snuggle between me and my husband. she's just our child. sometimes i think she thinks shes human.

so is there any schools around here that you know of?

[Danois]

Hey PB - have sent you a PM - Sydney Animal Hospital on Erko Road have puppy pre-school and I highly recommend it.

[Archie&C]

I'm in the same situation of looking for a puppy pre-school for my new addition (7 sleeps now to puppy pick-up!).

Without trying to hijack the thread... has anyone heard any reviews for classes held at either Parramatta Veterinary Hospital or Kellyville Pets? Or has any recommendations for pre-school or training in the Parramatta area?

Sorry I'm no help to you PuppyBuster... would love to see some pics of your little guy, he sounds adorable!

[Joyceshn]

I'm in the same situation of looking for a puppy pre-school for my new addition (7 sleeps now to puppy pick-up!).

Without trying to hijack the thread... has anyone heard any reviews for classes held at either Parramatta Veterinary Hospital or Kellyville Pets? Or has any recommendations for pre-school or training in the Parramatta area?

Sorry I'm no help to you PuppyBuster... would love to see some pics of your little guy, he sounds adorable!

I sent my 5-mth-old GSD to a puppy training centre for 7 days as well. Going to pick him up 2morrow ^_^

[Prydenjoy]

Puppy pre school is very important from the socialisation aspect. Personally I know how to train a dog, I don't go to puppy pre school to learn how to train a dog, I go for the socialisation for the puppy in its critical stages of development. Even for the puppy to learn to be in a room with many other puppys and distractions and learn how to react in a stressful (well, not too stressful for the pup, but very stressful for an adult dog that's never been in that situation!) environment, with so many people and dogs crowded into one room, it sets them up for life. I missed PPS with Chino (I live in a country town with only one vet that does PPS and the service there is hopeless, they called me back 3 weeks after I enquired about it and said "oh sorry, classes started 2 weeks ago" Grr!) and when I was at the vet in Willoughby with him when he was 16 weeks I thought I'd sit out the front for a while to get him the socialisation he missed by missing PPS. Unfortunately he went ballistic, he barked at every dog that came in and tried to bite it! I had people visit us with dogs since I got him and had many visitors every week, and took him to other peoples houses to meet their dogs, but when it came to a situation of being in a strange room and meeting lots of new dogs he didn't know how to cope. Fortunately I got him into training the next weekend and he was a bit ballistic then as well, but I think I caught him just in time because I used some distraction techniques and a few other techniques I know and by the end of the lesson he was ok. If I'd waited a few more weeks I'd probably have a very ill adjusted dog that I had to work hard with his whole life because he wasn't socialised in the critical window.

But something I must point out to the OP, that I'm surprised nobody else has, is that you shouldn't be walking any pup, especially something like a daschound, when they are 3 months of age. Firstly, if it hasn't finished its shots you might subject it to a deadly disease, but more importantly, you could injure it's joints for life. Puppys should only run as far as they do in play, they should be allowed to tire themselves out, any extra walking can injure their joints which is something I'd be particularly worried about in that kind of breed. I take Chino for little walks, just up the road and back, but if you had to walk more than a block to and from PPS you are placing your pup at serious risk. Especially considering it'll probably be romping around for an hour or so with other puppies in between walks!

Please be aware of this, if you need to go somewhere with your pup and can't get a lift, carry it instead