Puppy School Recommendations

[Sheridan]

Have been asked for puppy school recommendations in the ACT but haven't had any experience with them. I am told that the training school at Symonston is the best for older dogs but was hoping for suggestions to pass on for puppies, whether school or vet surgery.

[Simply Grand]

Hall Vet, especially if it's still run by Geraldine. She is a trained animal behaviorist. When I took Saxon there she was working as a vet nurse, by the time I took Riley she had left to run her own training business but came back to do puppy school because she loved it :)

The classes were well structured, play between puppies was only 2 at a time, matched in size and temp. Focussed on teaching +ve reinforcement training and shaping and lots of info about regular handling all over for health checks etc.

With Quinn I went to Queanbeyan Vet, it was run by a young vet nurse to a set franchise-type curriculum. She was lovely but didn't have the knowledge to really explain the what, why and how of training. Play was also a bit of a free for all.

[Cleo's Corgwyn]

I've been through all this quite recently, with a 5 month old pup. Geraldine now runs her own classes, at Macgregor, and you can google Geraldine's Animal training. I liked her classes. we also did puppy classes at the RSPCA, and they were actually good; small classes of only 6 and a good trainer. I teach classes at Belconnen Dog Obedience, at Mitchell, so that's where my pup has started regular classes, but CDC at Symonston is also good. They can actually start at a club as soon as all their vaccinations have cleared, but I think a small puppy class is a good start.

[Mudlark]

We go to CDC at Symonston/Narrabundah and I used to teach puppy classes there. There is an emphasis on both socialisation and good behaviour in puppy classes (i.e. it's not all about formal obedience). Your membership gets you a year's classes (4 x 8 week sessions - Kindi, Beginners, Intermediate, Advanced) for about $250. The grounds there are fantastic and they also do flyball, Rally-O and agility if those things are likely to interest you in the future (but so does Belconnen - also a very good dog club).

Dogs can start at any time at CDC or Belconnen (post vaccinations) so they could do a puppy thing elsewhere and then go along to a bigger dog club once they've finished the puppy classes.

I;m sure that any club would be happy to answer questions over the phone about how classes are run and what pups do in class :)