Wherever you go for puppy training, be sure that your puppy will do their off-lead socialising in a controlled environment with people who are qualified in canine behaviour.
Likewise, for puppy training, ensure that you are happy with your chosen Trainer's qualifications in positive reinforcement training.
Some fun and easy things to teach puppies are:
Nose Targeting
Puppies are taught to touch their nose to a hand, which is a simple and fun exercise to start any puppy's training. It can be used for moving your pet around from place to place, as well as a visual cue for recalling your puppy back to you. In addition, you can use it to teach your puppy to touch a favourite toy to say "please can we play with this?"
"Watch Me"
Teaching your puppy to look at you is a great way to overcome a variety of distractions, both out on a walk and indoors. It also helps puppies to learn that direct eye contact, which can be quite scary for canines, is actually a good thing.
The Default Sit
Teaching a puppy to choose to sit, teaches a great life skill that can be used in lots of ways, for example, if you:
- stop walking (when at the kerbside for example), your puppy sits
- are approached by someone, your puppy sits
- approach someone to say hello, your puppy sits
- are preparing their food, your puppy sits
- want to attach a collar or lead your puppy sits
- have a visitor to your home
Socialising is the most important part of raising a well-behaved pet. An under-socialised puppy will become fearful of new things, people and dogs, so it is imperative that you socialise your puppy from day one.
Please read "After You Get Your Puppy" by Dr Ian Dunbar (British-qualified Veterinary Surgeon) for safe methods of socialising a puppy during the vaccination process.
To be considered well-socialised, a puppy should meet 100 new people, 100 new dogs and experience 100 new life situations within their "socialisation period", which is 4-13 weeks of age. It’s a tall order but not impossible, as you will see in Dr Dunbar's book.
Further socialising is available at CentreBarks Doggie Day Care in Richmond, who have many young puppy clients all enjoying educational, kennel-free day care with registered professionals.
Vaccinating your puppy against common canine diseases is an important part of raising a happy and healthy pet. Here are some links to help you with future vaccinations, once your puppy has finished its process with your vet ...
Dr Nick Thompson BSc Hons (Veterinary Science), BVM&S, VetMF Hom, MRCVS
Dr Karen Becker DVM - Proactive & wellness Veterinarian
Dr Ronald Schulz - Veterinary Immunologist, dedicated to vaccine research
Dr Marty Goldstein DVM - Non-toxic approach Veterinarian
Socialising should start the moment you bring your puppy home by having "people parties" and carrying your puppy out with you so that they can experience the outside world before their "socialising window" closes at 13 weeks.
Training classes should be attended as soon as possible to get your puppy off to a great start. Once you've found a good local trainer/training class, ask if you can view part of a class, just to make entirely sure that you're happy with the training methods used.