Puppy Training Courses - Bellarine

We offer 4 week puppy training courses which you may start when your puppy is between 8 and 14 weeks of age. Lessons are provided on an individual basis by one of our qualified instructors. Socialisation is an important component of the course.

You will teach your dog to:

  • Come when it is called
  • Behave well with people & other dogs
  • Sit, stand & lie down on signal
  • Stay in the above positions
  • Walk beside you on a loose lead and off lead
  • Fetch & give up a toy

Puppies must have commenced their immunisation programme.

Puppy School Enquiries: Phone Ruth on 5250 5676

Your puppy must be healthy and have received its temporary inoculations against distemper, hepatitis and parvovirus. Please make sure that your puppy wears a fixed collar with some kind of identification.

Background Information

Courses are available on Mondays and Tuesdays during the day or the evening or on Saturdays during the day.. The puppy course costs $80.00 and consists of 4 lessons. There are two session times on Saturdays (subject to availability). Saturday morning from 8.45am till 9.20 am, and another session which starts at 9.30am and finishes at 10.05am. There are also two sessions on Thursday evenings from 7.00pm till 7.35pm and from 7.45pm till 8.20pm.

Each session involves 10 minutes of puppy play and socialisation with the other puppies and is followed by a 20 minute individual lesson with your own instructor. All of our instructors have undergone an intensive government accredited practical and theoretical dog training course. Your instructor will go through the exercises mentioned previously and will also address such issues as the importance of early socialisation, toilet training, jumping, biting/nipping, barking etc.

We highly recommend that all puppies receive socialisation and training from as young as 8 weeks. This helps to build a strong bond between you and your puppy and it also helps your dog to be good natured and polite both in the home and in the community.

You must make a booking if you are interested in attending. Please contact Ruth Weston as soon as possible because there can sometimes be a waiting period..

Our instructors wish to introduce as many people as possible to our unique training method and for this reason I am sure you will understand that your non attendance for a lesson will result in that lesson being forfeited. An exception may be made in cases of genuine emergency provided that you have given Ruth adequate notice that you need to cancel your appointment.

If you are unable to attend on Saturday mornings or Thursday evenings, or if your puppy is older than 14 weeks, you can still contact Ruth Weston from the Gentle Modern School of Dog Training on 5250 5676 who offers lessons for older dogs of any age during the week.

SOCIALISATION

When people acquire a puppy, usually at eight weeks of age, they are often advised to keep it confined to the garden until it has completed its immunisation regime. While this may help to protect the dog from disease, it does nothing for its psychological welfare. Extensive research on canine behaviour has proved that there is a critical period for socialising dogs and that this occurs roughly between three and twelve weeks of age. Failure to socialise your dog during this critical period may adversely affect it for the rest of its life. Problems of timidity or aggression can result which may lead to the dog being put to death due to temperament problems.

For this reason the Kintala School emphasises that you should encourage your puppy to play with other healthy, immunised puppies in areas which are unlikely to be contaminated. In reality you are just as likely to track something like parvovirus into your house on your shoes as you are to expose your puppy to the virus in the park. And just think how many bugs there are in a hospital and probably in a veterinary surgery! However, obviously, we are not suggesting that you cease going to your vet! We just need to strike a balance.

Your instructor has undergone an intensive theoretical and practical training course and can expand on this subject and many other aspects of canine psychology. However, we are not trained to offer advice regarding ill health. If your pup is sick, please consult your veterinarian and notify Ruth that you cannot attend training.

TRAINING

During your first lesson, your instructor will provide you with a considerable amount of information and instruction. It is reasonable to assume that some points could be forgotten, hence the following is a helpful reminder.

Training food

Chop up some small pieces of meat, preferably raw, which can be easily handled. e.g. gravy beef. Pieces of chicken or mince are not suitable as they tend to crumble and drop on the ground.

Training as a Part of Everyday Life

Ideally training should be built into everyday life so your dog gets used to responding in all sorts of different environments. For example when you are out for a walk you could practice "come" and "sit" reinforce your dog and give it a 'go free" signal. total 5 seconds- that's a training session. Practice short "stays" when your dog is a bit tired after a walk. Total 30 seconds- another training session- and so on. Remember to reinforce intermittently whenever you are training.

Signals

Always try to offer your voice and hand signals in the same way so that your dog does not get confused. Variations can hinder learning.

Teaching Philosophy

The major difference between the method of training which you are being taught at the Kintala School and methods used in many organisations elsewhere, is that we use no form of compulsion or punishment. We do not pressure the dog into position, nor do we wait for the dog to make a "mistake" so that we can "correct" it with a choker chain. Instead we induce the dog to act in a voluntary manner and then we reinforce the response with food in order to perpetuate the behaviour. In a short time the reinforcement is only given intermittently.

Find out more about our training method from the books by David and Ruth Weston

 

Phone Ruth on 5250 5676- Please leave a message if necessary. Your call will usually be returned the same day. A landline number would be great.