Puppy Training Courses

Click here for our school on the Bellarine Peninsula

The club offers 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 Katarina on 9439 8546

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

The puppy school classes are held on Saturday mornings at the Warringal Parklands in Heidelberg. The puppy course costs $60 and consists of 4 lessons. These lessons can start on any Saturday convenient to you (subject to availability) and are usually held on consecutive weeks, although this isn’t essential, (the schedule can be flexible to suit most people’s needs). There are two session times (subject to availability), the early session which starts at 8.45am and ends at 9.20am, and the late session which starts at 9.20am and finishes at 10.00am.

Each session involves 15 minutes of puppy play and socialisation with the other puppies and is followed by a 20 minute private 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 above and will also address such issues as the importance of early socialisation, toilet training, jumping, biting/nipping, barking etc.

We highly recommend all puppies receive socialisation and training as young as 8 weeks. This helps to build a strong bond between you and your puppy, it will also help your adult 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 the puppy school coordinator as soon as possible because there can sometimes be a waiting period of up to 3 weeks.

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 your instructor adequate notice that you need to cancel your appointment.

If you are unable to attend on Saturday mornings, or if your puppy is older than 14 weeks, please contact Ruth Weston from the Gentle Modern School of Dog Training on 9439 8546(AH) who offers lessons for older puppies 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.

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!

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 your instructor 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 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 out training method from the books by David and Ruth Weston

Phone : Melbourne (03) 9439 8546 after 6 pm Web Design E-mail the Club