PUPPY & ADOLESCENCE / TRAINING & SUPPORT

PUPPY 1-2-1 Training: A 5 Week Support Package

In-Person or Remote Based Training

We offer a bespoke 1-2-1 Five Week Puppy Package to help you and your puppy with learning key training skills, body language and stress signals, care and husbandry, plus support with everything from toilet training to careful socialising to the world. Alongside basic training such as stay, recall, engagement and full support from Suzy while your new family member settles in. This 1-2-1 Or Fully Remote course very much follows our 6-Week Puppy Class, but begins in your home at days/times that suit you. This flexibility is great for puppy owners that would like home support, cannot commit to specific puppy class times, people and puppies that need a bespoke approach, in a known environment that is comfortable.

Our 1-2-1 course also means that we can space out sessions over more weeks, which benefits clients while working through behaviours and practising skills at home. Many clients like gaps after specific sessions, such as the recall focus as these skills take time to slowly build reliability. Likewise, some clients like to see us every other week to suit there work and home life and give themselves time to work through the puppy skills. We also set up a WhatsApp chat to stay in touch with you, book sessions, share videos and support during your training with us.

Zoom Session - Meet Your Trainer: This is a remote session via Zoom arranged at a time to suit you. During this time you have the opportunity to ask Suzy all things puppy, discuss those first days and weeks with your puppy, from puppy biting to toilet training.

Session 1 - First Puppy Skills and Settling: It is important to promote rest, calm behaviour and settling on a mat/blanket which can then be used in many environments. We use Scentwork with training as well. Plus we look at an exchange game for a 'Drop' cue, 'Food manners', Jumping Up and how we teach 'Paws on the Floor'.

Session 2 - Recall Training and Games: We like to teach this through games and fun and introduce a clicker or marker word. A 'Touch' hand target cue and the 'Counting Game' and how we incorporate these games into recall. We also begin to build a 'Stay' cue with duration.

Session 3 - Husbandry: The 'Bucket Game' (Chirag Patel) and husbandry is this week's focus, where we use communication with your puppy or dog to offer behaviours for husbandry like clipping nails, ear checks and muzzle training. We look at a 'Leave' cue for your puppy's safety on walks. We begin training our Loose lead Foundations, to build in oncoming weeks.

Session 4 - Building Our Puppy Life Skills: Loose Lead Walking- Teaching a dog to walk near you with a nice loose lead and that you are the source of good things, play and yummy treats plus our 'Follow Me' technique. We then take our recall games and learnt skills into an outside environment. Continuing our Stay training and building distance and distraction. We also will recap over our recall skills, ready for our training walk.

Session 5 - Taking Real Life Skills Outside: This session we either head outside on a walk from your home or arrange to meet at a location where we can can practice the previous sessions skills in a real life environment. We will also look at positive associations and socialisation. Often this session, clients like to book in the middle of this course. For clients that are working fully remotely with us, this week will continue training and building skills.

Suzy will be on hand for advice, using WhatsApp and offer continued email support during your dog's development.

Price £225.00 and lasts approx. 1 Hour per session for 5 Sessions. This includes a training folder, pack and info sheets to continue the games and training.

PUPPY TRAINING CLASSES - A 6-Week Course

Suzy has written a full 6-week Puppy Class, which is based on her 1-2-1 Puppy Course written in 2018. As with all courses and content, these change with new scientific studies in animal behaviour and training, hence continuously updated. This 6-Week Class, puppy information and support content is now a published book which is given to each of our class attendees. The book also has weekly training schedules to help you continue training at home.

These Puppy Classes are suitable for puppies to join between the age of 10-20 weeks of age. Plus have begun and had their first vaccination of their puppy course vaccinations with your veterinary professional. Our Puppy Class focuses on real-life training skills, what socialisation means to our puppies and dogs, how we can support our puppies through development, building foundations to reliable behaviours slowly. From having your puppy or dog able to settle at home, in the car, a café or on holiday, to having your dog walking on a lovely loose lead are some of the key skills we will look at. Many behaviours such as these take time to build slowly, but with our support, achievable, reward-based methods, but most importantly fun. Training is more than teaching cues and behaviours; it is great and fun way to create a positive partnership with your canine companion. Building a relationship, trust and communication.

Support, Guidance and Help

Each attendee to our classes will receive a copy of our published book which not only follows our 6-Week but contains lots of information to help you with all things puppy. Within in the book are training schedules to help you practice at home your puppy skills. This book contains each behaviour broken into steps written by Suzy to follow after each class.

Each puppy class will be set up with an individual WhatsApp group, where you can ask questions in relation to training, class exercises, plus sharing videos and your successes with each other. Suzy will also share video footage of her training her dogs these behaviours to help support each puppy class weekly. We also set our puppy classes weekly challenges to video for feedback in each group.

Puppy Class Focus - 6-Week Plan (Next Puppy Class starts April 20th 2024)

Next Puppy Class Dates: 6 weeks: April - 20th, 27th / May - 4th, (1 week gap break), May - 18th, 25th / June 1st.

Be aware of 1 week break in the middle of course when booking. This is great for a pause to practise skills covered in the first 3 weeks.

To book your puppy onto a future course with us please head to our Online Bookings page.

Week One – Owners Only at our venue!

This takes place at the booked venue of choice without your puppy. A chance to meet Suzy and possibly her dogs for demonstrations, ask questions, discuss all things puppy (and to share photos on our phones!), puppy behaviour and talk about those first days, weeks with your puppy. Plus, watch demonstrations and learn key foundations to behaviours we will cover over the following 5 weeks with us. We find that this really bonds our puppy classes together and is a great opportunity to talk through any concerns you may have within the group.

We will discuss many topics and welcome questions:

What is socialisation and what does it mean to our dogs?
Dog Body Language, Understanding Stress Signals and Appeasement Behaviours.
Toilet Training and management in the home.
Crate/Confinement Training for the home, in the car and veterinary visits.
Dog’s and Children, keeping both safe.
Puppy Biting and Chewing.
Dog Law: Awareness and how it can impact us as dog owners.
Appropriate Play, Greetings and Interaction with dogs and people.
Using a clicker and marker word: with demos from our dogs.
Harness, Lead and Collar Desensitisation and Equipment.

Week Two – Getting Puppy Skills Started

Teaching a Drop Cue - how we can use trading around resources.
Jumping Up – Keeping Paws on the Floor
Food Manners - teaching our dogs wanted behaviour around food.
Settling and Capturing Calm - for the home, settling in new environments and more.

Week Three – Recall Skills and Engagement

Reflex to your puppy’s name
Charging the Recall Cue - building engagement with you for recall.
Recall Games - using different and fun games for speedy recall.
Hand Target - for moving your dog safely, recall and foundation for other behaviours.

Week Four – Cues to keep your Puppy Safe

Teaching a Stay/Wait - one of the most key safety cues.
Door and Gate Safety for Dogs - how we build a stay with distraction.
Teaching a Leave - using a simple method to teach this important cue.
Loose Lead Foundations - building engagement from previous weeks into loose lead.

Week Five - Husbandry and Cooperative Care Focus

Teaching a Stand for Vet Visits
Beginning Muzzle Training - teaching your dog to feel comfortable in a muzzle using scentwork.
The Bucket Game - By Chirag Patel, for desensitising our dogs for husbandry and care.
Loose Lead Skills – Follow Me: following on from our foundations and building in movement.

Week Six – Building Our Puppy Skills

This week we will create a bespoke plan for each class as a separate group, focusing on behaviours chosen by you as a group to build around distraction.

Practising Recall Skills by adding distraction - having our dogs recall around each other.

Loose Lead Walking – Using your foundation and follow me skills in practice around distraction outside.
Recap on Cues and Behaviours: we will also focus on important skills such as Stay and Leave.

Puppy Class 6-week Course = £130.00, including a puppy pack with a copy of our published book.

Current Venue for Classes

Grammar Rooms – Chipping Sodbury – Broad Street

The Grammar Rooms in Chipping Sodbury offers a lovely space for Puppy Club training in a warm hall environment and outside space for practicing all of our learnt puppy skills. We invite 2 people per puppy from the same household to join us. The limit is to accommodate everyone and puppies comfortably.

Adolescent Puppy Training...

As our puppy's develop and move from early puppy development into adolescence, we offer a supportive training course that builds upon our previous skills, upskills and adds to the behaviours and foundations we have previously practised. This course is suitable for puppies aged 6-18 months that have already built some training foundations previously. We also cover continuing socialisation during adolescence, setting your puppy up for safe dog-dog meets and interactions with people and helping our dogs become confident and happy individuals.

For more information about our course content visit our Adolescent Training Page.

More about your trainer...

Suzy is a fully certified dog trainer by The Association of INTODogs (https://www.intodogs.org) and ICAN. Suzy is also an accredited Hoopers Instructor with Canine Hoopers UK and a ScentworkUK instructor, which she incorporates into her work with puppies and dogs. She is also passionate about animal rescue, consulting and advising for rescues as well as fostering and volunteering.

Please visit our CPD page for more information about our qualifications and certifications.

INTODogs are under the UK Dog Behaviour and Training Charter. Please visit the charter website to see what assurances this symbol brings to dog owners and other canine professionals.

https://ukdogcharter.org/

Making sure that your puppy or dogs welfare and wellbeing is priority

Please note that not all behaviours listed on services may be able to be covered in a remote or practical session. Puppies and dogs often need breaks in learning and rest, which we have to be aware of for their well being. Therefore, we offer ongoing support and have videos demonstrating behaviours for ongoing support.

Wolf and Whippet

PUPPY & ADOLESCENCE / TRAINING & SUPPORT