If you ask any dog trainer, most of them are gonna tell you the most important class that you can take with your dog is a puppy class. The reason for that is puppy class not only lays the foundation for your dog’s understanding of how they should behave around distractions, but it builds a positive relationship built on trust and communication.

Your puppy will learn how to pay attention to you and relax around exciting distractions. We’ll also work on a series of age appropriate, beginning foundation training skills like polite greetings, foundations for loose leash walking and recall, as well as games that teach your puppy patience and impulse control, and the ability to make good choices.

You will learn how to read your puppy’s body language and a solid communication system on how to tell your puppy what behaviours you like and want to see more of and what behaviours you don’t like and you’d like to see less of. All of our training is reward-based and positive and built on modern science-based methods. We use treats, play, and praise as rewards in this class. Although we’ll teach you how to set boundaries with your puppy, we don’t believe in using fear, pain, or intimidation to train animals. We’ll teach you how to coach, educate, and guide your puppy through challenges and build a relationship that is based on trust, love, and communication.

One of the most important aspects of puppy class is early socialization, especially when puppies haven’t had all their shots. Puppies have a limited window of when they’re open to new experiences, so it’s important to expose them to novelty surfaces, sounds and situations. Before they’ve had all of their vaccinations, puppy class can do this in a safe and structured way that helps to build your puppy’s confidence and build a dog that can handle all of the things that the crazy human world throws at them. We’ll expose your puppy to novelty and challenges and controlled and structured situations, working at their pace in a way that builds their confidence and resilience to stress.

The class is also geared towards helping you problem solve common puppy issues like crate training, house training, and nipping.

It is also very important with young puppies to teach tolerance to body handling, restraint, grooming, and start cooperative care training. This builds a puppy who will ace vet visits, be comfortable with the groomer, and be easy to handle for grooming and care at home.

Then, we take the socialization on the road for Summit Pup Adventure School. Your last 3 classes are held in different locations to expand on your socialization experience. We’ll visit the mall, do a trip around downtown or to the park, and the best of all is an off-leash socialization walk.

If this class sounds right for you and your puppy, please contact us to sign up. We have new classes starting every three weeks, so they’re sure to be a spot for you.