Puppy classes

katie_southwest

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Is 6 months too old to start going??
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MurphysMinder

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Depends what you mean by puppy classes. I started my pup last week, aged 4 months, at our local obedience class. It is aimed at beginners and the ages of the dogs range from 4 months to 18 months, so 6 months would be fine. If you are talking about the puppy party type of thing, if your pup is a big breed it might be too boisterous for some of the younger ones. Some people believe that this type of socialising isn't ideal for pups as the less outgoing ones will be overawed by everything. Not something I have ever taken mine too so can't comment on whether or not this is true.
 

katie_southwest

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She is a west highland terrier, so not big at all
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I suppose shes a bit big to go to the puppy party things though. I will maybe look into some sort of beginners obedience class for puppies..it just seems that when we meet dogs out and about lots of them are not very welcoming to her
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and frighten her..I want her to learn and socialise in an environment with puppies her own age who want to play too...not launch at her!!!
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HeatherAda

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We went to basic puppy obedience training and the class was great because the first 10 mins was just for the pups to play a bit and get to know each other... then on to the more serious stuff. We both really enjoyed it. My pup was also about 6 months at the time.
 

MurphysMinder

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I know what you mean about dogs launching at her. When you find a training class speak to whoever runs it before you go. Most classes try and keep puppies together to avoid this happening. The class I go to has 2 beginners, the first for pups and young dogs, the second for older, untrained dogs. This follows our class and having heard the barking as they come in am glad my baby doesn't have to face that (although I think she could hold her own
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). Good classes will make sure young pups aren't scared, and that they have fun with their training.
 

katie_southwest

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Thats the sort of thing I want, somewhere where she can play with other pups for a while first..all she wants to do is play with every dog she sees
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I think my vets may even have some information now thinking about it, Il give them a ring and see what they offer...
 

Booboos

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For what it is worth, for me proper puppy classes are designed for puppies. They will include:
- time to play with other puppies, in a nice controlled way so that the larger ones don't scare off the smaller ones, but also so that the smaller ones get socialised with all kinds of dogs
- some basic obedience to teach both puppies and owners to work together
- basic handling like grooming, being touched by loads of different people, standing on a table (like a vet's table), etc.
- basic socialising. In the puppy classes I used to help out with, we always asked people to bring something weird each week sometimes hats because hats make people look very different, or umbrellas because spring puppies may not see them until much later on, etc.
 

MurphysMinder

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The classes you were involved in sound really great, a good mix of play and basic obedience/handling. As a matter of interest whereabouts in Shropshire are they, as people sometimes ask me about good classes.
 

TarrSteps

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My lurcher went to "puppy school" at about five months. The trainer divided her classes roughly by age, with a group between 4 and 6 months, another six months to a year, and another doing the same sorts of things but for dogs over a year.

It was very much like Booboo's experience - we did a mix of very basic "real world" obedience, supervised play (the trainer picked dogs to play together and then added/subtracted so the dogs got used to leaving their friends and practised recall at the same time), and, in the last classes, a bit of gentle agility in case anyone was interested in getting on with that. We also got some basic "dog management" although I will admit I missed that class.
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The puppies were a good mix and the trainer was careful that smaller/less outgoing dogs didn't get in trouble and that people with more forward dogs were encouraged to teach them a bit more self control.

Mostly we went so Stan could get some basic socialisation in managed circumstances before he was okay to be off lead, and to have a "check" of our training. The class was organised around the KC "Good Citizen" program, which wasn't important to us but seemed a good basic idea.

We had a good experience and I'd recommend it, particularly for anyone with limited opportunities to socialise their puppy with friends' dogs etc. That said, I talked to a couple of people in our area who went to another class and all had wretched experiences so I think it really depends on the class. We got a recommendation from the rescue we dealt with, which I think is quite a good idea, perhaps even more than just asking random people. (Ours was also known to be "lurcher friendly" and we did find out later some trainers are not so much.)
 
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