Puppy Preschool

Positive Paws Puppy Preschool is the best start to your puppy's life.

Puppy Preschool classes teach you and your puppy how to live appropriately with each other, how to get the most out of your relationship together, and how to have a polite dog that lives in harmony with you and the family. It also allows your puppy a safe and positive environment to maximise their early socialisation.

Dont wait to start training your puppy!

Puppy training can and should begin as soon as your puppy can walk and eat and play. Socialisation should begin as soon as the puppy reaches 3 weeks old, in fact your puppy should be well and truly socialised to over 100 different people, dogs and experiences BEFORE they reach 12 weeks old!

Puppy school can be started as early as 8 weeks of age.

It is not neccessary to wait until your puppy has completed their vaccination course as our classes are held in a safe and positive environment indoors which are disinfected before each class. If you do wait until then they will be too old to attend puppy school and you will have completely missed the boat on effectively socialising your puppy (a puppy's social development period only lasts until they are 3 - 4 months old)!

Some well meaning people may recommend that you wait until the pup is 6 months old because before that they are too young to train or learn - this is simply untrue! Many problem behaviours are now bad habits by the time you seek help at this age, so why not teach your pup good habits from the moment you get them home. And we still hear vets and breeders advising owners to isolate their puppies until they are fully vaccinated but they fail to warn owners of the necessity of early socialisation and how to do this safely and effectively. Puppy preschool is absolutely the best way to begin this and to get the right information on how to raise a happy and well socialised dog.

Did you know that the number one reason dogs are surrendered or euthanased is because of behaviour problems?

The dog is too boisterous, the dog jumps all over everyone, the dog barks too much, the dog digs and escapes, the dog chews everything, the dog bit someone. Does any of this sound like fun? Have you had a dog like this before? Dont let it happen to you this time! Get started as soon as you can and enrol into puppy preschool!

More dogs are surrendered, rehomed or euthansed every single year due to behaviour problems than for any other reason (including parvovirus, health conditions, cancer or moving house) and too often these behaviour problems so easily could have been prevented with early socialisation and training.

Why choose Positive Paws Puppy Preschool?

If you decide to attend Puppy School, it is the most important early experience your puppy is likely to have and so you should make sure the class you take your puppy to is going to be the best possible one you can. In the words of Australia's best Veterinary Behaviour Specialist Kersti Seksel, puppy school should be run by the most experienced trainers, not by inexperienced people. Many puppy schools at vet clinics are run by the nurses who may be inexperienced at best, untrained and uneducated at worst.

At Positive Paws, we have been running puppy classes since 1998. Positive Paws classes offer the highest quality, cutting edge positive reinforcement training techniques and our trainers are very experienced and educated in dog behaviour and have a thorough knowledge of learning theory. Not only that, but every year we continue to educate ourselves on developments in dog training and behaviour and have been doing so for the past 14 years.

We run fun, friendly, family oriented training classes where you will be sure both you and your puppy will have loads of fun and learn heaps too! Our classes address socialisation, problem prevention of all the problems you will be experiencing or be likely to, as well as understanding your puppy and also how to teach them to have good manners.

Our Puppy Preschool classes involve:

• New class structure of 5 lessons with 1 class each week. The first lesson is orientation class and is with no puppies, humans only to attend. The rest of the course you bring puppy with you. The first lesson may go for 90 mins, the rest of the course lessons are 60 mins. The reason for having the first lesson without the puppies is so that we can teach you the theory side of things and have plenty of time to discuss the problems you are having (or are likely to in the near future!) and solutions for those problems, without boring the puppies or you getting distracted and missing vital information trying to keep your puppy busy while the humans talk. 

• You will learn Family Pet Dog Training using positive reinforcement techniques to train your puppy how to do a multitude of behaviours. These include Sit, Lie Down, Stand, Name Attention, Come, Stay/Wait, Off & Take It, Give, Settle Down, Loose Lead Walking.

• You will also learn how to teach your dog Bite Inhibition and Problem Prevention of the common issues facing puppy owners - biting, jumping, chewing, digging, barking, housetraining, handling, separation anxiety, resource guarding, fear of noises etc.

• Early, Positive Socialisation.

• Early, Positive Training.

• Advice on health care and nutrition.

• Understanding Canine Body Language and how dog's learn and behave.

We are also developing a network of Socialisation Stations so that you can furthur your puppy's early socialisation and training. We are adding socialisation Stations so you have places that you can take your puppy to get them socialised well. See our Operation Socialisation Macarthur program for more information, to see a list of socialisatoin stations, and to see if you can help!

And to top it all off, Positive Paws trainers are all members of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers Australia, and adhere to their high standards, so you can be secure in knowing you will be experiencing Puppy Preschool at its best.

For course dates and more information on our puppy classes please click on a location below.        

Please note that we no longer run puppy school classes for the Macarthur Vet Group, they now get their nurses to run their classes.