The Puppy Classes run by Point Cook Dog Training & Day Care are one of the best courses in the western suburbs of Melbourne with classes located in Hoppers Crossing.
Our classes are not a tour of the venue, a hard sell on products or an hour of chaotic puppy play, instead we focus on practical training skills. We use current best practice puppy parenting strategies which prevent and reduce problem behaviours, we discuss science based learning theory and how it applies to puppies, we dispel outdated training myths, we teach you how to interpret basic canine body language, we teach your pup multiple skills, we expose puppies to the world through desensitisation and counter conditioning in our ‘meet the world’ obstacle course and we have controlled interaction and play between puppies. These are the building blocks for the puppy and its future. To create such great positive associations, ALL our training is force free!
Our puppy classes also aim at building a relationship between you and your puppy and this is done through the training. You will learn how to communicate with your pups through good interactions, achieve behaviour you prefer and your puppy gets reinforcement along the way which means everyone is happy!
We focus largely on calmness, settling skills and tapping into that ‘off switch’ that pups need to find and this is done weekly, both during the training and play time. We all know that when dogs are settled, they make much better decisions and learn at a faster rate.
We keep a look out for any pups that may be struggling as they require extra help in the early stages of training. These pups may be anxious, overwhelmed or overstimulated and find everything a bit difficult, not because they are incapable of learning, but because they are just too worried or aroused to focus on learning. If we suspect your pup may be finding things tough, we will discuss this with you and give you strategies to assist them.
We cater to the variety of personality traits and learning abilities and just like people, you will see some pups are super excited, some are nervous, some are anxious, some are super desperate to engage with anything, some are bullies, some are terrified and some just don’t really know what to do! As trainers, we are equipped with knowledge so that we can help these puppies overcome their fears, build on their confidence or just learn to control themselves and this is all done through structured lessons and controlled play sessions. During play time, puppies are paired up with others of similar personality and slowly introduced to the entire group if possible over the duration of the course. You will also learn what appropriate play is and what isn’t and we will teach you how to manage social interactions correctly as this can impact future interactions with other dogs.
Lastly, aside from training the puppies, we are ultimately training you, the parent and whilst some of you may have years of experience, others may be entirely new to it. Some may have experience from decades ago where force was used as the primary training method and you want to learn something new and some may just want to spend some quality bonding time with your pup. Either way, we will cater to your needs and your learning abilities too and we guide you through the early stages of puppy parenting.