Canine Class Beginners is a new course designed to help dogs that find everything a little bit challenging. If you have a dog that struggles to focus on you when out on a walk, finds it difficult to slow down and settle in the presence of people or other dogs, is nervous around other dogs when out on walks, is sensitive to noises and movement, is over excited about everything it sees and hears, or finds training in general to be difficult, then this course can help you.
Over the last few years, we have really seen a shift in dog behaviour and have noticed that more and more dogs find day to day living quite hard. Most of these dogs find general classes overwhelming as they grapple with their insecurities, fear, anxieties and sensory overload. But giving these dogs an opportunity to be in a group setting with a course content that was slower, quieter, easier and with a focus on feeling safe and settled was what we needed and so the beginners course was developed.
This course is also suitable for newly adopted dogs and young dogs that are new to training.
In Canine Class Beginners, we take it a lot slower, focusing on calm, building a stronger connection with you, working on desensitisation to other people and dogs, adding in settling aids and skills which encourage the dog to remain in its thinking brain rather than jumping into its emotional brain.
This course helps improve thresholds and tolerance levels and it will help your dog learn to prioritise you over everything else.
The skills taught in this course will be quite basic but practical, skills you can use both at home and on walks. If we see your dog is settling faster than anticipated, we will then tailor the lesson to your dog’s needs and abilities.
During this course we will also be able to identify if some of the behaviours you are seeing, are stemming from anxiety and the inability to cope in certain situations. Training might help enormously for many of these dogs as it creates stability, predictability and structure. Dogs with mild to moderate behaviour issues often lack those key components that assist with learning, yet thrive when it is offered.
If during the course we can see your dog has moderate to severe behavioural issues, then we can steer you in the right direction to get further help. The skills taught in this course will be what you and your dog will lean on once the cause of the behaviour issues have been addressed.
Once this course is completed, if your dog progressed and managed to remain settled throughout each lesson, you will then have the option to move onto Canine Classes Level 1 & 2, where skills become more challenging and the group is more active.
Before booking into Canine Class Beginners, please read the following.
If your dog is anxious, fearful, nervous, aroused, but does not display behaviours such as growling, snapping and lunging, you can book online. Below are more details on which dogs can book into Canine Class Beginners.
- Your dog is anxious/nervous/fearful/shy around people or dogs but moves away or freezes when approached
- Your dog gets overexcited when it sees people or other dogs
- Your dog struggles to settle when you have visitors over
- Your dog pulls on the leash and cannot focus on you when out on walks
- Your dog struggles to follow instructions or takes quite some time to learn a skill
An assessment at the centre with one of the trainers will be required if:
- Your dog barks, growls, lunges and pulls towards other dogs and people passing from across the road
- You dog has bite history (has bitten,nipped, bruised or grazed a child, person or dog)
- Your dog redirects aggression towards you when it becomes stressed or overwhelmed
To contact us to either arrange an assessment at the centre with one of the trainers, please email us at info@pointcookdogtraining.com.au
Please note that all dog parents must attend theory in order to continue in this course. Failure to attend will mean you will be withdrawn from the course.