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 training methods, preventing and reducing problem behaviours.
We now have a new format for our classes and will be trialing this from July 2026 onwards. What has changed? We now send you a comprehensive theory file so you can go through it all in the comforts of your home. This means no more 3 hours of listening to us talk, but instead, everything, plus more, is in one big file. Your homework to get started on is also in there, along with files on what to bring to classes, what to prepare for, etc.
It also means you now have an extra practical lesson for your pup and this gives us opportunity to teach even more skills in classes.
ALL our training is force free and fear free!
Our puppy classes help build a relationship between you and your puppy. You will learn how to communicate with your pups through good interactions and your puppy gets reinforcement along the way which means everyone is happy!
We focus on calmness and settling skills, tapping into that ‘off switch’. We all know that when dogs are settled, they make much better decisions and learn at a faster rate.
We 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 is struggling, 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 update your skillset and some may just want to spend some quality time with their pup. Either way, we will cater to your needs and your learning abilities too as we guide you through the early stages of puppy parenting.