Properly training your puppy will ensure that you enjoy your four-legged friend for the rest of its life.
Of course, some puppies need a little more guidance and a more consistent approach than others, but every young dog must master a number of basic rules to function as a well-adjusted family pet. That’s why we offer puppy training courses, including both group and private lessons. Melissa, one of our veterinary assistants, teaches these classes. She has completed the Canine Training Instructor modules A and B. You’ll train with the instructor for 45 minutes to 1 hour per session. The puppy training course consists of 8 lessons. During these lessons, you’ll learn all the key points to make raising your puppy as smooth as possible. Topics covered include: attention, sit, down, stay, heel, and many more commands. In addition, the course covers socialization with unfamiliar objects or situations, veterinary clinic training, and more. Of course, one hour of training per week isn’t enough: you’ll need to put all the advice into practice at home and keep practicing everything!
It’s also possible to do just clinic training sessions. Of course, there are times when your dog finds the clinic intimidating, or you’d like to help your dog get used to visits to the vet in a fun way. By starting clinic training from puppyhood, your dog won’t always associate the clinic with unpleasant situations; instead, visits can become a fun and positive experience. During the clinic training sessions, your dog will step on the scale, wait in the waiting room, be placed on the exam table, get used to being touched, and so on. This is, of course, positively reinforced in various ways. Adult dogs can also participate in and be trained for this. If you have a dog that has had a severe traumatic experience at a veterinary clinic, it will be difficult to completely “erase” that experience. However, we can work together to determine how we—as veterinarian and owner—can best handle the situation when you need to visit the clinic. Good preparation is half the battle!
Are you experiencing behavioral issues with your dog at home or outside? If so, you can also make an appointment with Melissa for behavioral advice. She will discuss your experiences with your dog and see if she can offer advice on how to handle the situation. If the behavioral problems are very serious, someone else—such as a behaviorist—will be brought in to help.
