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Puppy Classes at The Dog School, Vancouver: Start Anytime, 8-16 Weeks Old

  • Mar 12
  • 3 min read

The Dog School in Vancouver is offering puppy programming for dogs 8-16 weeks old in a unique start-anytime format. We also offer FREE Puppy Play on Saturday Mornings!


Read below to learn about our unique, fun, safe and effective Puppy Programs.

Firstly, why does your puppy need puppy classes?

Puppies benefit greatly from early socialization during the 8-16 week-old period. Socialization doesn't just mean play, in fact, it doesn't even mean mostly play! Socialization really means:

  • The opportunity to explore new sights, sounds and surfaces

  • Novel experiences like car rides and new environments

  • Neutrality around new people and other dogs

  • Introduction to everyday equipment like leashes, harnesses and collars

  • Establishing routines for grooming, body handling and alone-time training

  • Building a bond between puppy and person

Socialization is a critical part of puppy development and it is so much fun when you get it right!


There occurs a problem during this early puppy period where puppies who only have one set of vaccines are at a disadvantage as exploring the world has risks of disease. It's fair to be cautious during this early puppy period - we don't want to get our puppies sick! But we also have to balance the risk with opportunities to have adequate safe socialization for maximum long-term benefit.

Insert The Dog School. Our Vancouver-based studio located at 4333 W 10th Ave in West Point Grey (just a few minutes from UBC and Pacific Spirit Park) is a purpose-built dedicated dog training studio. We have created a safe space for puppies with rubber flooring and high quality cleaning protocols that exceed the BCSPCA AnimalKind guidelines. We ensure your puppy is as safe as possible when they enter into our space. Our lack of daycare or sharing our space with other community groups means we are able to confidently say we have the cleanest dog training space in Vancouver.

So we're safe and clean, great. What are we going to learn?

Sarah Shapiro-Ward and Katrina Per-Carruthers have over 15 years of teaching experience each. What does this mean for you? It means the curriculum has been developed to be both modular and highly able to be individualised to you and your puppy's needs.

Things like how to stop puppy nipping or curb barking/vocalising is addressed in our classes. We also cover things like how to desensitize your puppy to nail clippers, how to ensure you're giving your puppy the most confidence with new obstacles and more.


Each class covers:

  • A warm-up exercise (that will pay off in dividends when your puppy is a teen!)

  • Clicker training mechanics

  • Puppy specifics

  • Plenty of opportunity for Q&A with Katrina and Sarah

Speaking of support...

We also have in-between class support. We know how hard it is to raise a puppy with so many opinions everywhere and conflicting advice — it's nice to know when you've found your people!

We have an online discord where we're available to look at videos, answer questions, offer advice and also where you can find your community of wonderful positive reinforcement based clients who often meet up outside of class for puppy socialisation and more. This is available to all our clients!


We really want everyone here to feel well supported as part of our Dog School team.

Well this is great, but I can't commit to a class for 5ish weeks on the same day/time every week.. I have a puppy and life is exhausting right now!

We hear you!! Our Start-Anytime, Non-Commitment classes means you don't have a 4 or 6 week block of classes you have to attend. Instead, attend as many classes as you'd like to, at your own pace. Each class costs one credit (private lessons cost 3 credits), and we run classes 5 days a week. We offer a credit-system where you can purchase:

Package

Price per Class

1 class

$60

6 classes

$55/class

Membership

$50 each (4 classes/month)

If your puppy is under the weather or your family has a previous commitment, the ability to "miss" a week and know you can make it up on another day with


out having to worry about losing content is often quoted as one of the most valuable things we offer.

So, have a new puppy?

 
 
 

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