This intermediate-level class is open to both our “First Paw Forward” or “Never Too Late” grads. It is designed to help you build on the basic level skills you learned and make them useful in your everyday life. During this six-week program, we gradually improve your dog's focus and reliability under increasingly difficult distractions. We will improve the dog’s sit stays, down stays, heeling around other dogs, toys, and food. Retrieving skills, tricks, and training games will be introduced to help improve your training skills and keep things interactive and fun. Instructor: Renee deVilliers
We believe positive reinforcement training is the best way to create a happy and confident dog who understands what is expected of them. Training should begin as soon as your new puppy arrives in your home. Our “First Paw Forward” program is designed to take advantage of the young dog’s early learning and socialization period and is open to pups from 8 weeks – 16 weeks at the start of the program. We introduce the basic commands, such as sit, down, settle on a mat, and you will learn to avoid common puppy problem behaviours by developing your dog’s self control and ability to focus and respond to you around other dogs and people. The class routine also includes the opportunity for the puppies to socialize in a safe and controlled environment before being ready for interaction with other dogs out in the parks or on the street. *Puppies only require their first set of vaccinations for the First Paw Forward program. Instructor: Renee deVilliers
We believe that training is the best way to create a happy and confident dog who understands what is expected of him. Training should begin as soon as your new dog arrives in your home. Perhaps you have not had a chance to attend a puppy class or you have adopted an older dog. This foundations level obedience class is for dogs five months or older. It is designed to help you instill the basic commands you will need to communicate with your dog and help him understand the rules of your home. All exercises are progressive and skills are built from the first class to the last. If you and your dog have not participated in a group class before or if you are finding that your adolescent puppy is not as co-operative as you would like, this is the class for you. Remember it is your job to be your dog’s “guide to proper etiquette” when living in a human’s world and make sure you have given your dog the skills and guidance to help him become a fabulous companion animal. Once you have mastered the basics, you can hone your skills through our intermediate level classes and be ready for some “extra curricular” activities such as: agility, rally obedience, tricks or therapy work. Instructor: Scout Huston
Rally Obedience can be described as obedience exercises performed in a sequence format, with the emphasis on an upbeat relationship between handler and dog. It is an advanced level obedience program made up of a compilation of many of the traditional obedience exercises, including heeling, sit, down, stand, and stay. Rally is a terrific sport and builds a strong working relationship between dog and handler. Rally obedience skills serve as a foundation for everyday life skills, other human-dog team sports such as agility, and any type of dog assisted therapy programs.
Participants in our Novice Rally program need to have successfully completed the Never Too Late and Coming Back for More programs. Dog and handler need to have an understanding of our method of training as well as the basic components of obedience training: attention to handler, sit, down, stay, loose lead walking.
