Puppy preschool has not only been beneficial for Chisel, but great for his owners too. Even though they are experienced dog owners, every dog is different! Puppy preschool is a great way to teach your puppy how to be well-mannered and socially accepted. The owners are equipped with loads of information to take home and practice with them.
On week 3 (the second last week), Chisel’s owners learnt about:
- Exercise and enrichment (making sure your dog is not bored at home!) and the importance of both physical and mental exercise. It’s recommended that you have several different toys on rotation. Imagine if we as humans were stuck in one room every day? We would become bored and starting to look at ways to keep ourselves entertained. For dogs…..a bored dog is a destructive dog!
- “Stay” – with distancing. This is all about teaching your puppy to stay but gradually taking a few steps back at a time (rewarding after each step back).
- Resource guarding – this is about resource swapping, including food bowls to stop aggression around feeding times, useful for playing fetch. There are many things that dogs do not normally like. Like having their food/toys removed from them or having a stranger come up and hold them. Yet, these things may occur at some stage and possibly result in pushing your dog into a situation where it may bite someone. However, will be many times when your puppy has something in their mouth that is unsafe, or perhaps just something they shouldn’t have. You want to know that they will give it to you without getting bitten.
- Dental Care – dental care in any animal is vital for overall health, so it’s important to start a good dental health care routine in puppies. Trainer Kimberley discussed how the best preventative way is by brushing your dog’s teeth everyday if possible, with other options such as Greenies or Oravet which are specific dental chews that you can provide your dog daily.
- Digging – many dogs LOVE digging and it’s a natural and normal puppy behaviour! Did you know they actually dig because
- It feels good!
- It’s a form of exercise
- Dirt smells amazing!
- The ground feels cool
- Chasing/following an insect
Trainer Kimberley gave a great suggestion of filling a sandpit with sand and hide toys and treats in it – this will give them an outlet to dig and have fun!
As usual there was safe and interactive play time with the pups where Kimberley closely observed all the pups individually and spent time with the owners. Chisel had fun playing with his new mates!
Stay tuned for next week and see Chisel graduate from puppy school!
