Young Puppy Socialization
45-60 min classes held at the Search, Recovery and Detection K9's facility located in the Cooper Centre Building at 101-780 Windsor Ave, Kamloops.
Each class is a single session. There are 4 class 'themes' for that rotate every week.
Puppies must be 14 weeks of age or under (16 weeks for small breeds) on the date of the scheduled class and have their first vaccine. Vaccines must be kept up to date on your veterinarian's vaccine schedule.
Please be sure to read our cancellation & class policies here
Many people think socializing is just meeting many people and dogs but there is so much more to the human world your puppy lives in. Places, sounds, sights, surfaces, strange objects, different animals, smells, motion, environments, novel items, and people of all shapes and sizes and dogs of all different breeds and sizes. This critical period ends somewhere between 12 and 16 weeks of age, and so by the time you brought your new family member home it was already half over. This is an important time when they are developmentally open to new experiences. During this stage of their development, puppies are learning about how to successfully live in our world, discovering what is safe and what should be feared. This doesn’t, however, mean your puppy won’t learn new things once they hit four months of age. They have an entire lifetime ahead of learning and will always continue to learn. It just means that the window of opportunity where your puppy is more open and accepting of new experiences is short and as responsible puppy parents we must provide means of proper socialization as soon as possible.
Experiences at this time can have a profound effect on how our puppies view and interact with the world and this will shape their future behaviour. Correct, positive socialization can “vaccinate” your puppy against future behavioural issues whereas a lack of socialization can be detrimental to your puppy’s ability to cope as an adult dog and can cause lifelong social deficits. This can affect not only your puppy’s quality of life, but yours and your family’s too. Living with a fearful/aggressive dog will seriously affect your lifestyle.
In fact, proper puppy socialization is so important that the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behaviour (AVSAB) published a POSITION STATEMENT in which it states that “...it should be the standard of care for puppies to receive such socialization before they are fully vaccinated.”
In this class you will learn how to properly socialize your puppy in a neutral or positive manner, at their own pace, as well as teach you about puppy/dog body language and appropriate play. You will learn how to help your puppy through puppy-hood, create positive experiences and build a strong bond with your puppy for a lifelong journey at your side.
Each week of class has a theme that incorporates appropriate exposure to different areas of novel items, environments and stimuli. The four different themes are:
- Health and Handling
- Costumes and Appearances
- Objects, Surfaces and Sounds
- Wheels and Moving Things
Each class will also incorporate short, structured puppy play sessions and discuss important topics such as puppy parenting tips, prevention, management and problem solving, canine enrichment, and work on basic puppy manners.
When to enrol? The sooner the better!
Currently, your puppy needs to be at least 8 weeks old at the start of the first class and have their 1st set of puppy vaccines (commonly called DHPP or DHLPP: distemper, hepatitis, parvo, parainfluenza). They must continue to receive their vaccines on schedule while attending class.
Looking for additional puppy interactions for your puppy? Check out our Puppy Group Walks
Looking for help with Socialization outings in the Real World OR helping your puppy learn how to meet and interact with new dogs they meet? Check out our Private 1-on-1 Puppy Walks
