Puppy socialization is not just about playing with other puppies or being petted by humans. Practicing body handling, introducing novel objects, and desensitizing puppies to sounds are all key steps for ensuring that puppies are comfortable in all situations. The goal is to create fun and positive experiences, not just any ordinary exposures! In this video, KPA CTP Holly Ovington demonstrates how to expose your puppy to a multitude of situations and environments.
Vet visits are stressful for many dogs. Being placed on strange surfaces and touched all over your body with strange objects can be unnatural and frightening. However, a vet visit doesn’t have to be a traumatic experience! By getting your puppy comfortable with what might happen at the vet before the first visit, you can help minimize those fears and have a profound impact on how your puppy views vet visits!
Training puppies? Consider incorporating a stationing platform into your training plan! A stationing platform provides many benefits. It not only serves as a designated and safe space for training, but it exposes puppies to novel surfaces, keeps puppies focused (the puppies will know that it’s training time), and helps you observe and manage behavior. Platforms also help you manipulate body position more precisely so that core skills can be learned more quickly, a powerful advantage for dog sports. You will be amazed to see the many ways that you can use a platform!
Even if your dog is the sweetest dog in the world, there may be a situation where s/he needs to wear a muzzle. For example, in the current pandemic many veterinary offices use muzzles as a precaution when they examine dogs without their guardians present. Why not be prepared for this or any other situation requiring a muzzle by teaching your dog to wear a muzzle now?
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, interest in fostering and adopting pets has soared. However, with many dog parks closed and social distancing and quarantining orders in place, puppies may miss out on critical exposure to other pups, people, and experiences. The good news is that it is possible to provide puppies with this much-needed socialization through drop-off puppy classes!
Puppies are always learning. Their first experiences with new stimuli shape how they will respond to those stimuli later on in life. By exposing puppies to new stimuli, such as surfaces, in a way that is both fun and rewarding, you can set them up to explore the world confidently.
Introducing puppies to new stimuli and different surfaces is essential to the development of a confident and well-adjusted adult dog. Puppy classes offer an invaluable service to clients looking to provide these vital experiences for their puppies and give them the best start. In this video you will see how puppies learn that new experiences, such as things that move or make sounds, are positive!
Teaching a dog to back up is important for many dog sports, as it is a fundamental skill. However, did you know that backing up can be a particularly useful skill in everyday life as well? Whether you want your dog to step back from an open door or away from the trash bucket or a dangerous object, teaching the back-up behavior comes in handy.
With scorching heat in many parts of the U.S., many dogs may not be able to enjoy long walks or trips to the dog park on hot days. Here’s a fun training game that boosts your dog’s creativity and allows your dog to burn some mental energy using and a popular summer staple: a beach bucket!
Have you ever observed a dog performing behaviors at a distance from his handler and wished you could teach your dog to do that? You can! Teaching your dog to work at a distance is not only a fun training exercise, but it is an essential skill for many dog sports. Watch in this video as the dog learns to “go on” (move away) from his handler on cue, and then go around an object (also on cue).
