Urban Puppy School

Properly trained and socialised puppies are easier to train, have fewer serious behavioural disturbances and enjoy a much closer bond with humans.

Training Exercises

Train your puppy for the real world. The most effective training happens in the environment where the behaviours are naturally occurring, rather than in long training sessions.

Confinement Training

Learn how to create short-term and long-term confinement areas that your puppy will love! Avoid issues like separation anxiety, barking, whining and other stress responses.

Home Alone Training

Learn how to keep your puppy safe and happy when you’re not at home. We’ll show you how to amuse your puppy, keep them settled and avoid distress when you can’t be there.

Biting

Learn to develop good bite inhibition and avoid painful bites. Teach your puppy to have a ‘soft’ mouth, and exercise control with their teeth when interacting with humans.

Housetraining
Housetrain your puppy quickly and easily. Avoid the common pitfalls that lead to long-term housetraining issues. Errorless housetraining is possible and we’ll show you how.

Socialisation

Expose your puppy to a variety of different sensory stimuli, social interactions, new experiences, sounds, tastes and objects, in a fun, positive and non-threatening way.

Rest & Sleep

Learn why proper rest and REM sleep is crucial to your puppy’s physical and behavioural development, and how to get the critical, restorative sleep that puppies require.

Behaviour Management

Control bad behaviour by making simple changes in the environment, or the way we manage the dog. Mitigate damage and prevent opportunities to practice unwanted behaviour.

Marker Signals

How to tell your puppy they got something right, and use various forms of reinforcement such as food, petting, play, praise, etc. to teach and maintain good behaviour.
Reinforcers

Learn to Identify real-life reinforcers, and why they’re fundamental to successful training. The selection and delivery of reinforcers will determine the effectiveness of your training efforts.

Treats In Training

We’ll show you how to use treats effectively in training, as a reinforcer rather than a bribe. Avoid raising a puppy that ignores you unless they see you have treats available.

Impulse Control

Stellar impulse control is the cornerstone of good behaviour and manners, necessary for life with humans. We’ll teach you how to develop it and avoid, impatient, pushy dogs.

Develop Your Puppy’s Sensory System

Puppies discover the world and processes the environment, and their body, via the sensory system. Learn about your puppy’s experience of the world via their senses.
Grooming
Learn to groom your puppy properly and which tools to use. We’ll teach you how to clip nails, clean ears, brush teeth, groom coats, check for fleas and ticks, bath and dry your puppy.
Handling & Husbandry

Learn how to take temperature, administer medication, check for injury, check anal glands, range of movement exercises, etc., utilising positive, low-stress handling techniques.

Dogs & Children

Learn how to have your dog and children interact safely, avoiding risky behaviours that may lead to a bite. Avoid puppies jumping on and biting children and stealing their belongings.

Play

Play helps dogs to develop physically, socially and cognitively while burning energy, reducing stress and learning coping skills. Bite inhibition and impulse control are also learned via play.

Developing Dogs Through Play

Learn the four types of play that puppies require for developing problem solving skills, resistance to stress, forming good social connections and refining motor abilities.

Create A Motivating Toy

We’ll teach you how to create a desirable toy that will motivate your puppy to do almost anything. Dogs strongly motivated by toys are enthusiastic participants in training.

Teaching Fetch

We’ll show you how to teach your dog to fetch, avoiding your dog playing ‘keeping’s off’ with you. When properly taught, dogs can be exercised quickly with an energetic game of fetch.

Tug Games

Learn the rules of tug and how to get your dog to release a tug toy immediately upon request. Tug games, when properly taught, can be utilised as a reinforcer during training.

Two Cues To Control Undesirable Behaviour

Learn two cues to control almost all undesirable behaviour, keeping it simple for puppies to understand. Stop bad behaviour in its tracks immediately, without nagging or pleading.