The Clinic's puppy school program continues to be a big success. The number of successful graduates from the WSVC school of puppy excellence is now up around the 2,000 graduate mark.
The WSVC puppy school program includes a whole range of activities organised for one night a week and going for 4 consecutive weeks start to finish.
The routine includes:
- Happy time/play time
- Active socialisation exercises
- Basic training to come, sit etc.
- Behavioural adjustment (when and if required)
- Essential survival skills for both puppies and owners
- Discussion about key aspects of behavioural chemistry
- Testing progress
- Puppy health and care
- …And a whole lot more.
As we always point out during puppy class, some half million dogs are disposed of annually because they have become a nuisance to their owners.
In trying to prevent this most unfortunate kind of outcome, it helps enormously if we get all the chemistry of the happy owner-animal bond as right as possible - right from the start.
As "pets" move into their more advanced role of "companion animals", more is expected of them. Obedience, manners, trustworthiness, and general well balanced behaviour are of even greater importance for both them and us.
The sort of "happy cheerful" puppy adjustments we are able to make at our "socialisation and training" classes pay dividends over and over.
Puppy classes at WSVC are not something we advertise to the general public. We easily could, but that's not the point. Our puppy classes are a client service for our clinic customers. We do not wish to dilute the effort we make with puppy training by advertising more widely, nor do we want to diminish the enthusiasm that comes with the smaller groups of our own people.