What You Need To Know About Puppy Preschool
It was once believed that no serious training should be undertaken until dogs were at least eight months old. Some trainers wouldn’t consider working with a dog that was less than 12 or 14 months of age. However, the tide began to turn nearly 30 years ago through the research of noted canine behaviorist John Paul Scott. It was found that puppies can learn and can learn well far before the previously recommended ages. In fact, it was discovered that a puppy’s most critical period of imprinting is between 3 and 14 weeks of age. Behaviorists began to realize that this time frame was also the most ideal time to mold a puppy’s personality.
Today, classes for puppies as young as eight and nine weeks of age are appearing around the country and the results have nothing but positive. It is now believed that, in general, a dog will be more adaptable and receptive to advanced schooling when training takes place very early in life. Pups that have had the advantage of “preschool” training are continually proving to be more self-assured and able to meet a dog’s increased social demands without being traumatized. Furthermore, the strange sights, sounds, and the distractions of these early classes are soon taken in stride by the youngsters, and he is able to concentrate on the lessons at hand much more easily.
Preschool lessons are not complicated or intense, but many of them will be important throughout the dog’s entire life. There is no reason why a puppy cannot learn how to walk along nicely on leash when necessary or understand the meaning of the word “no. It doesn’t take a canine wonder to learn simple things like this, and these lessons could easily save your dog’s life.
A thorough understanding of how dogs learn and how they communicate can help you and your pet develop a relationship that far exceeds any that you may have had with dogs in the past. As we have stressed over and over again, no dog, even the most highly trained, will automatically know all the things you. All dogs are born with a clean slate, the writing is put on that slate by experiences and their owners. It is very important that you write exactly what it is you want on that slate.
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