Puppy's Life
Puppy Kindergarten
Learn more about each other during class
Sit, stay, and play! Enrolling you and your pup in a local class is the start of a great learning experience that will last a lifetime—think of it as sort of a puppy kindergarten. (And yes, you get to enjoy naps too!)
“I learned as much as he did,” says Sandy Keeney, of Cincinnati, Ohio, who took puppy classes with her black Labrador mix, Maxi Taxi. “We’d do things together in class, then go home and do them together. It was so much fun.”
Michael Wombacher, a California-based dog author and teacher, says that enrolling in a puppy class is both an enriching experience and an essential one.
Puppy classes are as much about educating you as they are about letting your puppy learn new things. You’ll learn how to communicate with each other. And the homework is a ball!
That familiarization created a bond that endures even now that Maxi Taxi has grown into an adult, and Keeney says the time they spent together played a big role in that bonding.
“Even in the car on the way there, we’d talk about what we were going to do in class, and then on the way home, we’d talk about how well he did,” she recalls.
Those good times, however, are more than just fun and games. In addition to broadening your friendship, it’s also increasing your puppy’s social skills.
If you’re wondering how soon is too soon to start going to school together, don’t worry—most classes welcome puppies from the age of eight weeks until about five months for the entry-level education.
In addition to building the bond between you and your puppy, like most kindergarten classes, the learning at puppy kindergarten focuses on introducing the students to the big, wide world around them.
“There are some basics that can be learned right away, but that kindergarten class is primarily about building the bond between you and your puppy,” Wombacher says. “What creates a bond is working together. Going through a class together will create a relationship that you just can’t beat.”
“That connection deepens dramatically,” he says.
And that, he says, is what the relationship with your puppy is all about.
“Relationship is everything,” he says. “The emotional reward goes way beyond the value of everything else you learn.”
Know before you go
Just as with any class, you’ll want to check out your puppy’s school before enrolling. Of course, you want to make sure the facility is clean and friendly, but dog expert Michael Wombacher also suggests asking the following questions:
- What is your teaching philosophy, and what methods do you use? Philosophies can differ dramatically—you’ll want to be comfortable with their approach. Look for individuals who are willing to tailor information to suit the individual needs and personalities of each student.
- How large are your classes? One-on-one attention is important, so any class that allows more than eight or nine puppies per instructor might not be as effective as you’d like.
- Can I visit a class? Observing one of their classes is always a good idea because you can get a feel for the instructor and the way he or she interacts with the puppies and their people.
- How long are your classes? Classes should be about one hour long. As you know, your puppy is active and likes to stay on the move.
- Can I get referrals from previous customers? Talking with people who have completed classes and finding out their feelings on the experience gives you coveted “insider” information.
Finding the perfect class is often a matter of asking around—if you spot a young, well-behaved and well-adjusted pup at your local dog park, ask where he and his owner went to school. Now, about that nap...
