Weekly Puppy Kindergarten Classes

Pre-requisite: All healthy puppies 2 months to 6 months of age can attend. Completed vaccination schedules are not necessary.

Puppy K is a great starting point to begin the socialization process so important in creating a balanced adult dog. We allow for a lot of appropriate puppy play which is necessary to build the pup’s dog-dog tolerance and socialization skills.

We conduct these classes with pups off-leash so that pups can learn how to socialize with other pups and so that they do not have to unlearn leash aggression and bad emotions caused by straining against their own leashes. We will also be teaching your pups how to follow you willingly, on or off leash.

Puppy Kindergarten helps to prevent food aggression, dog aggression, and fear issues, and encourages the puppy to pay attention to its human family (instead of everything else!). We also teach human family members how to gain their pup’s willing attention and what to do when pup is not behaving like a perfect angel. We cover housebreaking and puppy management. Instructors will answer any question you might have about puppy behavior.

By the end of a session, we hope that you and your pup have learned the basics of how to pay attention to YOU by learning: a positive marker, pup’s name recognition & response, how to make voluntary calm eye contact between you and pup, how to follow your hand signals and directional signals (without biting you), how to follow your body as you move (without pup jumping up on you or running past you), how to follow sit & lie down hand signals, how to come when you call (or whoop!), how to accept gentle human touch without biting or shying away, how to play with toys and with you (play with rules and structure), how to politely allow other dogs to get food or attention from others, how to introduce “new” situations and things, how to recognize pup’s limits and what to do when pup signals his/her unease or tiredness.

We cannot overemphasize the importance of Puppy Kindergarten. It is extremely important for pups to attend a class at very young ages because, just like human children, learning important developmental skills cannot be postponed.

For those puppies starting Weekly Puppy Kindergarten at an early age, we encourage attending a second Kindergarten session before moving onto Weekly Pet Obedience Classes. Especially if you want your pup to become a therapy dog, we encourage you and your pup to take two Puppy Kindergarten sessions before graduating onto one or two sessions of pet obedience classes

Weekly Pet Obedience Classes

Pre-requisite: Healthy dog, aged 6 months or older.

Dogs will be leashed when attending and working in this group class. Dogs who have a foundation from Puppy K will ease right in to learning the more advanced skills older dogs should master. However, dogs who have not yet taken any other puppy or obedience classes are also welcomed and will benefit from taking this training class.

Again, as in Weekly Puppy Kindergarten classes, we teach the “7 Training Samurai + 2” as our foundation obedience behaviors, but dogs and owners are taught with a higher level of detail in the instructions, with longer durations of behavior required of the dogs, and with greater distractions introduced than the training experienced in Puppy K class. Heeling on- and off-leash and for longer durations is practiced so that you can experience pleasant walks in public with your dog. Teaching dogs how to stay alone comfortably for increasingly longer durations of time will help prevent and cure canine separation anxiety.

Dogs who master the training taught in Weekly Pet Obedience Classes can then go onto being successful, happily-adjusted, well-behaved pet dogs.

Dogs that successfully complete our Weekly Pet Obedience classes also can go on to more advanced training options such as Herding, Rally Obedience, Competition Obedience, Agility, Nosework, Tracking, Search and Rescue, Freestyle, Earthdog, Barndog, Trick Dog, Therapy Dog Work, CGC, FDC— in other words, your dog can go on to participate in any endeavor where willing partnership and understanding between dog and human is valued.

Rally Obedience Classes

Rally Obedience is a fun dog sport where you heel together through a course, completing exercises along your path. In Rally, you can praise and talk to your dog as you work together. This sport practices real-life environmental navigation and cooperation.

AKC now allows video submissions for titling- expanding access to competition (and ribbons!)

Pre-requisite: Dogs must have an understanding of loose-leash heeling behavior and a “sit” and a “down” on command before participating in this class.

Recommended to have attended at least one session of obedience prior to taking this course.

Other suggested alternatives to this class might be attendance at Weekly Obedience Class or a series of private lessons.

Puppy Hikes

A series of 6 half-hour hikes. Designed for pups aged 6 months or under. Individual hike can be attended for an additional fee with approval from instructor.

Hikes are off-leash, in a 12 acre fenced-in field, and we use a lot of food reinforcement! We often have instructor-owned, very stable, friendly adult dogs who also participate. Maximum of 6 pups. Dress for the weather!

Pre-requisite: Healthy dog. Only people and dogs who are participating in other Raspberry Ridge Sheep Farm training activities are eligible to participate. Must be approved by instructor.