Well-Rounded Puppy
Congratulations on your new puppy! And, good human to you looking at socializing your puppy. Exposing your puppy to a variety of experiences, sights, sounds, and persons is of the utmost importance right now. Doing so at this young age, will give your puppy every best opportunity for growing into a stable adult dog.
During the critical time of life from 8 weeks to 16 weeks of age, puppies learn a lot about their world, for instance, what is normal and therefore comfortable and worth tolerating, such as vetting, grooming, people on skateboards, children, strangers, men with hats and beards, people in wheelchairs, and the list goes on. It is important, however, that your pup is monitored for her reactions to these new experiences and adjustments are made when necessary so she doesn't learn to be fearful but instead learns to be confident, growing into a well-adjusted adult. In the Well-Rounded Puppy Class, we will monitor her body language and guide you, and her, through those new experiences ensuring that we are building confidence and self-assurance through exposure to new stimuli.
In the Well-Rounded Puppy, we will spend time teaching Sit, Come, Up, Off, Check It Out as well as playing cooperation games where they’ll learn not to jump up when greeting visitors. And, we'll take time teaching your pup to walk nicely on leash, too.
With a strong focus on the socialization necessary to support your puppy into a confident adult, this class is for puppies age 2 mos to 5 mos. Some smaller breed puppies will be accepted up to age 6 months.
Note that puppies do not finish receiving their full puppy immunizations until 16 weeks of age. Until this time, and even after, it is important that your puppy is kept safe from the possibility of contracting disease. Do not bring your puppy to dog parks or other parks where unknown dogs have visited. Synergy Dog's puppy class is held in a protected area to maximize your puppy's protection; however, we will require that each attending puppy be current on their vaccine boosters and be in good health for attendance.
“During [the first three months of life] puppies should be exposed to as many new people, animals, stimuli and environments as can be achieved safely and without causing overstimulation manifested as excessive fear, withdrawal or avoidance behavior,” the AVSAB position statement says. “For this reason, the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior believes that it should be the standard of care for puppies to receive such socialization before they are fully vaccinated.”