Puppy School and Dog Training in Rose Bay

Our dog training runs in three stages and you pick the one that matches your dog's age.

• 8 to 16 weeks: puppy school, which includes four weeks of group class
• 17 to 32 weeks: puppy training, for the stage where most owners feel they are losing the dog they had. There is no group class at this age
• 32 weeks and older: behaviour training, one to one in your own home

Puppy school currently takes bookings at our Paddington venue and at Neutral Bay on the Lower North Shore. Zetland, Alexandria and Marrickville are venues in our network with no dates open right now, so check the puppy school dates page for what is taking bookings. Everything else happens in your own home, across Sydney.

One to one training happens in your home, anywhere in Sydney within roughly a forty five minute drive of the Harbour Bridge. That covers the:

• Inner City and City Centre
• Eastern Suburbs
• Inner West
• Lower North Shore
• Upper North Shore
• Northern Beaches
• Hills District
• Western Sydney
• South Sydney and St George

Group puppy school runs at fixed venues within about eight kilometres of the Harbour Bridge. See the puppy school dates page for which venues are currently taking bookings.

Usually because coming when called has not been rewarded enough, or because going toward you has sometimes led to something the dog does not want (the lead going on, play ending, going home). Every recall needs to end in something the dog finds worthwhile. If coming to you is always a great thing, the dog will choose to do it.

The clearest sign is what the dogs look like between greetings, not during them. Loose body posture, soft eyes, a tail at mid-height, and the ability to disengage and walk away are all good markers. A puppy that's locked on to the other dog, vocalising, or can't be called away is over threshold. A successful early session is often unremarkable. That's the goal.

Manage it carefully rather than avoid it. Adolescent dogs in heightened arousal at a busy dog park is where bad rehearsals get baked in. Go at quieter times. Stay with calm dogs. Leave before your dog hits a 7 on the energy scale.

These tools can help manage pulling while you work on training, but they are not a substitute for teaching the behaviour. A dog that only walks well on a head halter has not learned to walk on a loose lead.

Adult Labs need at least 1.5 to 2 hours of exercise per day. They love swimming, fetch, and running. Puppies need careful management. High-impact exercise on growing joints can cause problems, so stick to lower-impact play and short walks until they're 12 to 18 months old.

Start where your dog is still comfortable. If your dog panics after 3 minutes alone, you practise absences of 1 to 2 minutes. Build the time up in tiny increments, staying always at the edge of what your dog can manage without distress. Any session where panic occurs sets progress back.

Start the day your puppy comes home. The habits you will be trying to undo at eight months are being set in the first few weeks, so the sooner the routine at home is right, the less work there is later.

Book your one to one session early so you are set up from day one. For group puppy school your puppy needs their second vaccination first, which usually means we can take them from around 11 weeks. The online course runs week by week from eight weeks to twenty-four weeks, so there is always something to work on while you wait.