Puppy School (Up to 16 Weeks Old)

We offer four levels of support. Every level includes four weeks of group puppy school at your chosen venue, lifetime community access and Ask Luke, our digital mind, available 24/7 with no message limits.

• Bronze: the group puppy school on its own. No one to one sessions and no online course. For owners who want the class and are happy running the rest at home themselves.
• Silver: the full program. One session in your own home before school starts, six months of the online course, and direct support whenever you need it.
• Gold: everything in Silver, with three home sessions instead of one, a full year of course access, and phone support as well as messaging. Most families choose Gold.
• Platinum: ten home sessions through to adolescence, lifetime course access, the video tutorial library, your training equipment, and priority phone and text. We take five Platinum clients at a time.

Every level includes four weeks of group puppy school, lifetime community access, the Relational Leadership framework, and Ask Luke, our digital mind, available 24/7 with no message limits.

From Silver up you also get one to one sessions in your own home, the online course as a Weekly Journey running Week 8 through Week 24 plus the Problem Library, and direct message support. Phone and text support starts at Gold, and Platinum gets priority phone and text. On Bronze, Ask Luke answers from everything we publish for free. From Silver up it also reads your course material, so it answers on the week you are actually on.

If your puppy is older than 16 weeks, our Adolescent Program replaces the group school with an extra one to one session at every level, with everything else the same.

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.

You can start our puppy program at any age. We recommend starting as early as possible and have online and one to one support to help you through the early weeks at home. Your puppy needs to have had their second vaccination to join group Puppy School, so we are able to take puppies from around 11 weeks once that has happened.

Group puppy school runs at six venues, and all six take bookings: Dogs in Town at 308 Oxford Street, Paddington; Dogs in Town at 44 Epsom Road, Zetland; Dogs in Town at 500 Glenmore Road, Edgecliff; Dogs in Town at 266 Mitchell Road, Alexandria; Dogs in Town at 55 Addison Road, Marrickville; and DoggieLove at 71 Military Road, Neutral Bay.

Anyone in Sydney can attend any of them. Start dates vary by venue, so check the booking page for what is running next or ask us and we will tell you.

Your one to one sessions happen at your own address wherever you are in Sydney, so only the group class brings you to a venue.

Classes are capped at ten puppies and matched by size, which balances quality with socialisation.

It is really important that your puppy meets lots of different types of dog while they are young. We do see breed specific schools cropping up, cavoodle only classes and the like, and we cannot stress how bad an idea that is.

That said, a large breed starting at 13 weeks and a Pomeranian starting at 12 weeks in the same class is not workable for either of them. We match puppies on relative size and age, while keeping a good mix of breeds in every class.

1. Orientation
   Welcome and Day 1, why the TBC method works, how the course works, and common puppy myths.
2. The Big 8
   Front-loaded before the Weekly Journey begins. Biting, toileting, routine, crate training, crying, sleeping, home set up, and socialisation.
3. The Weekly Journey
   Individual sections for every week from Week 8 through Week 24. Puppy School (weeks 12 to 15) is folded in here. Week 16 is the critical mouthing transition. Week 17 links out to Recall Training Mastery.
4. The Problem Library
   A standing reference, open anytime. Husbandry and cooperative care, command training foundations, recall training mastery, health and first aid, working with your vet, common puppy problems, common dog problems and solutions, the breed-specific behaviour library, and practical life living with your dog (coming soon).
5. Beyond The Spine
   Adolescent workshops, middle adolescence (months 6 to 9), late adolescence (months 9 to 12), and the closing capstone.

We confirm your place, then send you a link to book any one to one sessions your level includes. Ask Luke opens immediately at every level, and from Silver up your online course access opens the same day, so you can start straight away even if your first group class is a few weeks off.

Yes. You can join at any point. There may be one or two elements you have already passed, but plenty of owners join later and get just as much out of it.

The course is divided into age brackets so you are only ever reading the part that matches the puppy in front of you. If your puppy is already past 16 weeks, our seventeen to thirty two week Puppy Training program is usually the better fit and we will tell you that rather than sell you the wrong thing.

The only hard limit is group puppy school. Your puppy needs their second vaccination to join, which usually happens somewhere in the twelve to fourteen week range and most commonly at twelve weeks. That is for safety.