Puppy Preschool in Portland, OR

[cmitchell]

I was curious to see what age is good for training. Some classes aren't available until the Ruby is at least 4 - 5 months, but what about puppy preschool? Is this something that I should look into?

 

[gmacleod]

Absolutely you should look into puppy kindergarten classes. They really are invaluable.

The primary purpose of puppy kindergarten is socialisation - new situations, new people, but most of all, other puppies of approximately the same age. Puppies learn a huge amount from playing with others, so all attempts should be made to get her to a class if possible. The ideal age to start is anywhere between 10-16 weeks, but anytime is better than no time

The secondary purpose of puppy kindergarten is to teach the owners a little about caring for and training their pup. Not a great deal of actual training ever gets done in the classes - not surprisingly, all the pups are far more intent on playing with each other than on doing sits or working for treats. But that doesn't matter at all, the primary purpose is socialisation and experiences. 95% of the actual training will take place outside of class.

Here's a couple of short articles on puppy socialisation. In addition to underlining the importance of puppy kindergarten classes, these give you quite a few more suggestions for socialisation experiences for your puppy: http://www.boxerworld.com/puppy/education/
www.boxerworld.com/socialisation

 

[cmitchell]

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you. I am in N Portland and signed Ruby up for a puppy preschool class out in Beaverton. If you are interested, I can give you the site address.