Intermediate Classes
Huge changes take place in a dog's brain between 5 and 18 months and "teenage" dogs can find it hard to control their emotional reactions to things and engage the "thinking" brain instead. Some days they may seem to have forgotten everything you taught them as puppies!
Our intermediate obedience class consists mainly of adolescent dogs, promoted from the puppy class. Any dog over the age of 5 months joining us for the first time would also join this class, provided that they attend an introductory lesson first and are comfortable in a group class environment.
We believe that the best approach to working with adolescent dogs is to teach them that training is more rewarding and enjoyable than doing anything else! The goal is to teach our dogs to make good choices which are well-rewarded, rather than to force them to do things they don't enjoy! Self-control, focus, responsiveness and problem solving skills are taught in a fun way through various exercises and games. Dogs are taught to "think" and offer appropriate behaviours rather than forced to cooperate. When our dogs understand the "training game" and find working with us great fun, teaching them anything becomes possible!
Some of the exercises and concepts that are taught in the class are:
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Orientation games - taking focus and engagement with you to the next level!
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Fading lures - putting behaviours more reliably on verbal and visual cues
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Recall games for speedy responses and recall from stay position
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“Finish” or “come to heel” from the front position (the final step in many formal obedience exercises)
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Heel-work and loose lead walking
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Introducing toys and play as reinforcement for training
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Informal Retrieve
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Formal sit stay and down stay
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Hand Targeting (learning to follow our hands without food in them)
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Nose targeting & Paw targeting (great for developing problem solving skills)
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Come away from distractions (including other dogs) willingly
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Send to a mat/bed
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Various Tricks: roll over, sit pretty, stretch (bow), left paw, right paw and hide away (sit between owner's legs)
And more....
Intermediate Class Fees: R650 per month
Please note that Intermediate Classes are NOT socialisation classes. Intermediate and advanced classes focus on training and developing the dog-owner relationship. Beyond puppy class, it is the owner’s responsibility to provide appropriate socialisation for their dogs outside of class. While being in a class environment does prove socially beneficial for many dogs, it is NOT the ideal situation for solving serious social problems and can be very stressful for dogs with poor social skills.