Beyond Puppy Preschool
Your puppy is growing and becoming even more curious than before, and wanting more stimulation and interaction to keep them engaged, entertained, and enticed with life. You may have started with our Puppy Preschool classes…. but what next?
For the purpose of this post I will discuss the two biggest sports or training that owners are likely to join after puppy school; Agility and Obedience. Both of these sports can be joined at local clubs or training centres to build a stronger bond with your dog. If you become really passionate about the sport, you can even compete with your dog and win titles.
Obedience
Obedience training is conducted in group classes where dogs are taught to heel, sit, stay, drop, and come when called. You might read this thinking “my dog can do all those things”. That is fantastic! However, can your dog complete these commands standing right next to its doggy best friend? Can it resist running to the owner with the best treats when doing off lead exercises? Obedience is a lot about helping your dog focus in distracting environments. Obedience builds muscle memory and means in times of high stress or distractions that your dog is more likely to be able to focus on you.
If your dog takes you for a walk rather than the two of you enjoying one together, obedience training may be for you. If you would like to work on your dog’s recall in public spaces, then obedience training may be for you. If you want to help teach your dog an off switch or to relax, then at risk of sounding like a broken record, obedience training may be for you.
Obedience training is not all about the dogs and can be a great place for you to meet new people and dogs. Many others who join groups and clubs also benefit from the social aspect it can provide the owners, where people can share and talk about all things – dogs and training. We have all had moments that are tough with our dogs during training and more, so take heart in hearing that you are not the only one and that we are all human.
As the name suggests obedience training helps your dog be more obedient. In saying this, part of the fun is that you learn to communicate in better ways with your dog and find out exactly why your dog struggles with certain commands. Plus, once it clicks for you and your dog and you can see the results of the hard work, it is joyous and very much worth it!
Why not have some fun with your dogs by joining a force free and positive training centre or club. Your relationship with your dog will strengthen and you might learn some things too.
Agility
Dog Agility is where a dog must complete a set course of jumps, a tunnel, ramps, hoops, and seesaws. The obstacles must be completed in a certain order to qualify before they cross the finish line. Agility requires not only skill from the dog but the owner or trainer as well. Dogs completing the course will naturally get exercise and you guessed it you will get fitter too by needing to keep up with your pooch.
One of the best things about Agility is watching how much the dogs love it. Often dogs are running around with their tails wagging. Some cannot even help but “voice” their excitement with barking. While others can barely wait for their owners to release them onto the course. For you to get your dog around the course you must have a good connection with your dog, therefore agility strengthens the bond you have with your dog, while providing them much wanted exercise and mental focus. Agility is different and exciting for dogs and can give them a natural release, similar to that humans experience through their sporting and fitness activities. Even though it is still an obstacle course every time, it is a different course with different obstacles and routes. Due to how different agility is from everything else it helps stop our dogs from getting bored. And because it is so fun, it may give you some excitement too!
Here are a couple of links to check out to see how much fun you and your dog can experience.
