Puppy Advice
All puppies, no matter what they are to be doing in the future, need to be well socialised and have the opportunity to be 'just a puppy'. There are some very good books that will take you through those first few months as they can be rather challenging. "Perfect Puppy" by Gwen Bailey covers most things a puppy owner needs to know. "The Focused Puppy" by Deborah Jones, which can be obtained through 'Positive Animal Solutions' www.positiveanimalsolutions.co.uk is a good book,it looks like it is very agility based, however, it teaches puppies to be focused for any work they may do in the future.
A member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers www.apdt.co.uk (look under local trainers), should offer puppy classes that help with all basic training and use reward based methods, the only way forward if you are planning on having your puppy help you in the future.
Level 1
Once accepted onto the scheme the client will work at level one, training basic control exercises. Without these control exercise it is not possible to go on to teach the more advanced exercises or tasks.
Dogs at this level are only able to go into shops and onto public transport where normal pet dogs are allowed, e.g. pet shops, banks and building societies, local buses etc. However, if asked to remove their dog they must comply with this instruction.
Dogs at this level are not allowed to go into public places where ordinary pet dogs would not be allowed to go.
Once the basic control exercises have been mastered it is possible to work on specialised tasks where the dog can learn to be of help to the client in his/her home. Clients will be able to choose from a range of tasks that will be of most benefit to them. This means that every dog that completes Level 1 is able to be a help to their owner in the house, the place that many owners feel they need the most help.
Assessment at the end of Level 1 is carried out by the client’s own Dog A.I.D. trainer. The assessment form can be requested from the office.
