Well I do feel I found a great puppy school when we brought the third dog home. He has a web site http://www.beachescanineacademy.com that does go into the different periods of dogs. The first two dogs went to the same training school (pretty old school, now that I know better -- not choke collar old, by the jerk and praise methodology). But they are a GSD and BMD, so I can't compare them as they are totally different in just their different breeds.
This puppy school even had an exercise called "pass the puppy" and we'd all sit in a circle and pass the puppies around to the next person and give them loving. An absolutely fantastic exercise, IMO. And I do feel that a good puppy school is critical. But it doesn't appear to be stressed as so critical. And a good school can do so much for the dog whereas a bad school can set the wheels in motion for continuing to handle situations poorly. Jenn Popp ************************************ Healthy Paws Bones and Raw Food Diet http://www.healthy-paws.ca Toronto, Ontario (Canada) 416-264-1313 / email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ************************************ ----- Original Message ----- From: "JEvans" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> | There is a second fear period that dogs experience anywhere from between | about 4 to 10 months, lasting a few weeks, wherein the dogs are skittish even in | situations they had previously been fine in..... | Also, IMVHO: a puppy class tailored to pups between ages about 8 weeks to | 4 months is the very best thing you can do for a dog! The good puppy class will be | structured for some puppy play time, lots and lots of socialization and desensitization to | people, noises, objects, surfaces and will use food to desensitize the pups | to scary things. (people in hats, with beards, children, vet procedures | (mock), other pups, puppy agility obstacles, etc!!) There would also be | good instruction on operant conditioning and teach the owners how to use | the techniques as well as work on bite inhibition and some basic obedience like sit, down | come. .....
