Nurturing Thinking Dogs

Teenage Paws

A Golden Retriever practicing impulse control with our trainer in a simulated meal preparation scenario in campus.

About Teenage Paws

The Teenage Paws group class is great for dogs who have some foundation training (Little Paws (group class) or Puppy Life Skills (private class)), and for owners who wish to further their dog’s training.

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More about Teenage Paws

What will your pup learn?

Maintain your dog’s confidence as they continue growing through their adolescent phase by continuing to: 
🐾 Introduce your dog to new people and other dogs;
🐾 Understand their adolescence behaviour;
🐾 Have variance in your daily walks;
🐾 Being calm and happy when alone.

By continuing the handling through your dog’s puppy and adolescent phases, it can help keep unwanted behaviour at bay.

Some of the following basic commands will be taught to your dpg in this group class:
🐾 Sit—Stay;
🐾 Down—Stay;
🐾 Come;

🐾 Hand target;
🐾 Go to mat;
🐾 Polite walking;

🐾 Leave it; and
🐾 Drop.

A Labrador Retriever and a Border Collie sharing a tug toy together calmly in our Montessori School programme during play time.

Teenage Paws (group class) is great for owners who wish to further their dog's training.

A Cockerpoo practicing Weave with our trainer indoors.

What's Teenage Paws about?

This class will help your dog focus on you and respond better in stimulating, new situations, including being around other dogs and people in a supervised group setting.

In Teenage Paws (group class), you will learn how to work with your growing adolescent dog through their teenage phase. This is the period where several changes will happen, such as physical, biological and psychological growth. They’re also more independent and excited about the world around them. With so many things happening in a short period of time, it can be overwhelming.

You will learn how to manage their higher energy levels while keeping them engaged with training in a controlled, group environment indoors. Together with other owners and their dogs, you will learn what kind of mentally stimulating activities you can make use of to enrich their lives, aside from providing them with sufficient physical exercise.

As the science in canine behaviour, ethology and neuroscience continue to advance, we come to understand our canine companions better and thus, can formulate a better way to connect with them. Whether you’re a first-time dog parent or not, our puppy class curriculums are always evolving, ensuring you have the latest knowledge on canine behaviour.

A dog’s adolescent period can be challenging, but it doesn’t have to be difficult. They may “forget” the basic training learnt and they’ll test boundaries, and that’s just them going through their teenage phase after all! This class will help you understand your growing pup more so you can better work with them and not be caught off guard when their teenage selves start to appear. You will also learn how to set your dog up for success and make this adolescent phase an easier time to grow through.

Read more about the importance of teenage classes here.

Socialisation
Socialisation in the adolescent stage is different from puppy socialisation, as during this period, dogs go through more physical and hormonal changes and thus, will behave differently. Female dogs nearing their heat cycle may attract unwanted attention, and male dogs with their increased testosterone levels may become bossy or even start humping other dogs, humans or things. So, this class will continue working on socialisation as your dog grows into adulthood.

Greeting strangers politely
Polite greetings that your dog has learned in their puppy classes may be “forgotten” in their excitement of meeting another person. This class will cover different ways of greeting strangers politely through understanding their excitement threshold and creating a greeting routine to improve their impulse control.

Settling and paying attention to you
Settling teaches your dog how to manage their energy, and not keep offering behaviours to keep reinforcements coming. This also lets your dog know that a certain activity is over. Over time, small distractions can be added to strengthen their ability to remain settled.

Walking politely on lead
Regular walks are an integral part of a dog’s routine as it provides exercise, mental stimulation and potty breaks. Teaching your dog how to walk politely on a lead will make daily walks a breeze, while still allowing them to explore the sights and sounds around them without tension.

Coming back while off-lead with some distractions
Your dog may “forget” the recall training they’ve learnt, now that the world is more exciting and they’re more keen to explore. While this teenage behaviour will pass, it is still important to continue practicing recall with consistency. By keeping recall sessions short and fun, it will reinforce their recall with greater success.

The Teenage Paws group class is designed to facilitate advanced socialisation and prepare for general adolescent behaviours. 

It is not designed for dogs with existing behaviour issues such as excessive barking, over excitement, aggression anxiety, extreme fear or other issues that is beyond their normal behaviour. Should there be any existing behaviour issues, please take a look at the classes offered under Behaviour Modification!

Our trainers showing loose leash walking with distraction indoors for a private class.

Who can enrol in Teenage Paws?

Interested in signing your pup up?

Please reach out to us through our Contact Us page!

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