Puppy Training Classes

Our Puppy Classes are specially designed for your developing puppy!

5 - Week Puppy Class Course

Next Starting Dates:

Saturday 14th June @ 9:00 AM

Saturday 19th July @ 9:00 AM

Saturday 16th August @ 9:00 AM

For Puppies 8 - 17 weeks old

We are one of the best puppy training schools in Auckland, and our 5-week puppy training course is designed to help you and your puppy learn life skills to build confidence and emotional adaptability, preparing them for life’s challenges.

You will learn how to support your puppy through their developmental period as well as create positive associations to thrive in the human world.

The purpose of puppy training classes is not just to play with other puppies, and learn basic training tasks at a young age, but to teach you how to manage your environment to set your pup up for success and to prevent unwanted behaviours, as well as to create positive associations to build your puppy’s confidence. All of this will give you the best foundational skills you need to navigate the unpredictable challenges of life events and situations.

Studies have shown that early, appropriate exposure and positive socialisation experiences significantly shape a dog’s behaviour in adulthood. The lack of early and ongoing exposure and training can be detrimental to the dogs’ well-being and can lead to fear and anxiety towards new people, animals, and environments, which may contribute to dog reactivity later in life.

Socialisation doesn’t just refer to dogs playing amongst themselves but the entire process of learning. That includes gradually exposing the puppy to different things in a gentle manner, without overwhelming them, and causing negative associations within the first 16 weeks of their lives. They should not be made to feel stressed when being exposed to different situations and environments.

After 16 weeks you are not able to socialise your puppy in the way you think anymore.

After the sensitive period for socialisation ends, puppies enter a new stage of development where they become more cautious and may start to show fear towards new experiences. This is because their brains soak up everything they experience like little sponges until the 16-week mark. Thereafter the brain begins to not be so “open-minded” to new things and experiences. This period is known as the fear period and typically occurs between 4 – 6 months of age (Scott & Fuller, 1965). During this period, it is important for puppy parents to continue to expose their pup to positive experiences to help them overcome any fear and anxieties in a gentle manner.

As qualified professionals, we use scientifically proven, reward-based methods to encourage a fun and effective way for your puppy to learn. Our five-week puppy class course is specially designed by an accredited dog behaviourist and is tailored around your puppy’s physical and emotional well-being.

The course works on basic training skills, environmental management, puppy behaviour and development, confidence-building exercises, focusing through distractions, and socialisation, as well as how to manage problematic/ undesired behaviours in a kind and gentle manner.

We gently expose your puppy to different situations while creating a positive association with those situations at the same time. We start with small exercises and build up to bigger tasks, this process sets you and your puppy up for success from the very beginning. We want to help our puppy parents gain the knowledge and skills to prevent future behavioural problems.

My partner and I cannot rave enough about Emily's puppy classes and one on one training sessions! We have participated in both with our mini Schnauzer Arnie and we saw such a change in him within just a few months. He has learned self -control, many commands and has been socialization in a safe environment. From the beginning of our training sessions it was evident that Emily possesses great expertise in understanding and connecting with dogs. She was always dedicated to Arnie's wellbeing and his stage in life. Each session was tailored to address Arnie's specific needs and temperament, ensuring that he felt comfortable and secure throughout the process. Emily's passion for dogs and genuine care for owners and pups alike set her apart as an exceptional dog trainer. Thank you so much!

I just finished puppy classes with Emily and her team and wow I wish I had done it sooner! Emily is a wealth of knowledge and encouragement. The classes were small and personalised so each doggy and owner got specific advice for their stage of development or quirks. Mine was particularly yappy at the beginning and much more settled and confident by the end as am I. Looking forward to the next classes for adolescent pups. Her team were also very hands on and helped all the time, so you actually get at least three trainers for most of the sessions. They all love dogs so are kind and patient. Wouldn't recommend enough definately worth the $ and time investment. Plus there's the opportunity to meet other dog parents for your pup to play with in the future.

Brilliant behaviourist. Often refer clients to Emily and the feedback is always brilliant. The puppies coming out of her puppy classes are always really well behaved in my consults and I actively recommend people to sign their puppies up.

Emily and her team were fantastic in teaching us the best ways to train our puppy. We learned so much and saw amazing progress in just our first 5 weeks. Our puppy, who started off very timid and shy, has made remarkable strides thanks to their guidance. We look forward to continuing with Emily for gentle grooming and any additional training as needed ☺️

Emily’s classes were so much fun and a great learning environment for both myself & my puppy. The classes are small and exercises can be tailored to the needs of each puppy. I’ve done both the Puppy Classes & the Life Skills classes and can’t recommend them highly enough!

Puppy Parents will receive expert advice about:

Positive reinforcement principles for effective learning.

Working through fear periods during your pup’s development and preparing you for adolescence.

Preparing your puppy for life events like vet visits and grooming through comfortable handling.

Help with common puppy challenges: nipping, chewing, house training, and jumping up.

Tips and tricks to help your puppy learn to come when called using fun games.

Dog body language and how to understand what your puppy is communicating.

Environment management strategies to prevent unwanted behaviours at home.

Preventive measures for resource guarding, leash reactivity, separation distress, and more as your puppy grows older.

Puppies will Learn:

Important training cues and hand signals: sit, down, stand, ‘close’ (walk with me), fetch, ‘drop it’.
Leash and walk training.
Focus skills.
Impulse control: “wait” and preventing jumping up.
Foundation of recall training: coming when called.
Begin to learn how to work through distractions.
Play, fetch, and other engaging games.
Body awareness and confidence-building exercises.
Social skills around other dogs and people.
Relaxation skills to promote calm behaviour.
Crate training, & so much more!

All exercises are taught as fun games, and together you will work as a team through humane, science-based training techniques in a comfortable and encouraging atmosphere. Our classes are small and inclusive.

After each session, you’ll receive detailed step-by-step homework guide, training videos, and a course completion certificate. Our Puppy Class (Level 1) is an hour long.

You have an option to progress to our Life Skills (Level 2) Class after graduation to continue your training journey. We also provide one-on-one in-home puppy training.