Besides being incredibly entertaining, puppy play provides young dogs with many invaluable learning experiences.  The socialization stage of puppy development begins at 3 weeks and ends around 14 weeks. During this time, puppies are highly receptive to learning and what they experience positively can shape what they feel confident and comfortable with as an adult. 

Creating positive learning opportunities for puppies involves careful placement of puppies, a sensitivity to their individual emotional states and lots of active supervision.  Puppies bring differing levels of confidence, experience, interest, energy and comfort to their encounters with other dogs and need to be matched with appropriate social partners.

Raising a socially successful puppy also involves more than just having a dog that wants to greet and play with everyone.  Puppies need to practice a variety of skills including the ability to ignore dogs, disengage from play, manage their arousal, play appropriately, and ideally, grow up finding their humans way more fun to play with than dogs!

Dreamland Pet’s Pup Social is a special 45 minute - 1 hour social skills class designed just for dogs 10 weeks – 12 months of age.  Our flexible program offers open enrollment, meaning you can decide weekly whether to attend and only pay for the classes in which you participate.

Puppies can attend the program as long as we have a suitable group, or until they either age out of the program or we determine the setting is no longer supporting the behaviours we want to develop.

Pricing

$23.00 + HST per class
Classes are 45-60 minutes

Following your application, a staff member will contact you when we have a suitable group available for your dog. 

Classes run mornings and afternoons each Saturday

Apply for the Pup Social

Questions before registering?

Please contact us at play@dreamlandpet.ca for more information.

*Please note, trainers do not work in-store and are only available for contact via email at this point.

What to Bring:

• A 6 ft nylon leash (no flexi leashes please)
• 1 cup of treats: something your dog LOVES that is the size of a pea, smelly and soft
• A harness with a front and back clip (at minimum it must have a back clip)
• A food dispensing toy like a Kong or West Paw Topple that is stuffed with your choice of food; peanut butter, frozen yogurt, canned dog food are all options

Your pup will practice:

• Meeting new dogs
• Playing with other puppies
• Engaging and responding to you, even with other puppies around
• Disengaging from play, which we will cultivate into a recall from play
• Learning to settle and relax around other dogs (this takes numerous sessions to teach and won’t happen in just one class)