Why us?
If you have just welcomed a puppy as a new addition to your family, congratulations!
Yes, at Cronulla Vet Clinic, we are very passionate about running Puppy Preschool at our clinic, because we want to help you give your puppy the best start in life. Our Puppy Preschool is developed, endorsed and supported by the Australian Veterinary Behaviour Services.
Cronulla Veterinary Clinic’s Puppy PreSchool classes are held over a four week period at the clinic on Sundays. We cater for puppies between the ages of 8-14 weeks, providing they have had at least 1 puppy vaccination. Classes are conducted by Dr Jacqueline Bell and her AVBS trained nurses, who will take you through a four week course to cover how to read your pup’s body language and emotional state, how puppies learn, basic commands (e.g. sit, stay, come, drop, walking on a lead), basic health needs of puppies (e.g. vaccinations, microchipping, parasite control, nutrition, etc.) and normal behaviour for puppies. We troubleshoot any problems you may have and aim to help you develop a great relationship with your newest member of the family, through early positive socialisation and teaching our pups calm and appropriate behaviours through positive reinforcements. The course comes with a handbook, samples and handouts, video links and the back up support of the Australian Veterinary Behaviour Team in case of more challenging behaviours.
Why Puppy Preschool?
Just like routine health checks and vaccinations are important preventative steps for your puppy’s physical health, investing in Puppy Preschool is important for your pup’s mental and emotional development.
Puppy Preschool is not “training your puppy to obey your commands”, it is an opportunity to provide your puppy with positive interactions (with other people, pups and our clinic) and supports you in helping your pup interact with other pets, people and situations in a calm and positive way, to give them the best emotional start in life.
Puppies go through a critical socialisation period, it starts at the breeder, at 3 weeks of age and lasts until around 14-16 weeks of age. During this period puppies learn most of their social skills and are very susceptible to many new experiences. It is essential to provide as many positive experiences as possible, while avoiding unpleasant experiences (as they can have long lasting effects on your pup’s emotions as well). Even no experiences of certain situations or animals and people that the pup will encounter later-on in life is a negative. Think of how overwhelming it would be for an older pup to have always lived in a caged environment with no exposure to traffic etc. to be introduced to the busy city roads!!
At Cronulla Veterinary Clinic, we provide a safe and supportive environment for puppies to learn.