Classes

At Blackmuir Dog Training & Behaviour Centre we try to limit the numbers in each class to six - eight dogs. This prevents overcrowding and means that each individual dog and handler team will have equal opportunities for learning. Puppy classes may on occasion comprise of more than eight puppies...

All classes run for six weeks (one hour per week) and have a detailed class plan that has been developed by our head trainer. These plans are regularly updated so that you and your dog continue to get the best from your training experience and to ensure that new methods and training topics are incorporated. This keeps our training classes at the forefront of advances in modern animal training...

Puppy Play School

Puppy Play School is a six week block designed to give you and your puppy the best start in your lives together.

This class is for puppies who have had (at least) their first injection for seven days or more and are under 18 weeks of age at the start date.

This class is specifically designed for your puppies developmental life stage, the critical period for socialisation. In dogs, this period starts at 2 1/2 to 3 weeks of age until around 18 weeks of age. During this time it is important to expose your puppy to the world, including other dogs, people and new items/experiences in a positive and controlled environment. This class provides you and your puppy with best opportunity the right start in life.

The main aim of the class is to educate you, the owner and to build confidence in your puppy while training basic behaviours.

At Blackmuir Dog Training we understand that the puppy classes are the most important classes and the experiences your puppy has there can have a significant effect on the behaviour of your dog as it matures into adulthood.

At our puppy playschool classes your pup will develop confidence, learn valuable skills that will last a lifetime and as a minimum sit, down, stand, loose leash walking, come when called and hold/let go.

Puppy Progress

Following on from the foundations laid in Puppy Play School, the Puppy Progressclass is open to all puppies older than 18 weeks and under 6 months at the start of the block. Here, we take a more formal approach to training which allows the skills already learned to be devolped further and become more reliable. We also start to introduce new skills such as stay, self control, leave and greeting people and other dogs.

In this class We also start to add distractions to help proof behaviours in different scenarios and environments.

Basic Pet Dog Obedience

This class is designed specifically for dogs over six months of age who have had little or no formal training or rescue dogs who need some help fitting in with their new family. Some of the topics covered in this block are...

Introduction to Clicker Training - Teaching the owner/handler the method that will enable them to teach the dog
Obtaining focus - Teaching the dog to give its attention to the owner/handler on cue.
Heel position - Teaching the dog to assume the heel position on cue
Loose leash walking - Helping the owner/handler to extinguish pulling behaviour
Sit/Down/Stand - The three basic positions
Stop Jumping up - Helping the owner/handler to extinguish jumping behaviour
Sit/Down Stay - Introducing self control and laying the foundations of a sold 'stay' behaviour
Settle - Teaching the dog to settle when the owner/handler is seated
Recall - Come when called... By far the most important behaviour to teach any dog
Leave/Drop - Leave means 'don't touch that thing', Drop means 'ok, now you've touched it, spit it out'

Intermediate Pet Dog Obedience

Owners attending this class are a little more serious about training their dogs. The intermediate classes are split across two (six week) blocks which form intermediate levels 1 and 2.

These classes have more emphasis on shaping behaviours with the aim of building a more thorough understaning of the basics and to bring more complex behaviours into your dogs repertoire.

Advanced Pet Dog Obedience

Building on the techniques learned in the intermediate classes, the advanced classes (1 and 2) take things further by honing the skills of the handlers and dogs. The addition of distractions and less management and more opportunities for 'choice making' means that the possibilities and potential for achievement are boundless.

Dogs who reach this stage in training are already proven to be of sound temperament and are relaxed in the presence of other dogs and people.

Fun Agility

All the fun of agility without the competitive element. This class teaches you and your dog how to successfully complete each piece of agility equipment individually and in sequence. Fun agility helps to keep you and your dog fit and offers a level of k9 stimulation that brings another dimension into your dogs life and into the dog/human relationship.

Gundog Training

Gundog work is a very satisfying activity for dogs of many breeds (not just gundog breeds) to take part in.

Many of the behaviours required in this dicipline are innate (hard wired) in your dog. Providing your dog with the opportunity to perform these natural behaviours helps to satisfy your dogs instinctive needs and helps to keep a healthy body and mind.

Working as a team to hunt, find/flush and retrieve game (or artificial game) requires a level of obedience and control that can be out of reach of the average pet dog owner.

Even show bred dogs have a need to exercise these behaviours. Whether your aim is to take your dog into the shooting field or just to have fun with yourdog, the many facets to gundog work are great fun. The many drills and exercises you and your dog will practice can be tailored to suit the level you are at and enable your handler/dog team to progress. Only force free methods are used in our gundog classes.