We offer two types of behaviour classes, our Puppy Life Skills class which provides the groundwork needed to help your puppy thrive and Terrible Teens which is aimed at helping owners with adolescent dogs, especially rescues who have missed out on essential socialisation and training. We can also help anxious pets with desensitising training and for animals that need more intensive help, our behaviour team provides behaviour consultations which typically take place outside of the surgery.
If you’ve just got a puppy you are in for a lot of fun and a lot of work. Training a puppy, especially if you’re a new owner can be daunting, but our Puppy Life Skills course will help guide you through the dos and don’ts. Run by our Behaviour Consultant Trixie Howard and one of our experienced senior nurses, Jay Lisher, it provides the foundation needed to train and guide your puppy through all of life’s adventures.
We cover: the home environment and how to safely habituate your dog with everything in it, socialising – meet and greets, exercise, diet, healthcare and current owner legislation.
We have a lot of fun on the course and the puppies do too! It’s held on two consecutive Wednesdays at our Kemp Town Veterinary Hospital. It starts at 7pm and finishes around 8pm and costs £35 for the two sessions. Puppies need to be around 8-18 weeks old and have had their first vaccinations.
Our Terrible Teens course is for older puppies of 6 weeks or more and adolescent dogs of up to 18 months, that either need to build confidence around other dogs or learn some manners! We quite often see rescue dogs that haven’t had the best start in life and have maybe missed out on essential early socialisation. We keep these classes small, no more than six dogs in each session, so that we can closely monitor behaviour and interactions.
We also provide advice on:
The course is held on Tuesday evenings from 7.30-8.30pm and costs just £35. All of your dog’s vaccinations must be up to date.
Most animals will be cautious a new situation and might show symptoms of anxiety. Some have a higher level of anxiety which can make daily life difficult, for example, a dog that reacts aggressively to visitors to the house, or being touched by a vet. In these situations we recommend Desensitisation Training to help your pet overcome its fears.
Behaviourist Trixie Howard will do the initial assessment and will usually pass the follow up sessions to Jay Lisher who is one of our senior nurses and part of our behaviour team.
To discuss your pet’s needs, call Jay at our Brighton surgery on 01273 692257.
If your dog or cat has an on-going behaviour issue which you’d like to address, you can book a private consultation with our Behaviour Consultant, Trixie Howard. To properly assess the behaviour, consults often take place outside of the surgery. Once the initial assessment has been made by Trixie, she’ll put together a tailored training plan and will monitor progress closely.