Behaviour Courses

coastway

From rescues and pups to oldies, we can help!

We offer a short course for puppies as well as behaviour and desensitisation sessions for anxious and misbehaving dogs. Our Puppy Life Skills classes provide the groundwork needed to help your puppy and your relationship with them to thrive. We can also help anxious pets with desensitising training and animals that need more intensive help. Our calm and experienced team can also offer assistance with rescue dogs that have missed out on essential socialisation and training.

Puppy Life Skills

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 Maxim, it provides the foundation needed to train and guide your puppy through all of life’s adventures.

We cover: the home and outdoor environments and how to safely habituate your dog with everything in it, socialising – meet and greets, exercise, diet, healthcare and current owner legislation. Breed need specifics and outlets, bite inhibition, impulse control as well as teaching owners more about canine communication and body language.

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 £42.50 for the two sessions. Puppies need to be around 8-18 weeks old and have had their first vaccinations.

Desensitisation Training

Most animals will be cautious in a new situation and might show symptoms of anxiety. Some have a higher level of anxiety when being handled which can make daily life difficult, for example, a dog that reacts aggressively towards visitors in the house, or being touched and examined by a vet. In these situations we recommend Desensitisation Training to help your pet overcome its fears and anxieties.

Behaviourist Trixie Howard will do the initial assessment and will usually pass the follow up sessions to Jay Maxim 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.

Behaviour Consultations

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. Once the initial assessment has been made by Trixie, she’ll put together a tailored training plan which may involve further training session outdoors or within the home, desensitisation and handling with Jay or referral to your veterinary surgeon for medications.