Puppy Training

Not all "Puppy Classes" are built to help you raise a well mannered and confident adult dog.

When Should I Start Training My Puppy?

Puppy training should begin the FIRST DAY you bring your puppy home with you. I often notice that in the typical “puppy classes” you’ll find in your neighborhood do not focus on what I believe are the most crucial lessons and aspects of puppy training. They often like to focus on obedience training such as “sit”, “come” and “down” for example. Unfortunately obedience training is not the most important aspect of early puppy training.  

What Are The Most Important Elements Of Puppy Training?

01

Proper Socialization

Proper socialization to as many people, places, objects and environments.

02

People & House Manners

Learning how to be polite when interacting with people, and what they are allowed and not allowed to do in your home.

03

Potty Training

Teaching your dog to eliminate outside or on a particular spot you’ve designated.

Proper socialization is the key to a happy well mannered adult dog.

Proper socialization is the most important aspect of a puppies foundational training. The word “proper” being the key word. It is especially important to get this work done before the “puppy socialization window” closes at the age of 4 months. This is because before the age of 4 months, puppies are incredibly resilient to fear, and it takes very little time and effort to get them used to something that they might have initially been terrified of. 

What Does "Proper" Socialization Look Like?

Proper socialization means that we want to introduce our puppies to as many people, dogs, objects and environments as possible, but in a safe and polite way. Safety and manners are the key to proper socialization because if you just take your puppy out and try to meet as many people, dogs, object and environments as possible without being cautious about the experiences being safe and positive, and how polite your puppy is in this process, bad manners and fear can occur from these attempts.

What Happens If My Puppy Is Already Over 4 Months Old?

Don’t worry, we can still socialize your puppy, its just that now that the socialization window has closed, it will take MANY more repetitions and patience for you to socialize your puppy to something than before. 
puppy socialization

What A Puppy does when it's little may not be so cute when its a full grown adult.

Teaching People & House Manners Should Start On Day One

Nipping, biting, jumping, and barking are all typical behaviours a puppy will exhibit to try to play and communicate with you. While this might be how they communicate with their siblings, this is not an appropriate way of communicating with you. Its important to teach them right away that these are unwanted behaviours, and your puppy needs to learn to communicate with you differently.

Puppies rarely "grow out of " behaviours.

puppy nipping and biting

Jumping up is one of the best examples of something a puppy will do when they are little to get attention. While its cute when they are small, this will quickly become a problematic behaviour when they get bigger and could knock someone over or scratch their legs. 

Whenever your puppy is doing a behaviour, you should always ask yourself if this is something that could become a problem when they are older. If the answer is “yes”, discouraging the behaviour right away is important. 

House Manners & Potty Training

It’s important to allow your puppy to explore and have access to your house and meet people under supervision so that you can start to teach them what they are allowed (and not allowed) to do.

To avoid the house from getting destroyed, many people try to set their puppies up for success by “puppy proofing” their house before the puppy comes home, and allowing the puppy to have access to entire rooms or floors of the house unsupervised.  Unfortunately, the lack of supervision creates opportunity for potty accidents and destructive behaviour. Not matter how well you “puppy proofed” the house, the uncluttered floors and hidden cables won’t last forever, and eventually, your puppy has to learn that these things are not theirs to chew. 

This is why crate training when you can’t be watching them, and 100% supervised house exploration sessions are the key to teaching your puppy that they can’t just chew on and pee on whatever they want. 

Puppy house manners, destructive chewing, jumping up, biting, nipping, mouthing

Of course, crate training for many new puppy parents can be incredibly challenging. If you are struggling, DO NOT GIVE UP! It’s important to contact a trainer as there are many techniques to help you though your crate training woes. Without crate training, your house manners and potty training will be a real challenge. Rather than completing the training in weeks, you’ll be struggling for months.

This is where I come in, to help teach you how to communicate with your puppy about what they should and shouldn't do. It's important to understand how to communicate with your puppy clearly and effectively to help them learn the new rules of their home. Without this clarity, we are often left with frustrated pet parents and confused and out of control puppies that do not understand what to do.

Dog Training Toronto | Hairy Tales | Award Winning Dog Behaviorist
Kristina Rapson The Hairy Dogmother

Puppy Training Options

Ready to set your puppy up to be the best adult dog they can be?  There are some different options available to you:

One-on-One Private Sessions

(At Hairy Tales Training Studio)

  • No packages required and can be purchased pay as you go!
  • Typically this is the best option as each puppy has different training needs and progresses at different speeds.
  • Coming to the training studio gives your puppy the opportunity to go to a new place which is great for their socialization. This is one of the KEY components to puppy training.
  •  Most clients find that they need puppy classes every 2-3 weeks to keep up with thier puppies ever-changing behaviours and training needs.
Book At The Training Studio

In-Home Sessions

  • 3 session package required for in-home sessions
  • In-Home sessions are for client convenience and are not necessary for your puppies training success.
  • Depending on where you live, some sessions might take place somewhere other than your home as socialization is one of the most important aspects of your puppies training.
  •  If you live in a quiet neighborhood that is not walking distance from a busy street like Yonge or Bloor, it is strongly suggested you book at my training studio so we can work on socialization there.
Request To Book In Home Session

Online Sessions

  • No packages required and can be purchased pay as you go!
  • Online classes are designed for people who do not live close enough to physically come to the training studio.
  • Online sessions can help you and your puppy establish the right rules and boundaries in your home and give you tips and tricks on proper socialization practices.
  • Initial consultations have a lot to do with us talking about tips tricks and methods to help you guide your puppy. Ideally, your puppy should be having a nap when we do this session so you can focus on our lesson.
Book An Online Session
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  • There's a good reason Kristina has 82-now 83- five star reviews here. My partner and I have been with her for just one session with our two rescue doggos and already she has helped us more than all the googling and unsolicited advice possibly could. She offers clear, concise instructions without shaming you for not knowing this as some trainers can. She is always paying close attention to the pups without making you feel ignored and uses those small moments that occur in sessions as only a professional like her could pinpoint as a learning experience for us, and teachable moments for the furry ones. We are absolutely thrilled and are looking forward to continuing this with her!

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  • Our little girl was a rescue with a lot of fear based aggression. Working with Hairy Tales has given our girl the confidence that she’s needed to go on walks, feel safe when visitors come, and allowed us to understand her needs to make her feel safe. We are SO excited to see this change in our Natty. Thank you so much Hairy Tales. Kristina knew exactly what was going on with our girl and helped us every step of the way!!

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  • If you have an ANXIOUS dog with NO FOOD DRIVE, please try Kristina's method!!!!! I wish I could give Kristina more stars, and let her training service be known by every rescue organization in the city. We went to our first training session 12 days agao, and we are amazed at how much our rescue dog, Yara, has improved. Here's Yara's story: We adopted Yara about a year ago. She is the sweetest girl at home! However, she is extremely anxious. She is also NOT food-motivated AT ALL! We have found no dog treats or human food that can grab her attention when we're outside, even when she is not in the barking mode. We believe this is why all the previous positive-reinforcement-based training attempts FAILED, even with anti-anxiety suppplements/ CBD oil/ pheromone collar. We cannot communicate with her what we want her to do, since she can't be bothered with the treats or the high-pitch baby talk. When we contacted Kristina, we explicitly requested to train with no food reward at all. After using the method Kristina taught us for just the 12 short days, Yara has stopped barking at random dogs on walk completely. She has also stopped pulling on her leash. She now exhibits much less guarding behaviour in the dog park towards dogs outside. She plays with us more at home, and she is less anxious in general. The most important part is we think she starts to trust and understand our instructions more! She's still have some issues to work through, e.g. she still barks if the elevator door opens, and another big dog magically appears right in front of her. We are confident that we can work with Kristina to help her overcome all her issues! We were on the verge of giving up before we contacted Kristina, but we're so glad that we did not! If positive-reinforcement-only methods are not working for your dog, please try Kristina's method. Thank you, Kristina! We look forward to our next session.

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  • Kristina has been incredible to work with. She’s thoughtful and takes her time with my pup. She provided detailed notes and homework based on what your dog needs and sends follow ups to check in on your dogs progression. I’ve seen an incredible improvement in my pups behaviour and I definitely attribute that to the help I got from her!

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  • My husband and I had an excellent first meeting with Kristina., with our two dogs. She gave us valuable additional insight and recommendations with how to respond to certain situations. Already, within the first week after the visit we are experiencing significant improvement with both dogs, in their respective areas of need i.e. better walking with one, and less reactivity in the other. Thanks Kristina for a great start, and we will be coming back for follow up sessions!

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  • Kristina has been a constant resource in my now two-year old puppy's life - both my pup and I love working with her. She's patient, kind, and always willing to go beyond your session to offer advice or help. I've enjoyed working with her and will continue to use her help whenever there is something that needs adjusting. Thank you Kristina from all of us!! 🙂

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  • I called Kristina shortly after bringing home my new puppy, a 9 month old rescue from Egypt. When I felt overwhelmed, she helped me to better understand his behaviours (and their underlying motivations) in order to help us live a happier and more balanced life together in a new environment. I really appreciate her check-ins and detailed "homework" to keep us on track and continuing to work on our bond. Kristina's guidance and expertise has transformed my relationship with my dog.

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  • I have a super reactive dog that has so greatly improved through working with Kristina! Now we are able to pass other dogs where she does not react (except for the very few times, but we’re still working on those lol). So happy to have found Kristina to help me and the family have a much more happy and fulfilling life with our love Muffy ????

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