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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  • I had a great experience working with Kristina to train my puppy Alfie - she was thorough, king, patient and incredibly encouraging! She was flexible with the spring weather and sent extensive follow up emails to help with my training at home. She could even check in on how things were going in between our sessions, and always answered my random questions as well. Couldn't recommend her more! Such a great help to me.

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  • Working with Kristina on our dog's reactiveness to new visitors entering the home, and her comfort level with her walker, has been massively helpful. She's armed us with confidence and the right training tools to work on these specific issues. Our dog has completed multiple grades of obedience training, but we were missing guidance on what to do in specific circumstances that trigger our dog's anxiety. Having the ability to have Kristina over to our home to replicate the problems we're having in our home environment has been invaluable. We are grateful for the progress made to date and look forward to our future sessions!

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  • Milo and I are so lucky that we have found Kristina. She is very knowledgeable and helpful. Milo ignored me all the time and always pulling me on the walk. Now, after two sessions, he has no pulling at all. Walking has never been this easy and relaxing. More importantly, the training sessions help me a lot to understand Milo’s behavior. Will definitely recommend Kristina to everyone who is seeking for help with your pup! And we will keep our sessions with her!

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  • Kristina is so knowledgeable and I really enjoy and respect her approach to training. My puppy has been responding so well and I can only imagine the kind of puppy I would have if I didn’t go to Kristina. She responds to texts in case you have follow up questions, which is super helpful. I would highly recommend.

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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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  • We are very thankful for all the useful advice that Kristina has provided to us! We were really struggling with some behavioural issues with our dog, particularly around leash reactivity. After just one session, we have noticed a huge difference! Walking the dog had become really stressful and now we have concrete solutions to help with training that have worked wonders! Thanks Kristina!

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  • Kristina is a wealth of knowledge, her experience with dog psychology (especially rescue dog) is immense and she provides a lot of detailed homework between sessions to keep everyone on track and get the most from your sessions. Highly reccomend!

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  • I have tried other dog trainers to work on my dogs leash reactivity and have not had much success. After the first session I saw changes in my dog and gained the confidence and skills to continue to work on this! Kristina has been extremely knowledgeable and kind throughout the process!

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  • Had 2 sessions with Kristina for my reactive dog. So far so good! Seeing lots of improvements. Kristina is very knowledgeable and professional. Would recommend

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  • Kristina is a kind and compassionate trainer with a soft spot for international rescue. What is most impressive to me is her drive to continue to stay on top of her education. She has invested a lot of time and money into constantly learning more to help her students achieve the best possible outcomes with their dogs.

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