What is Puppy Preschool®?

Puppy Preschool® is a registered trademark of Kersti Seksel. Kersti is a registered veterinary specialist in behavioural medicine, and is the principal of Sydney Animal Behaviour Services, a referral only practice for animal behaviour. In 1992 Kersti began developing Puppy Preschools® in veterinary clinics across Australia. Since then the Puppy Preschool® concept has become widespread.

Tracey Henderson started Puppy Preschool® classes at Willunga Veterinary Hospital in 2001, based on Kersti's concepts and outline. Over the years, with the help of the instructors at Willunga Veterinary Hospital, Tracey has fine tuned the Puppy Preschool® classes to what is presented in the Puppy Preschool® package. The same Puppy Preschool® classes are currently being practiced at Willunga Veterinary Hospital. Tracy Irons continues to be an instructor of these classes. Because behaviour knowledge is continually updating, so will our Puppy Preschool® package.

Aims for our Puppy Preschool® package

Recent studies have shown that current puppy classes being held across South Australia vary significantly in the standard they are offering.

Our ultimate goal is for clinics and industries who are providing puppy classes across SA, to run’ up to date’ Puppy Preschool® classes, so that they are offering the best information available to their clients and their dogs. Our other goal is for AVBS to develop a close relationship with these businesses to give necessary ongoing support, and help with any problems.

Why update your puppy classes?

An obligation to your clients to provide the most up to date information.
Behavioural information is constantly changing, as more and more studies are undertaken in this field - it is important that instructors are kept up to date with their knowledge.
Recent studies have shown that the quality of Puppy classes being held varies considerably. Some puppy preschools are very outdated, and can in fact be causing behavioural problems rather than preventing them.
It is important to regularly update ALL instructors involved in puppy classes classes, to ensure your instructors remain confident and competent in the information and techniques they are using.

Benefits of delivering an up to date ‘good quality’ Puppy Preschool® include:

You will be offering an ‘up to date’ puppy class to your clients.
Improve your staff’s knowledge, and therefore interest in being involved in puppy classes.
Attendees of the training workshop will learn new information regarding dog behaviour and training, and will be able to incorporate this information in your day-to-day clinic work.
You can start charging classes appropriately so that your clinic is not losing money when running puppy classes.
Improve your turnover of environmental enrichment products sold.
To develop a relationship with both Dr Tracey Henderson and Tracy Bache, which will be useful when you have patients with behaviour problems of any age.
Increasing the bond between owners and the clinic.
Increasing the bond between owners and their dogs.
Loyal clients for the dog’s life and likely to remain loyal for further obtained dogs.
Confident and competent instructors.
Detection of behavioural problems early and early referral to the appropriate help:
- This will result in less likelihood of euthanasia or relinquishment of dogs.
- Prevention of behavioural problems.

Disadvantages of running an outdated ‘poor quality’ puppy class includes:

Practicing outdated training methods.
Potentially destroying the bond between owners and their dogs.
Potentially causing behavioural problems due to inappropriate play or methods used during class.
Not recognising behavioural problems early in a dog’s life – thereby potentially harming the bond between owner and the clinic, and also the human-dog bond.
Resulting in euthanasia or relinquishment of the dog.

Puppy Preschool Instructor Training

Compulsory one day training workshop for instructors

This training session will cover:

Dog behaviour

Dog body language

Learning theory and reward based training techniques

Identifying behaviour problems that need referral

Common ‘puppy problems’:

Toilet training
Mouthing
Jumping up

How to deal with:

Different puppy problems during the class
Different ‘people’ problems during the class
Any other problems instructors commonly deal with
Environmental enrichment.

Participants will receive comprehensive handouts covering all topics discussed.

Tips and advice on running successful Puppy Preschool® classes, including:

Recommended guidelines – e.g. class sizes, number of instructors, etc.

How to best set up your puppy class

Exercises in class and at home

Recommended topics to discuss in the course, divided into the following broad topics:

Behaviour
Training
Health

Participants will receive comprehensive handouts covering all topics discussed.

Click here for training workshop dates and to register

PUPPY PRESCHOOL® PACKAGE (OPTIONAL)

AVBS offer a comprehensive Puppy Preschool® package in addition to the workshop with ongoing support from our qualified trainers and veterinarians. We review and update this package every 24 months to ensure the latest and correct information and any new information is included, making this the best puppy preschool package on the market.

Please note: The Puppy Preschool® package is only available upon completion of the one day training session. We believe that training Puppy Preschool® instructors is very important to enable a quality Puppy Preschool® to be delivered.