Comprehensive Dog Training Curriculum Guide

A comprehensive dog training curriculum is essential for any dog owner who wants to raise a well-behaved and obedient pet. This guide will walk you through the key components of a well-rounded training program.

Puppy socialization is crucial between 8 and 11 weeks old, as it lays the foundation for future behavior. This period is critical for introducing puppies to new people, environments, and experiences.

Basic obedience commands, such as "sit", "stay", and "come", should be introduced early on, ideally by 4 months old. Consistency and positive reinforcement are key to successful learning.

Household manners, like not jumping on furniture or stealing food, are essential skills to teach your dog. Training should focus on replacing unwanted behaviors with acceptable ones.

Broaden your view: 6 Month Old Dog Training

The dog training curriculum is designed to help you and your furry friend build a strong relationship while learning essential obedience skills. The curriculum starts with Basic Obedience I, which covers fundamental commands like sit, down, stay, come, place, jumping up, sit to greet, and heel with an automatic sit.

You can expect to see a progression of skills as you move through the levels. Intermediate Obedience II builds on the basics, adding distractions and increasing distance between you and your dog. This level covers skills like sit-stay-come, down at a distance, heel with finish, and relationship building with distractions.

The curriculum culminates in Advanced Obedience III, which focuses on preparing your dog for real-world situations, including public appearances and interactions with strangers. This level includes skills like accepting a friendly stranger, sitting politely for petting, and walking through a crowd.

Here's a breakdown of the curriculum levels:

Basic training is a crucial part of any dog's education. It lays the foundation for future training and helps establish a strong bond between dog and owner.

To start, you'll want to focus on basic obedience skills, which include sitting, staying, coming, placing, and down. These skills are the building blocks of more advanced training.

Additional reading: Basic Obedience Training for Puppies

The Basic Obedience I Syllabus covers these fundamental skills, making it a great place to begin. You can expect to learn how to teach your dog to sit, down, stay, come, and place.

Some common issues you may encounter during basic training include jumping up and greeting people in an overzealous manner. To address this, you can teach your dog to sit to greet instead.

Here are some key skills to focus on in basic training:

You'll also want to practice these skills in the presence of distractions, such as other people, dogs, and toys. This will help your dog learn to focus and respond to commands even when there's a lot going on around them.

Intermediate training is where the real fun begins! In this stage, you'll build on the basics and start adding distractions and distance to your training sessions.

With Intermediate Obedience II, you'll focus on building a stronger relationship with your dog while introducing new challenges, such as walking with distractions and distance between you and your furry friend.

You'll learn essential skills like sit-stay-come, down at a distance, heel with finish, come, place, and leave it/drop it.

Here's a breakdown of what you can expect to learn in Intermediate Obedience II:

By mastering these skills, you'll be well on your way to achieving excellent manners in public and preparing your dog for more advanced training, such as therapy work or agility training.

In the next stage, Advanced Obedience III, you'll introduce new challenges and equipment, such as agility training and obedience exercises with distractions.

Check this out: Dog Agility Training at Home

Puppy training is a vital part of a dog's development, and it's essential to start early.

Our training programs for puppies are designed to socialize and teach proper manners, with a focus on basic commands like Name Recognition, Watch, Come, Sit & Down, and Walk on a leash.

Mouthing, Barking, and House Breaking are also addressed in our puppy classes, as well as Crate Training and Leave it & Drop it.

Intriguing read: Puppy Mill Dogs Behavior

For high-energy breeds, CONDITIONING/STRENGTH TRAINING is a great option, which includes Core Conditioning, Balance & Weight Stabilizing, and Flexibility exercises.

Here's a breakdown of our puppy training programs:

If your puppy is shy or needs extra confidence building, our low-key training games and activities can help. This includes Confidence building, Searching/hunting games, Stretching, Strengthening, Flexibility, and Socialization.

If this caught your attention, see: 3-minute Dog Training Games

Private lessons are a great way to improve the relationship between you and your dog. They focus on behavioral training and can be tailored to your specific needs.

You can choose from two private lesson options: in-kennel or off-premises. In-kennel lessons cost $80 an hour, while off-premises lessons cost $125 an hour. If you need extra time, each additional 30 minutes costs $40.

Private lessons are ideal for addressing specific issues, such as social behavior problems or aggressive behavior. They can also help you learn how to manage your dog's behavior and improve your communication with them.

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Private lessons can be a great way to improve the relationship between you and your dog. $80 an hour is the cost of a private lesson at the kennel.

If you're looking for a more personalized experience, private lessons off premises cost $125 an hour. You can also add extra time for $40 every 30 minutes.

Private lessons are perfect for working on specific issues, such as social behavior or aggressive behavior. You can also use them to help manage your dog's reactive behavior.

Here are some reasons why you might want to consider private lessons:

As an APDT member, you have access to some great perks. Professional Premium members receive 20% off the full program purchase, which is equivalent to one free curriculum.

The cost of individual curricula varies, with non-members paying $75 per curriculum, while members pay $55 per curriculum.

The full program, which includes games and exercises, a handbook, logo pack, and certificate templates, costs $350 for non-members and $250 for members.