PUPPY TRAINING CLASSES REALLY DO WORK!
Training an exuberant new puppy may look to some like a walk in the park.
But dog owners debating whether to pay for puppy training classes instead may be interested to learn they really do work.
Taking a puppy to classes makes them better-trained as an adult dog and less easily spooked by traffic and unfamiliar situations, a study has found.
They may even cope better with bath-time and be calmer when having their nails clipped or visiting the vet.
Researchers followed 80 puppies, of whom 32 were taken to weekly hour-long classes and 48 were not. A year later their owners were asked 100 questions about their dogs' behaviour.
The puppy training classes in the study gave people advice on how to housetrain puppies and deal with bad behaviour.
Those puppies taken to six training classes, which involved playing with other puppies and learning to cope with strangers, grew up to be better behaved with other dogs and less fearful.
The authors, led by Dr Angela González-martínez at Santiago de Compostela University in Spain, state: The results indicated that both puppies and juveniles that have attended classes had more favourable scores for family-dog aggression, trainability, non-social fear and touch sensitivity.
'The study showed that attending puppy class may be important for social exposure with other puppies and people which could have an association with the dog's long-term behaviour.' The 'socialisation period', when puppies are between three and 13 weeks old, is an important time for dogs to get used to people and develop social skills.
But studies have shown many owners are not very aware of normal dog behaviour, often reacting inconsistently to bad behaviour or punishing animals too often, which can lead to greater aggression and excitability. Up to 87 per cent of dogs are believed to have behavioural problems. The puppy training classes in the study gave people advice on how to house-train puppies and deal with bad behaviour.
The dogs were presented with strangers wearing different clothes and hats, or carrying walking sticks to get them used to older people, and rewarded when they allowed these people to pet them.they also met with other puppies, in groups of five or fewer dogs, and were taught to walk without pulling on a lead.
A year later, when owners were asked detailed questions about their dogs, the puppies which attended training classes were less aggressive to other dogs in their household.
They showed less 'non-social fear', which included fearful or wary responses to traffic, strange situations or sudden and loud noises.the dogs who attended classes were three times more likely to score highly in the questionnaire on 'trainability'.
This meant they would pay attention to their owner and obey simple commands, fetching objects, learning fast and responding well to being corrected.they were also less sensitive to touch, so were less afraid or wary of procedures like being groomed or being examined by a vet.however the study did not find differences in 10 other behavioural traits including aggression towards strangers or separation anxiety.
The study concludes: 'Proper socialisation combined with positive reinforcement-based training in the context of a group puppy class could help puppies grow into well-adjusted pets.'
The full findings of the study will be published in an upcoming edition of the Journal of Veterinary Behaviour, set for publication in July.