Training & Agility Classes Available

A well trained dog is a joy to own. A dog with 'issues' can be a nightmare. The most important thing you can do for your dog is to help them to become a happy, obedient and well balanced pet. A well trained dog is able to travel more places, spend more time with its owners and generally has a better quality of life.

Every dog is an individual with different drives and motivations. Wags and Bones will work with you to find out what best motivates your dog so that you both get the most out of training. We will teach you how to incorporate training into your everyday life and how to keep it fun for you and your dog.

Wags and Bones classes last for one hour, are held at various venues around Somerset and have a maximum class size of six. Group classes cost £60 for a six week block. One to one classes cost £45 per hour.

• Growly Dogs Class 
• Puppy Classes
• Lifestyle Obedience
• Lifestyle Obedience (Improvers)
• Beginners Fun Agility
• Fun Agility (Basic)
• Fun Agility (Improvers)

Growly Dog Class

Does your dog growl or lunge when you go past other dogs on walks?

Have you given up on the idea of taking your dog to training classes because you think he won't be able to handle being near other dogs?

THIS CLASS IS FOR YOU!

This Wags and Bones class is for dogs who are over reactive to other dogs or people while on the lead. The lessons will focus on desensitising your dog to their triggers so that those triggers are less anxiety inducing, as well as teaching your dog new coping behaviours to use during times of stress. Being the handler of a reactive dog is difficult, embarrassing and isolating. You will learn important handling skills to minimise the likelihood of your dog reacting. We will also go over how to read your dog's body language.

As you and your dog progress, we will continue training with other dogs in closer proximity and will introduce greater levels of obedience as well as desensitise to higher levels of distractions.

Puppy Classes

Training starts the moment you bring your new puppy home. With early training you can prevent bad habits from developing and avoid serious behaviour problems later on. By taking advantage of your puppy's innate desire to learn now, you can build a strong foundation for whatever your future training goals are. Activities and topics include: prevention and management of common puppy behaviours, housetraining tips, basic manners, introduction to obedience, socialisation time with puppies and other handlers (as appropriate), handling and grooming exercises. We will also cover the basics of canine communication. Puppies under 6 months of age can participate in these sessions.

Lifestyle Obedience

These classes cover the same curriculum as the Puppy Classes, but are for dogs who either need a refresher or missed out first time around. In addition to basic obedience work, activities and topics covered include: prevention and management of common problem behaviours, housetraining tips, basic manners, introduction to obedience, handling and grooming exercises. We will also cover the basics of canine communication. Dogs over 6 months of age can participate in these sessions.

Lifestyle Obedience (Improvers)

This Wags and Bones class is great for dogs who have received basic formal training and want to go a bit further. You will learn to increase your dog's basic obedience level including responding to your cues reliably around distractions, first time, every time. You will be taught the fundamentals of how your dog learns, as well as how to motivate them. You will also learn how to troubleshoot common behaviour problems. The training class will continue to challenge your dog's existing skills with increasing levels of distractions whilst introducing new skills.

You will learn when and how to phase out treats during training and how to use games to motivate your dog. Skills covered include basic obedience commands, walking on a loose lead with distractions, walking through groups of people and other dogs, longer maintains, coming when called around distractions and teaching your dog to remain calmly by your side while you interact with other handlers.

Beginners Fun Agility

This class is for those who are complete beginners at agility. During the six week course you will be taken through each of the obstacles in turn and will be aiming to achieve short sequences by the end of the course. Groundwork exercises will also be covered. As a pre-requesite to this class, dogs must have a (mostly) reliable "stay", "come" and either "sit" or "down".

Fundamental dog and handler skills will be taught along with short simple sequences. Obedience skills will be reviewed as needed. By the end of the six weeks your dog should be happily performing all of the equipment at some level.

After completion of this course you will have the skills to move up to Fun Agility (Basic)class.

Fun Agility (Basic)

Dogs in this class will have been introduced to all of the pieces of equipment and will be happy with most of them, though not necessarily full height jumps or long weave sequences. Weave poles are normally still being taught at this point. This class will develop the dogs equipment fluency, handling and teamwork skills and work on longer sequences.

Before graduating to the Fun Agility (Improvers) class, dogs should be able to work with the handler for short sequences off lead. Dogs with overall confidence or motivation issues will stay in the Basic class for as long as necessary.

Fun Agility (Improvers)

Dogs in this class will be fluent on all of the equipment, but may still need work on the weave poles. Dogs must to be able to complete short sequences completely off lead and have a reliable recall.

This class will continue to build teamwork and enable handlers to develop basic handling and course strategy skills. Sequences will be lengthened and the complexity of the course will increase depending on the skill level of you and your dog.