Kind, reward-based classes for every stage, from a puppy's first socialisation to the Royal Kennel Club's Good Citizen Dog Gold Award — with support and guidance for you both along the way.
Puppy Socialisation classes are run by Rachel and the puppy team on Sunday mornings at Malvern Cube, for puppies under six months old at the start of the course. These friendly, informal 6-week courses help young dogs grow in confidence around people and other dogs, and give you the support, guidance and skills to lay the foundations of good care and good manners together — using kind, reward-based methods, including clicker training.
Every puppy is different, and so is every owner. We'll help you understand what your puppy is telling you, and build a relationship you'll both enjoy.
Handlers have the opportunity to work for the Royal Kennel Club's Good Citizen Dog Training Scheme Puppy Foundation Assessment — perhaps your puppy's first rosette!
Please book early — don't wait until your puppy has completed their vaccinations!
Classes for dogs over 6 months old are held on Tuesday evenings and are run by Ann, Angie and their team. Courses are usually 6 weeks, and can be repeated if appropriate. The courses cover the skills needed for a well-behaved companion dog, and extend to more challenging exercises. The trainers will advise you which class is most suitable for you and your dog.
Handlers have the opportunity to work for the Royal Kennel Club's Good Citizen Dog Training Scheme.
These are for those who have not done any class training before, and cover essential foundation skills such as walking on a loose lead, returning to the handler, “don't touch”, good manners with people and dogs, responsibilities, and care of your dog. We explain how to teach your dog using kind, reward-based methods, including clicker training.
These build on the skills learned in Beginner and Puppy classes, working with distractions, and introduce skills such as control at doors and gates, and more on the care of your dog, including grooming. They also cover the exercises for the Good Citizen Dog Bronze Award, and tests are arranged when appropriate.
These start to refine the exercises already learned, introduce some new skills such as good manners around food, vehicle control, fetch, and teaching your dog to accept being examined by someone else. We introduce some more formal versions of the basic exercises to challenge handlers and keep the dogs interested and motivated. Handlers also have the opportunity to work for the Good Citizen Dog Silver Award, and tests are arranged when sufficient dogs are up to standard.
These introduce more formal exercises such as distance control in various forms, retrieve and off-lead heelwork. They include the exercises for the Good Citizen Dog Gold Award, and tests are arranged when needed.
We run occasional workshops on specific aspects of dog training, such as Recall, Scentwork or Trick training. We also have training evenings for dogs who have taken their Gold Good Citizen with us to brush up and work on some new challenges.
Tell us a little about you and your dog, and one of our volunteers will get back to you.