Dogs are going back to school

“It's going to be some time before we can really look at doing indoor classes again, that's why I've hopped on the outdoor classes, we'll just have to pray for fine weather,” Ms Coe said.

While group classes for older dogs will remain mostly unchanged, Ms Coe said moving puppy preschool outside meant the furry pupils would need to be a little older than normal.

Typically puppies can start class around eight weeks of age but will now need to wait until 12 weeks to ensure they have reasonable immunity to canine parvovirus, a deadly disease.

“When we have puppy classes in a vet environment it's very controlled, we wash everything down with a special disinfectant,” she said.

“In that environment we ask that puppies are 10 days past their very first vaccination, but a puppy can't got out into public places until 10 days after the second needle because of the whole parvo situation.

“Parvo is a virus and it's extremely infectious, it's a hard virus to kill and it's got quite a long shelf life, it can actually lurk around in the soil for anything from 12 months to I believe anything up to 12 years.

“It is absolutely everywhere, it'll be in all the parks, it'll be on the nature strip, it'll be in the dog park.”

With many people taking advantage of time at home to devote to looking after a new addition, Ms Coe said it was crucial dog owners understood the importance of training.

“A lot of homes and families did welcome new pups and dogs into the house during this time,” she said.

“We've got a lot of pups that arrived at the start of lockdown and people are really needing help with it now.

“Not only with puppies but with older dogs when people start going back to work, separation anxiety is going to be a real thing for some of these animals.

“Pups are like children, they need lots of affection but they also need boundaries and direction, they need to learn manners, etiquette and basic obedience. They need to learn to be calm and an element of control.

“All of those things that are covered in puppy preschool and also in group classes.”

DogTech Goulburn Valley's classes will be run in the Kialla Vet Clinic car park. For more information, visit: dogtechgoulburnvalley.com.au

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