Puppy School gives dogs a great start in life
Press release
19 May 2008
To give dogs a healthy and sociable start in life, the Veterinary Hospital are running a puppy school from Wednesday 28 May.
“Socialising dogs early is found to be the best way to integrate puppies into families, and to help them accept new people like their vet,” says course coordinator Ms Kate Kirkovski.
“The main aim of puppy school is to socialise puppies with other dogs, people and children. We do this through ‘puppy play time’.
“As well as ‘puppy play time’, the classes discuss health issues such as vaccinations, worming, grooming and nutrition. We also train puppies to accept a general examination by a vet.”
The school is run by Kate Kirkovski and Shelley Estlick, both ward nurses at the University of Melbourne’s Veterinary Hospital.
From her experience as an animal ICU nurse, Ms Kirkovski also takes owners through what to do in a medical emergency.
The canine students are offered a 10% discount for desexing and microchipping, with a veterinarian attending the third class to microchip the puppies.
“We also encourage people to bring along children to some of the classes as the more puppies are around children, the more relaxed they are,” adds Ms Estlick.
“We encourage the whole family to get involved in basic training of puppies and teach owners how to instruct their dogs to sit, drop, stand, stay and a few tricks.”
Students will also receive a Graduation Certificate on completion, and a free show bag with an information booklet.
“Puppy School is an introductory course for puppies and once graduated, we encourage owners to continue on to dog training clubs in their area.”
To attend the school, puppies need to be 7 weeks old and had their first vaccination; they shouldn’t be any older than 16 weeks at the start of the class.
The course will commence on Wednesday 28 May, provided there are a minimum of 6 puppies enrolled. It will run for 1 hour from 6pm – 7pm for a total of 4 weeks at the Veterinary Clinic and Hospital in Werribee – attendees should meet in the main reception area.
For more information and enrolment please call Kate Kirkovski or Shelley Estlick on 9731 2000.
For further information please contact the Marketing Manager, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Melbourne, Tel: 8344 7844 or email: vet-communications@unimelb.edu.au