Puppy School: An Evidence-Based Guide to Raising a Happy, Healthy Dog

This course is built on a single reassuring truth: nobody is born knowing how to raise a puppy, and almost every new puppy owner feels overwhelmed at some point. You are not failing — you are learning. Designed specifically for first-time dog owners, this eight-chapter journey follows the natural arc of puppyhood, from the excited (and slightly terrifying) preparation stage through to the adolescent dog who has suddenly forgotten every command they ever learned. Every recommendation in this course is grounded in positive reinforcement training science, drawing on the work of Dr Sophia Yin, the Australian Veterinary Association, and AVSAB position statements. We follow Australian veterinary standards throughout — vaccination schedules, desexing guidance, council registration requirements, and parasite prevention protocols relevant to Australian conditions, including tick prevention for east coast regions. Pedagogically, this course is designed around five evidence-based learning principles that make information stick even when you're sleep-deprived and covered in tiny tooth marks. Key concepts — like reading body language, reinforcement timing, and routine-building — are introduced early and revisited with increasing depth across multiple chapters (spaced practice). Related ideas from different stages of puppyhood are woven together so you can see connections between, say, socialisation and adolescent regression, or crate training and veterinary visits (interleaving). Every chapter includes moments where you predict answers before receiving them, because actively retrieving information is far more powerful than passively reading it (retrieval practice). Abstract training principles are always grounded in vivid, specific scenarios you'll actually encounter — the 2am whimpering, the shoe destruction phase, the 'selective deafness' of a nine-month-old dog (concrete examples). And throughout, interactive tools let you build visual schedules, explore checklists, and practise decision-making in simulated scenarios (dual coding). The course tells a coherent story: you'll move from anxious preparation to confident daily management, building skills progressively so that each chapter gives you tools you'll use immediately while deepening your understanding of why those tools work. By the end, you won't just have a well-adjusted young dog — you'll understand the behavioural science behind your success, which means you'll be equipped to handle whatever surprises puppyhood throws at you next.

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Puppy School: An Evidence-Based Guide to Raising a Happy, Healthy Dog

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