Puppy Foundation Skills course

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Give Your Puppy the Best Possible Start

The first few months of your puppy’s life are the most important for shaping their future behaviour, confidence, and relationship with you. Our Puppy Foundation Skills Programme is designed to build a calm, well-mannered, confident companion while making training fun, rewarding, and easy to understand for both puppies and owners.

Through positive, science-based training methods, we focus on developing essential life skills that create a happy puppy and a harmonious family life. Whether your goal is a well-behaved family pet, an active adventure companion, or a future sport dog, strong foundations are the key to long-term success.

Why Foundation Training Matters

Puppies aren’t born knowing how to live successfully in our world. Every interaction, experience, and training session helps shape the adult dog they will become.

By investing in professional foundation training early, you can:

✓ Build a strong bond with your puppy

✓ Prevent common behavioural problems

✓ Improve confidence and resilience

✓ Create reliable manners at home and out in public

✓ Develop excellent recall and engagement

✓ Lay the groundwork for future training and activities

✓ Enjoy a calmer, happier family companion

Puppy Foundation Skills course - 6 week course £250

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Puppy Foundation Skills course

What Your Puppy Will Learn

Engagement & Focus

Teaching your puppy to choose you over distractions and develop a strong training partnership.

  • Name recognition

  • Eye contact and focus

  • Handler engagement

  • Recall foundations

  • Relationship building games

Essential Foundations

The building blocks of everyday manners and future training success.

  • Sit

  • Down

  • Stand

  • Stay

  • Place/settle

  • Wait

  • Leave it

  • Drop

  • Hand touch (targeting)

  • Loose lead walking

  • Heel foundations

Reliable Recall Skills

Creating a puppy that loves coming back when called.

  • Recall games

  • Check-ins during walks

  • Building value for returning to the owner

Calmness & Household Manners

Teaching puppies how to switch off and relax.

  • Settle training

  • Relaxation protocols

  • Calm greetings

  • Door manners

  • Household boundaries

  • Appropriate play behaviour

  • Reducing jumping up

Lead & Walking Skills

Building enjoyable walks from the very beginning.

  • Loose lead walking

  • Automatic check-ins

  • Walking past distractions

Life Skills & Impulse Control

Helping puppies make good choices even when excited.

  • Food manners

  • Waiting patiently

  • Self-control around toys

  • Not rushing through doors

  • Polite greetings

  • Distraction training

Prevention of Common Puppy Problems

We don’t just teach skills—we help prevent unwanted behaviours before they become habits.

  • Nipping and mouthing

  • Jumping up

  • Pulling on lead

  • Resource guarding prevention

  • Separation confidence

  • Over-arousal management

  • Excessive barking

  • Destructive behaviours

The Result

Our goal is simple: to help you raise a confident, well-mannered puppy who understands how to navigate the world successfully and enjoys learning alongside you.

The skills your puppy learns today become the behaviours you’ll enjoy for years to come.

Start Your Puppy’s Training Journey Today

Give your puppy the strongest possible foundation and set them up for a lifetime of success.

  • Black dog with card

    “As a first-time dog owner, I am very grateful for all the advice and practical help Julia has given me to get my dog through the puppy and teenage stage. Over the last two years Julia has provided ongoing individual progression and training for a very lively Sprocker.” - Teresa Jones

  • Black dog on chair

    I have been using The Surrey Dog Training Company since September 2019 for my not so little puppy Loki. Julia and Team are amazing with the dogs! We have done both puppy and puppy plus classes. They have been brilliant; we have both learnt so much! I highly recommend to anyone who’s looking for the best puppy class. Thank you, Julia and Team, for giving me such a gentleman of a dog. - Molly Silvester and Loki

  • German Shepherd dog

    “I can highly recommend Julia as a top-class dog trainer. She has helped with puppy socialisation, and 121 puppy training for my 4-month-old German Shepherd puppy. She obviously loves and understands dogs and can get the best out of our dogs. Julia was able to give me all the correct tools to go home and practice and has made training look effortless.”

  • Brown puppy

    “Julia and her team are hard to beat in the dog training world. Their approach is based on everyone having fun and the results are really impressive. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to anyone with a dog in need of training!” - Sally & Toast

  • Dog on agility course

    “Thank you, Julia, for your endless kindness and patience. We (I mean the dogs and me) love Fun Agility. It is sometimes challenging for us all, but never any pressure, and always fun. You have helped me to learn and understand more about my dogs and build a stronger relationship with them. I cannot recommend your classes highly enough, they are outstanding.” - Theresa, Patch and Mitzi

  • Happy dog running around barrel

    “I can highly recommend agility courses with The Surrey Dog Training Company. I started with my Springer Spaniel, Alfie, over 5 years ago and we are still there! Each time is different, but always lots of fun, even if there are distractions i.e. apples, which mean I have to work harder! We both thoroughly enjoy our agility sessions.” - Kim Peters and Alfie

  • Golden Retriever puppy

    “Just like to say my dog really enjoys the classes. So, if she could speak, she would say join up. Classes suitable for all. My dog is unpredictable, and Julia goes to great lengths to accommodate her. Classes medium, small or individual. Friendly, supportive advice. A great asset to the community.” - Monica and Lunar

  • Brown dog looking away from camera

    “Julia and her team are all approachable and friendly people. Knowledgeable about all your dog’s behaviour delivered in a professional and non-condescending manner. Plenty of one to one during the classes. Whatever your needs are I’m sure Julia and her team will be able to help!” - Claire Crocker

  • Border Collie lying on grass

    “We have a crazy 2 year old Border Collie (Jackson) and found Julia at The Surrey Dog Training Company a couple of years ago. Julia has been a huge part of the progress we’ve made, and without her help we wouldn’t have the well behaved, wonderful dog we have today! She has always provided excellent advice and is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to dogs, their training, and their behaviour. Julia is always so patient and really cares for the dogs and people she works with. We would highly recommend” - Caroline and Steve Vallis

  • Happy dog facing camera

    “I was recommended Julia by a friend of mine and I have to say how amazing she and her team have been with Cookie. We have had one to one sessions and group training and both have exceeded expectations. They are fun, motivating and encouraging. With the 1-1 sessions you get detailed follow up notes and reminders to support the learnings. Cookie is a much better behaved dog and has learnt some cool tricks as well. Thank you Julia and we look forward to Cookie progressing to the next level with you very soon.” - Ian & Ben Wallis & Cookie

  • Pug facing camera

    “SDTC is absolutely amazing! Julia came to see our family at home to start training even before we had collected our new puppy from the breeder. She has been there for us every step of the way from puppy training to daily dog walking 5 years on. Julia and her brilliant team are the most lovely, most caring and most kind dog carers you will ever meet and we are so blessed that they are able to care for our precious little Pug on a regular basis. We absolutely love the entire team! Thank you SDTC!”