Understanding our Canine Companions
What makes your dog tick?
This 10 week long course introduces the fundamentals of how dogs learn, who they are as individuals, as a breed and as a member of a species. We look at what motivates them, how behaviours are made more or less likely and how they communicate with us. This is a great step to take for those who want to increase their handler skills or are considering getting into more training and behaviour work.
We all want to do what is best for our dogs and those dogs around us. There is so much information online and so much of it is contradictory or doesn't seem to work. In this course we introduce the foundations of how our dogs learn and engage with us from the point of view of verified scientific studies. You will learn not only how to better engage with your dog and others but how to critically analyse online or other offered courses/information to decide what is a best approach for any given issue.
Who is this course for?
This course is intended for anyone wanting to better understand their dogs and those dogs around them whether at home or in a busier setting such as a shelter or kennel. It is also for those considering a move to a canine career such as a trainer, behaviourist, kennel operator, daycare, or rescue team member. If you are interested in dogs and want to be able to work more fluently with them, this is the course for you.
Please note that this is a humans only course. If you are looking to work on the practical side of things and improve your direct handling and engagement with your dog or others then our complementary group Practical Handling Skills covers this angle. There is a discount for those looking to do both courses at the same time.
What will you cover?
We cover a wide range of topics in this course and leave the deep dive into each topic to the follow on course Introduction to Professional Dog Training and Behaviour. As a sample of what you will cover in this course:
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What is a dog? Evolution, domestication, and the modern dog
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How dogs learn - Consequences, emotions, and prediction
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Communication, interactions and social skills
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Science of dog training and behaviour
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Nature Vs nurture
There will be optional assessment as we go through the course. This is primarily aimed at those likely to move on to the next level.
Where and when?
This is a 10 week long course running every Thursday evening from Oct. 2nd 2025 for 2 hours. We will be starting at 7:30pm. We will be working in the Parish Hall in Prosperous, Kildare. For those looking to do the Practical Skills course also this is run on Sundays in our training field just outside of Prosperous.
This course is subject to minimum numbers to proceed. We have a max of 20 places.
The course costs €480 for the 10 weeks.