Puppy Parties!!

Re: Puppy Parties!!

Kirsten Clements — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 11:52:55 GMT

Puppy parties are a great way to help puppies feel comfortable when they come into practice. We have seen a great improvement with some of are early puppies that are coming into the practice now and they cannot wait to come in. It is also a great chance for the owner to come into the practice out of hours when its not so hectic and get the chance to answer any queries they may have. We do puppy parties over two classes and get a dog trainer in as well. This is a great oppurtuinity for owners to show of what their dog knows. It does have its down side as sometimes we could only be having one puppy in so have had to sit down and re-organise it!

Kirsten

Re: Puppy Parties!!

nin86 — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 10:59:41 GMT

Heya,

I started running puppy parties at our practice at the beginning of the year and they have gone really well. Few tips and hints id give are:

No more than 6 puppies in a group- more than this becomes too un-managable. However does depend on the space you have available and how many people will be on hand to help you. We dont have a huge waiting room, so 6 puppies is more than enough.

Make sure you limit the amount of family members that come- 2 adults, 4 children+ puppy x 6 =Health and safety NIGHTMARE! We advise that only 2 people per puppy due to H+S and space constraints.

Ensure your course in structured- No free for alls. We run a 4 week course- each week we give a brief talk on various aspects of health care- vaccs, neutering, parasites, how to exmine ears/eye/nails/weight etc. We also have a dog trainer and behaviourist take one of the 4 sessions to cover behaviour and training. Our sessions last no more than 1 hour or puppies get too restless.

Play time is allocated at the end of the session and is supervised for 15 mins or so. We try to keep puppies apart during the talks and close to owners otherwise everyone gets too excited and no one listens to what you are saying.

We send invites to each puppy 3-4 weeks before the start of the course. On acceptance we send another letter detailing "class rules" (e.g. always on a lead etc) and the course structure.

We have had an issue recently of people attending the first 2 sessions and then not bothering to come to the next one or two- often they havnt phoned to apologise so we have once had just 1 puppy turn up and then have to send them away. So ensure you re-itterate to your clients that they must attend all weeks or call if not able so as not to ruin other puppies experiences. Maybe a phone call the day of/before to remind them?

Make sure you have at least 1 other member of staff to help you!

Give out a little booklet/leaflet detailing everything you speak about so owners can refer at home. We also now use a powerpoint presentation during talks as gives something to look at and can have pics etc. We also have collected samples of some worms, fleas,ticks which we have put in pots and are good to send round for clients to look at!

Enjoy them! They are a great oppertunity for clients to get to know you and you will build great bonds with puppies.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

Kat

Re: Puppy Parties!!

Helen Tottey — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:22:21 GMT

Def mustn't be a free for all, you can end up causing problems you are trying to prevent! when i did my first party i asked a local dog trainer to come along which was a great help. also, although you want an aim of what to cover, don't plan too much as a puppy will invariably do something funny and all attention moves from you to it.

i try to keep them simple and be guided by the group of puppies and owners you have - no 2 parties are ever the same but they are always fun!

good luck

Re: Puppy Parties!!

Anna Rayne — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 09:42:18 GMT

get Sarah Whitehead's book 'best practice puppy parties' as a start. They need a good structure and mustn't be a free for all.