Is your new puppy a little monster? An adorable bundle of fun - but badly behaved?

East Anglian Daily Times: Canine Creche Group is introducing Puppy Club across Suffolk to help puppies socialise and become better behaved. Picture: CANINE CRECHE GROUPCanine Creche Group is introducing Puppy Club across Suffolk to help puppies socialise and become better behaved. Picture: CANINE CRECHE GROUP (Image: Archant)

Now the Canine Creche Group, based in Suffolk, has come up with a new concept to help tackle bad behaviour and provide socialising a new Puppy Social Club across its branches.

More and more families keep dogs as pets, reaching a record 26% of households last year.

And bad behaviour is one of the top reasons dogs end up being re-homed, according to charity The Dogs Trust.

To address this escalating problem Candace Rose founder of the Canine Creche Group has spent months developing a new Puppy Social Club which will be hosted in all facilities.

She explained: “Socialisation is the process of teaching a puppy or young dog how to cope and behave well in a human modern world. To a puppy, everything in the world in brand new and they have never seen any of this before. We encourage our members to try to remember this perspective as they teach what is expected of their puppy.”

This six week club will aid and boost the puppy’s confidence, promote good manners and increase the human to dog bond. This is all achieved through counter conditioning and desensitisation delivered with a big dose of fun, she added.

The Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association reckons the UK dog population has risen to a record 9 million, representing an increase of 300,000 households.

The Dogs Trust has recorded that 49% of owners state their dog shows behavioural signs of fear when they hear loud noises and Canine Creche facilities have all reported that the numbers of anxious puppies and dogs are on the increase.

“This is not obedience or puppy training, (though of course manners and basic obedience will improve) this is all about those soft skills. Its pre-school for puppies.

“Many of our clients have reported the difficulty they have to safely socialising puppies in a caring environment, this club will now deliver this,” she added.

Puppy Social Club sessions will get underway during March and April.