Humane Society starts classes in manners, obedience training for people and dogs

LACONIA — It’s a dog’s heaven and a dog lover’s paradise when both species can communicate easily. Through her canine education classes starting Tuesday night at the New Hampshire Humane Society, Lisa Caputo of Belmont, who has worked with dogs and humans for 20 years, hopes to raise the level of companionship and mutual understanding.

“We’re all human, so we expect a lot. We just expect them to do what we say,” said Caputo, who is offering level one dog training for puppies and their owners, plus manners lessons for dogs 8 months and up in sessions that run for five weeks.

Two years ago, Caputo became certified as a trainer after working as the director of operations at the Humane Society, overseeing daily adoptions and intakes of dogs, and tutoring staff on how to work with canine newcomers. For 18 months, she has trained pets and pet owners at Inspire K9 in Barnstead alongside owner Megan Arey.

“We reached out to Lisa and Inspire K9 because we recognized that there was a gap in accessibility for [training] services in our area and wanted to offer this on our campus,” said Charles Stanton, executive director of the NH Humane Society. Classes for owners, puppies and dogs of all ages on basic obedience and manners fills a void — and improves outcomes for the people who adopt them.

As humans, we tend to anthropomorphize our pets, communicating with them as we would with our favorite people, and expecting understanding and compliance pretty quickly — which is unrealistic, Caputo said.

Having dogs listen and do what you want is not like going to a fast-food restaurant and expecting a quick turnaround or immediate results. Having the dog you envision requires “a lot of consistency and practice,” said Caputo. “Coming to class is great but you have to practice in between. The more you practice, the better at it they get. Maybe you had a senior dog recently. If you had a puppy 15 years ago, it’s easy to forget the patience and all the work you need to put in to make that awesome adult dog.”

As with people, dogs differ immensely in personality and their intrinsic interest in hanging with humans.

“All dogs are different. They may have different ways of doing things and things they seem to be good at,” said Caputo. The goal of an owner is to tap into and capitalize on those assets.

“Some breeds are more independent than others,” said Caputo. “It depends on what socialization they had as young puppies. When we get transports from down south, we don’t know what experiences they’ve had.” 

Adopting a dog who’s been through tough times or a neglectful or unpleasant beginning can require extra patience and going slowly to establish comfort, safety and trust.

Contrary to stereotypes, pit bull mixes can also be sweet and eager to bond, she said. Adopters should be comfortable with the breed mix, if known. “If you’re not comfortable, that’s OK. You want a dog you can bond with,” she said.

Between puppy and older dogs classes, a lot of the cues overlap. In her classes, dogs learn commands such as "sit/stay," "leave it," "down/stay," and "place," which means go to a certain spot and remain there, which can be a bed or a mat.

To increase obedience in real-life situations, “We add distance, duration and distractions,” said Caputo. Dogs and people study leash-walking skills. Dogs learn to come when they're called, and how to greet strangers.

“When a person comes over, they have to stay calm with their paws on the floor until their person says, ‘OK, say hi.’ It’s impulse control almost,” Caputo said.

How long that takes depends on the dog and how often their people practice with them. It helps to spend 10 minutes here and there during a day, Caputo said, and to start inside then progress to different scenarios and settings that mimic daily life.

In the end, you want to be able to take their learned behavior different places because they understand what you’ve taught them, she said.

“It’s nice to be able to help post-adoption or post-purchase,” said Caputo. “It’s nice to see people start bonding with their animals and have them turn into the dogs they want. Because of training, they have better relationships because they’re starting to understand each other.”

Classes start Tuesday, Nov. 8, at the Humane Society on Meredith Center Road.

Puppy Life Skills: Puppies age 2 to 5 months

Class runs for three weeks, Tuesdays at 5 p.m., and consist of roughly 20 minutes of socialization (puppy playtime) and 20 minutes of working on a life skill, such as confidence-building, sit, down, body handling.

Puppy Kindergarten: Puppies age 4 to 8 months

For puppies 4 to 8 months, this class runs Tuesdays at 6:15 p.m. for five weeks and teaches puppies to focus on their owners in high-distraction environments. Lessons work on puppy chewing, human nipping, sit, down, stay, touch, focus, go to place, and wait. They’ll also address coming when called and the start of leash walking.

Note: The first class is a non-dog class, where the human is getting the education, not the dog. This allows all students to be set up and ready for the second class for when they bring their dog. The hope is to provide students with everything they need to have their first class be a success.

Level 1 Manners: Puppies/dogs over 8 months

Held Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m., the class is open to any dog 8 months or older or any pup that has completed Puppy Kindergarten. Skills worked on include sit/stay, down/stay, wait, leave it, place, coming when called, and greeting strangers. The class will also cover leash walking, along with working on those skills around other dogs, people, and outside, while working on developing trust and confidence within a dog.

For more information and to register, email inspire@nhhumane.org.