AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy Class
Start your puppy off on the right paw with our AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy Class! This 6-week program meets once per week and is designed to build a strong foundation of good manners, confidence, and social skills during your puppy’s most important developmental stage. Using positive reinforcement, you and your puppy will work on essential behaviors like sit, down, coming when called, leash walking, and polite interactions with people and other dogs, while also focusing on socialization and responsible ownership.
The AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy program is open to all puppies, including both purebreds and mixed breeds. Puppies who are not registered with the AKC can still earn the S.T.A.R. Puppy award and receive a certificate. Puppies with an AKC, PAL, or AKC Canine Partners number can earn S.T.A.R. Puppy as an official AKC title—making it your dog’s very first training title.
To earn the award, teams are evaluated throughout the course on both owner responsibility and puppy behavior. Owners must demonstrate responsible care, including providing proof of veterinary care, attending at least six classes, bringing clean-up supplies, and understanding their puppy’s exercise and identification needs. Puppies are evaluated on their ability to remain non-aggressive, tolerate handling and equipment, and demonstrate early training skills such as walking on a leash, responding to cues like sit, down, and come, accepting petting and grooming, and remaining calm around distractions and new people.
The first class is a humans-only session (no puppies) where we will review testing materials, class expectations, and training methods. The final class is dedicated to completing the S.T.A.R. Puppy evaluation.
Where: Murrells Inlet Veterinary Hospital
When: Tuesday’s for 6 weeks starting May
Time: 6:30PM
Requirements: Puppies must be at least 12 weeks old and no older than 1 year at the start of class and be up to date on all age-appropriate vaccinations (proof of vaccines is required).
This class is the perfect starting point for raising a well-mannered, confident dog while preparing for future training goals like the Canine Good Citizen program.
This class is limited to 4 teams, 2 teams are required to hold a session.