Puppy Parties

_{“Play is important and you can see this since play has been conserved throughout the evolution of dogs for more than 40,000 years to today” – Dr Sam Kovac}

Congratulations on the newest addition to your family! It can get overwhelming having to take care of such a cute little ball of destruction and that’s where we come in. At Southern Cross, we understand how tough and confusing it can be to raise a fur baby so we’ve decided to run Puppy Parties.

What age is ideal?

The science of puppy party

Puppy party takes advantage of the age when puppies’ brains have ‘neuroplasticity’ or are able to be moulded.

Through exposing puppies to stimulation in the form of music, different voices, different sizes of play-mates and new textures of toys we desensitise them to a lot of real-world situations.

Since many ‘puppy partiers’ first life experiences were having fun at the vet, we’ve seen that our ‘puppy partiers’ are less anxious returning for treatments or tests at the vet and don’t see the clinic as a ‘scary place’, but a place where happiness stems from.

Puppy partiers LOVE the vet and often bound in to see us years after their first ‘pawty!’

This makes our job easier also treating your pets when they’re in a low fear state!

Social aspect for owners (Pre-covid and currently is done through comments on the live stream)

Many of our puppy party families are new pet owners and there is a lot to discover about what the best way to bring your puppy up is.

Many of our puppies form life long bonds and play dates are scheduled after their first or second pawty.

Puppy party is a time for owners to compare notes about a range of common thoughts like toilet training, tricks, obedience, weird behaviours, diet and the best dog parks in the local area!

Pass the puppy

Pre-COVID we would start the party by playing everyone’s favourite, ‘Pass the Puppy’ where we pass everyone’s puppies around in a circle to get them used to being held by strangers (and so you can cuddle all the other puppies).

But during COVID, temporarily our puppy parties are human-free and there’s no ‘pass the puppy’, but its just as much fun (actually MORE fun as there are MORE puppies allowed!)

Nurse question time!

There is no such thing as a ‘silly question’…

If it’s your first time owning a dog or it’s been some time since your last one then you might have a few questions you wanted answered. The nurses are freely available to answer any questions you might have about:

• Training – toilet training and play biting
• Worming and flea treatment
• Desexing – when and why
• General Puppy Care – how to do a health check
• Insurance – why and what to look out for

What’s the vibe like?

It’s a very relaxed, chilled environment where you can have a glass of wine or beer and chat with the other owners in the class and swap quirky stories about your fluff ball.

Special guests

Each fortnight we are featuring a special guest – that will be one of our champion Veterinarians, surgical nurse or managers so that the puppies can get to know everyone in the team and pet parents get to ask questions to our full complement of professionals!

How to prepare your puppy for puppy party?

There’s literally nothing to do before a party apart from:

1) Let them have a toilet break before to reduce accidents during the party
2) Take off all harnesses and attire as this can get caught during play and sometimes damaged.