Hello,

We have an 18 week old pup, who in the main is very good, in fact I would go as far and say excellant when there are no distractions.

He walks to heel, sits, stays, good recall - again when there are no ditractions.

He goes to a puppy class and this is the reason for my question. They have 'play time' at the end of the session when 4 or so pups are off the lead, and they interact. I am very mindful that our dog doesn't jump all over others (at the park, fields etc) yet at the session it is almost encouraged and the more excitable the pups get, the more laughs this seems to get from the room. There is 1 very immature pup that is always off the lead with our's that just jumps all over him, and he doesn't need much encouragement to join in.

My pup now thinks this is the norm and now attempts to jump all over all dogs we meet everyday.

How do I get past this stage?

find a different class???

I wouldnt be happy with that. Free play yes but it needs to be carefully controlled and supervised.

Go elsewhere, no sensible trainer would dream of allowing this to happen. Shows that the trainer is stuck in the era when it was thought that having a free-for-all was 'socialising' your puppy. It was soon realised that puppies could quickly become bullies or victims if allowed to do this unchecked.

Say you have to get home, and sneak off at that point each week - if the rest of the training is ok. Otherwise yes, find a new class.

These kind of classes ruined my youngest bitch! What they think is laughable is setting the foundations for the rest of your dogs life. My bitch was fearful if all these puppies chasing her and since then presumed every new dog she meets will do the same. She now reacts fear aggressively, so we can only let her off when i can guarentee no other dogs are around. Find yourself a new class because if they are getting this wrong what else are they getting wrong. Your pup needs to learn from well mannered individuals stooge dogs and ringcraft often has many of these. I will never subject any pup I have again to this. I blame myself as she's such a good dog, yet again vets thinking they know it all behaviour wise!

I always advise my puppy owners to not go to Vets puppy classes as it always seems to be a free for all. I much prefer structured classes where pups are allowed to play but at the end of a lead so that we control the play.

Definitely look elsewhere.  When Opi was a pup she had two courses of socialisation classes at my old vets - both 4 weeks long, on the first one she didn't come out from under the chair for fear until week four so I booked her in for another.

But crucially, the vet nurse running them managed it carefully - she was never bullied or played with too roughly, in fact she wasn't played with at all in the first course - she was just too timid to come out.

On the second course, she made her first best friend in a dobe pup and turned into the most confident pup in the class - as a result the nurse then often kept her and Jake out of play for periods so the other pups could play and learn without being barrelled over lol!  it was a good example of how to run a great puppy class and it was the best thing for her.  Remy went to the same class a couple of months before and it was the same for him - in his time, a patterdale pup was frequently removed from play because he got very OTT and would start bullying, so the others needed a break and got it.