We are Seattle's premier puppy-centric training studio, with convenient drop-in hours during the week, and group classes weekday evenings and weekends

Why Choose Us

Seattle Puppyworks is the only socialization facility in the Puget Sound that focuses exclusively on the 8-18 week socialization period, providing a canine academic environment where puppies practice, play, and learn together in a trainer-managed and safe environment.

Did we mention socialization is important? Dogs are adaptable, social, and occupy a diverse range of personalities and temperaments. Puppies are instinctual creatures born with innate, driven behaviors that are designed to help them survive. Even though our beloved pups live in comfortable homes and have their food delivered, these inborn drives remain a part of their behaviors. It’s part of what makes a dog, a dog! Here at Puppyworks we make it a goal to enrich and inform our clients to satisfy these needs and give each puppy the best start in life.

What “Socialization” Means

Puppies learn via associative exposure -- building a complex library of behaviors and memories based on what they encounter during their formative weeks. While obedience classes are an important component, and outdoor adventures are valuable, one of the most VITAL parts of learning how to “dog” is playing with others in their peer group.

Being a puppy-focused facility, we provide weekday play with exposure to a wide variety of other puppies, humans, sounds, smells, toys, objects, sights and experiences. We believe (and have evidence to back it up!) that this broad-form Muttessori experience is one of the single-most effective ways to socialize and begin training your puppy for a lifetime of confident success. We guide puppies to explore, experiment and achieve!

Physical Safety

Because our program is open only to puppies within their prime developmental period, your new friend learns with peers their own age, and those best suited for group play. During this window puppies are universally pliable, with exaggerated manners, curiosity, small puppy teeth and limited muscle strength; nature’s “training wheels” that allow practice and play with little risk of injury. Recognizing that each puppy is an individual, we also have a partition for very small puppies, or those that need to warm up to other pups at their own pace. We will never push a pup to play or interact with others, and instead allow each pup to build social confidence through the power of communication!

Avoid Dog Parks

You wouldn’t wrestle outside your weight class, or join a pro hockey league while being a novice--right? It’s the same for puppies. While puppies can (and must) meet and experience dogs of all ages, their primary playmates should be fellow young puppies (and knowledgeable humans). For this reason we STRONGLY caution against taking your new puppy to the neighborhood dog park. While there is opportunity for exercise and socialization, there is also significant risk of exposure to illness, disease or psychological trauma. Not all dogs (or their humans) are well-mannered or have the skill set to behave well in a public environment.

Any traumatic or scary experience your puppy has at this stage in their life can permanently change their behavior. An illness during their socialization window can acutely stunt their neurological development, and like humans, bad experiences as a puppy often stick with your dog throughout their entire life.