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Puppy classes, what a waste of money!

31 replies

Luxaroma · 26/09/2014 08:25

Does anyone get anything out of these classes?

We had an awful second class yesterday.

My pup who just adores playing with other dogs was being held by the trainer while she also held her own dog and I was asked to recall through a corridor of dogs...my dog couldn't even get past the distraction of the trainer's dog never mind getting focussed enough to make his way past all the other pups to find me.

So she suggests my dog isn't motivated by food and I disagree - it's just that being surrounded by 7 dogs is too exciting nothing can compete, he needs baby steps....so I've paid for block session with a trainer who really doesn't have any good ideas and I think I will need to abandon the classes as they are just setting my dog up to fail.

Good job I listened to the good people of MN and bought Total Recall(which suggests using play with other dogs as the reward for recall) that and Kikopup will have to suffice.

OP posts:
murphys · 26/09/2014 08:34

We have had our second class as well last week.

We are doing recall but with puppy and owner one on one. There is no running through other puppies, I agree that is far too much of a distraction.

I think that different trainers train in different ways. Our first week, the trainer was a stand in for the dog school owner as she was invited to an agility competition overseas at short notice. Our first class was a disaster tbh as my pup didn't behave in the manner that this trainer thought appropriate. We spent much of the class on lead, whilst other pups ran around socializing (my pup kept chasing another pup).

This week, the trainer wasn't phased, as my dpup did chase the other pups a bit, but then they all just played and ran around together.

If the initial trainer was the permanent one, I don't think I would have seen the course out either....

Is there another trainer within that school?

Luxaroma · 26/09/2014 09:08

No, there's one trainer. She seems to believe he just needs more practice - thing is he can't get through the corridor of dogs, so practice won't work, all he'll learn is to ignore me and my recall.

There's no week to week consistency, she doesn't build gradually on a skill, different people attend every week and there doesn't seem to be much differentiation for ability and skill levels. She just keeps banging on about how important recall is - so it's my fault - we should have mastered advance recall before coming to her classes!!

OP posts:
Owllady · 26/09/2014 12:08

Surely the whole point is that he has to learn to come to you whilst there are distractions and that's when most young dogs recall is more vulnerable?

And yes, the point of the classes are to learn. Are you sure you aren't just taking it a bit too personally?

OliviaBenson · 26/09/2014 12:15

We found the same op- our dog was simply too overstimulated. We tried again when she was 6months old and it was better. Perhaps the trainer also isn't a good fit.

It's so hard and we felt really judged. Yes the point is to train the dog to come when there are distractions, but if you can't get them to come at all, and understand what they need to do in the first place, it's futile. Much better to build it up slowly.

haggisaggis · 26/09/2014 12:36

Can you do occasional 1-1s with another trainer? We had kind of the same thing although for various reasons our pup was quite old when we first took him. He didn't really progress with recall at the classes - although he had a great time!! - as there were so many dogs to play with. We did enjoy it but have stopped now and instead do occasional 1-1s with a trainer who works on recall first without distraction then by introducing say 1 dog etc. She seems to follow the "total recall" methods where the important thing is to make yourself totally irresistible to your dog so you have a variety of interesting tasty treats. We're already noticing a difference.

kissmyheathenass · 26/09/2014 12:38

I hated them, total waste of money. I thought I just had a charmless and crappy trainer. I have had far more success in the local park with recall training.

punter · 26/09/2014 12:51

So glad to see this post. I had good one to one at home with an experienced trainer so signed up for her classes. They were held in a church hall, up two lots of stairs fgs so with a 12 week lab puppy that was fun. Of course my trainer did not run the classes herself so we had less than ideal training with less experienced people. Gave up after 5 sessions, my dog got too excited and was given far too many kongs to shut him up! Practice in the woods worked better.

Tootyfilou · 26/09/2014 13:56

We went to our first one this week too. Its a bit rubbish to be honest.We have been before withour older dog and got him to his gold good citizen award but that was with different trainers. As another poster said all a bit charmless... And some totally bonkers participants ( people not dogsSmile )
That said we will probably give it a few weeks as it is very near our home so convenient ... Not the best reason I know but helps when life is a bit hectic!
Good luck to everyone

WeAreGroot · 26/09/2014 13:58

We've had four puppies now and haven't bothered with puppy classes with the last two as we haven't found one that's worth going to. They've either been far too harsh (shouting and yanking Sad) or complete chaos.

We now go to ringcraft classes for socialisation and they're absolutely brilliant, far more useful than any of the puppy classes we've tried.

needastrongone · 26/09/2014 14:12

I am a bit with owllady here. I do understand that puppy classes were hard and a bit mental at times but it did give the opportunity to practice stuff with high level of distraction. And some better than others Smile

I found it got better as the weeks went on and the dogs calmed down.

I just tried to practice as much as I could at home, then use the classes to our advantage, to hone our skills with a high level of stimuli.

Luxaroma · 26/09/2014 15:56

Thing is the practice for us was completely useless as the level of distraction she was teaching at was way beyond what my puppy was able to deal with, so we learnt nothing, which is pretty disappointing. Training for dogs needs to be differentiated on skills and ability, one size does not fit all.

OP posts:
BabeRuthless · 26/09/2014 16:28

I really enjoyed the puppy classes I did. The socialisation was the main thing I think our pup benefited from. They were mentally exhausting for both of us but it did give us a base to work with. It was also one of the rare things that used to tire her out!

Owllady · 26/09/2014 16:50

Well I've been going for ages! And it makes a massive difference imo if you stick at it

Carpaccio · 26/09/2014 17:40

We did the puppy training classes when our dog was a puppy and we found them really useful.

We did puppy classes once a week and trained quite a bit every day.
The puppy classes were useful because we could see where our training needed more work. It was great for socialising the dogs and it allowed us to train situations with other dogs that we wouldn't usually be able to. And there were certain things that we learned from there as well.

muttynutty · 26/09/2014 17:48

I work with dogs all day but will take my puppies or rescue dogs to classes BUT and a big but I will drive for over a hour to go to the right one. I pass many village halls along the way that are holding (dreadful) puppy classes but for me the right training/socilaising is vital.

I hate puppy classes as a whole - you are just training your dog to bundle in when they see puppies - in real life your dog will be meeting older dogs and this is who they should be socialising with. How often are you meeting dogs in a village hall situation in RL the classes should be out and about allowing the dogs to be taught appropriate behaviours in different realistic situation.

OP You are correct you dog is only learning bad behaviour in the class you go to I would not go again but look for another location

kippersmum · 26/09/2014 17:55

I go to a "puppy" class & have done for nearly a year now. It is actually a class for any age dog that needs to start training at the beginning, once you improve you get moved up to the advanced level. There are obviously a lot of puppies there but also older dogs that have been rescued etc

Find a better class, & once you have found an excellent class stick with it for the long term. That way you will get the best results.

The reason why we are still in the basics class after a year is because I have a bonkers collie who loses his hearing when he wants to :)

TheWomanTheyCallJayne · 26/09/2014 18:17

Kippersmum
I hear you on the bonkers collie pup.

I've found basic agility is the way to go with mine as it makes him use his brain and his body and though he's not as good as the other dogs as they're more placid once he gets something he's bloody brilliant

TheWomanTheyCallJayne · 26/09/2014 18:20

Sorry op that wasn't much help to you
You may have a crap trainer. You may find that her methods work.

You may have said and I've not seen it. How old is your puppy?

Luxaroma · 26/09/2014 19:35

My pup is 14weeks.

He doesn't need socialising - he loves people, he loves dogs , he's confident, happy, not afraid of noises like fire works, thunder etc....he loved the class, he ran around with other dogs outside for 90mins, and despite having a very affectionate relationship with my pup, I was not involved - I could not get into his head at all and the trainer could offer very little to change this.

I think my pup just finds playing with other dogs super rewarding and the trainer didn't know how to harness that desire and use it to train him to recall - her only thoughts were what can we find that is more rewarding and the answer is there isn't - I need to use play as the reward for recall as suggested by the Total Recall book for dogs who are highly motivated by play.

I'm just disappointed that the professional was less able to problem solve that I was and I know almost nothing! She knew what he was like last week but she hadn't made any adjustments in her approach to help him this week - by failing to take account of his needs by taking a one size fits all approach to training, she was setting him up to fail.

I wish I hadn't bought a block of training sessions because clearly group training is not benefitting my puppy at this stage of his training. I might end up using the extra classes, in a few months, to take advantage of the group distraction, when he is ready for the challenge but for now I'm certain that his training needs to be one to one.

OP posts:
NCIS · 26/09/2014 20:24

I don't think having a lot of pups running around together is a good idea. It just teaches them to gang up on the more timid ones. They really need socialising with calm adult dogs so they learn when to back off and classes in how to focus on you and ignore other dogs, you're never going to achieve that when youngsters are all off the lead together.
I have a dog who isn't food orientated at all and my trainer has worked with me to improve his recall. He is still a work in progress but much improved. The first puppy class we went to, all he wanted to do was to shag the trainers leg and they would only train using food so we gave those classes up and found a new trainer.

nooka · 27/09/2014 06:39

We didn't go to any training classes with our puppy. We meant to but moved house the week that the classes were supposed to start and never got around to it. So we did the basics at home. He's not an amazingly obedient dog now, but he is good enough for us (and out and about is stick obsessed so distracting him is super easy). My mother took her puppy training classes very seriously, but at the end of them her dogs recall is still very poor as he thinks the rest of the world is far more interesting than anything my mother can offer, especially if there is something to chase (what reward beats chasing? He's not interested in balls or food if there is another dog or indeed anything moving out there)

Owllady · 27/09/2014 09:06

I have a bonkers collie too, kippersmum :)

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Twooter · 28/09/2014 08:21

Why did the trainer have their dog there? Is that usual?

PseudoBadger · 28/09/2014 08:24

OP I would suggest that if your dog would rather be with other dogs than you then socialisation is exactly what he needs. He needs to see other dogs as boring (essentially) and you as source of all fun.

Luxaroma · 28/09/2014 09:24

Puppies are never going to be boring are they? And although I play games with my pup, I can't compete with another pup in the play stakes and saying I should be able to doesn't help. Suggesting he needs to be socialised so that he can control his play urges is completely right, but that's not what happened, the level of distraction she set up was way too much for my pup and he failed again and again and when it comes to improving recall, failing over and over again is never considered the best approach. What did he learn that was beneficial to his training - a big fat zero!

OP posts:
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