Puppy bootcamp

[Daftaboutthecat]

I have came across a website called adolescent dog.com.
Basically they are residential trainers and will take pup for 3 weeks and teach him a whole host of very useful commands. They have loads of you tube videos and dogs all look very happy. I would love my puppy to be trained to this standard but not sure if I could actually send him off.
we are at puppy classes and doing training each day but nowhere near the amount pup would get with this company. Would really appreciate your thoughts pup would live with their trainer wouldn't be in kennels.

[SloppyDailyMailJournalism]

A waste of time imo. The dog needs to respond to your commands and body language, not someone else's. It would be fine if you were going too, maybe.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

The problem with this type of training is that the puppy returns to an untrained owner. Puppy classes are about training pup and owner.
A dog is the sum of what effort you personally invest.

[Daftaboutthecat]

I would have to say after researching this a bit more I agree with you both. Have found a wonderful positive reinforcement trainer who is going to come to those house and help us shape the behaviours that are important to us. Thank you

[Girolle]

We used them when our pup was around 5 months and they were fab. I filled out a detailed questionnaire and we went on a long walk with the trainer he was going to be staying with to discuss issues we wanted to focus on.

He stayed in the trainer's home as part of the family and I received regular updates. She brought him back to our house and then did a 2 hour handover session with all the commands. It was phenomenal what he had learnt.

We had put a lot of effort training him from a small pup and they do emphasise that, when they come back, you have to be consistent with the training every day to reinforce the work done otherwise commands won't be proofed sufficiently. Our dog responded to us without any problems. Some things have slipped back a little, but that is me letting things slide a little. Overall, communication is vastly improved. I now just pause at the door and wait silently when he is excited to rush through and he will then sit and wait as he knows what is expected.

The trainer he had was lovely and clearly passionate about dogs and completely had the measure of him. They are available for continuing support/advice for 12 months. I knew that he was in a family home and getting tons of stimulation and training and, above all, fun.

Now he has hit adolescence he is going for a top up stay whilst we go on holiday. It is expensive, but we were really pleased.

Hope this helps.

[Daftaboutthecat]

Girolle thank you so much for your reply. We have decided to train with the help of a trainer who will come to the house but did say we would try and coincide out next holiday with a slot at adolescent. We are based in Scotland so travelling to the trainers unfortunately makes it even more expensive but if we struggle as pup hits adolescence I feel will be worth it.

[SilverBat]

Picking up our pup today from them, so will report back!
We live quite near, so had already used them for the evening training that they do.
When we went on holiday seemed like the obvious choice, and a much better idea than putting him in kennels, or using a dog sitter, as we knew the training would be kept up whilst we were away.
We received a video of him while we were away, which was really nice, as we could see he was quite happy. I've lost count of the amount of times it's been viewed by us!
I can't wait to go and get him, can't concentrate on anything so killing time on here

[Daftaboutthecat]

Hi silver will be great to hear how your pup got on. 😀

[WeAllHaveWings]

£600 a week for a senior trainer and £500 for a junior trainer with a recommended 2-4 weeks stay.

If money is no object your dog will probably love their stay as it will be mentally stimulating and more fun for them than kennels.

I have to agree with the first couple of posters, we had our black lab trained to perfection with recall, he would recall from anything, dogs/running sheep the lot! But it slipped away because we got slack with keeping up the training.

Dog training is not something you can fling over a grand and 2 weeks at while you are on holiday and it will be fixed, you still need to put in the ongoing hard work yourself so you might as well save your money and do training classes so you and your dog learn together and then follow through with what they teach you.

[Daftaboutthecat]

Wings money isn't no object but we can afford for pup to go while we on hol as I agree it would be much more beneficial than kennels or with a dog sitter. We do realise training will still need to be done at home.
Do you mind me asking how you got to that level of recall we are doing great in house and in garden but when there is distractions it goes out the window same with loose lead walking too

[SilverBat]

So he's back, we had a nice long training session on the common.
Positives - he is calmer, and I think the break has done him good, as he is definitely not as velcroed to me. His lead walking has improved, I was trying too much to have him heel all the time, and that was too boring for him. Loose lead is much improved, although he never really strained at the leash. door manners, wait etc were really good anyway.
His recall was good before he went anyway. BUT only if there were no dogs around, anything else didn't distract. The trainer did say that she thought oh yes, I'll be able to sort that, but he did prove tricky . We have been advised to keep him on the training leash, and do it in very small steps from a distance when he spots a dog (only wants to play but just gets overexcited and ties us in knots). That was our main reason for sending him as knew he would be trained in a structured environment.
HOWEVER this morning I happily trotted off to the park, and out of 5 people 4 let their dogs run over, and even though they could see what was happening didn't call them back, just carried on walking. 1 nice lady put hers straight on the lead and said sorry, she could see I was trying to train. I think I'm going to have to be more vocal with the owners.
Re support, we have another session we can book in the next 2 weeks to see how we are getting on (I know that would be tricky for you daftabouthecat, but you can send a video showing your problems (if indeed you get any)! And anything that you need help'with they are just an email away. Support for a year.
Yes I know it's a lot of money, but just a dog sitter round here would be £300 a week, and I can't guarantee they would be training. It's worth it for the peace of mind.

[SilverBat]

We also managed to go and have lunch at a pub on the way back, lots of dogs sitting around, and he sat there calmly under the table the whole time.
Although that could have been the fact he was really hot and tired after his training

[WeAllHaveWings]

Daft I followed the advice in the Total Recall book, and had him recalling to a whistle.

Regular training and working up slowly from indoors to proofing in different situations and locations ended with the response to the whistle being instant. Also if you recall when he's being naughty never ever chastise, it's always got to be a good thing coming back.

I did regularly wander around places with amazing high value treats in my pockets, including tubs of raw meat which I think was key.

The training lapsed and I mostly blame an untrained dh who over used the whistle, did not treat regularly/effectively enough and felt the need to chastise (give dog a telling off rather than good boy for returning) on return especially if there were other owners about.

[Daftaboutthecat]

Silver that all sounds really positive and it's such a shame some dog owners are so thoughtless. I get that a lot when at the park with pup and toddler people let dog run over jump all over pup and shout from a distance it's ok he is really friendly it's very frustrating as pup really doesn't like large dogs over the top of him understandably.
Wings I'm going to order this book as I'm really looking forward to being able to let him have a good run off lead confident that he will come back.