I have a nearly 5 month old black lab. Got him when he was 12 weeks and not vaccinated so we only had 2 puppy socialisation classes before he was too old.
Booked into training classes (£40 for block of 4); the trainer was recommended by family friend and also breeder. She does agility training/competitions too. I have been to 3 classes so far and I'm not impressed.
There are 8 dogs in the class. It is held in a large unit which is well fitted out for training.
The classes consist of 4 of the dogs walking up and down and us saying heel, heel and treating. We are all too close to each other and the dogs basically cant concentrate on the training as they are too interested in each other, so lots of pulling (dogs and us). We go up and down the room about 4 times and then the next 4 have a go while we try to keep the other dogs apart while we are waiting for 10 mins for our next turn.
Trainer has not given us any advice to distract/train the dogs to ignore each other.
We then each have a go at a bit of sit/wait, but it is disastrous. As soon as the lead is let go they run to sniff/play with each other. The only advice the trainer gives is to not treat when they do this. There is a 2 year old collie there that constantly barks and lunges at other dogs through the whole hour (I am a little scared of it).
She says pup is doing really well, but I don't see it.
Is this the norm? I am working with pup myself and he is getting better and can ignore dogs at other side of road and is getting better at doing a quick sniff and moving on when passing, seeing much more progress out on walks than through the classes. He is getting better at walking on a loose lead. I can let him of the lead in a quiet field and he follows closely and I'm working on recall. In the class he just pulls about like all the other dogs there.
I am trying a different class next week; this one sounds better to me as the first session is without dogs so they can talk through their methods. Its a 6 weeks course.
What should I expect from a good class? Or am I better reading books and practicing myself? (any good books recommended?)
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What should I expect from training classes
4 replies
WeAllHaveWings · 26/08/2013 20:46
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