Residential School for Dogs

[BrownSuga]

Has anyone tried one of these, where your dog goes off for 3 weeks and comes back miraculously trained?

We're at wits end with our Mini Schnauzer, not that she's bad, just that we're too slack to train her. We've managed to train her to use a dog door and sit for food and housetrained (except if it's really cold or raining in the middle of the night! little git ), but that's about it.

She is overexcited, barks at doors opening, rips up the post, barks at people going by, over the top when getting ready for a walk, pulls on the lead, barks at dogs going past, can't sit and stay, or recall when she's off the lead, hence she's never off the lead. Runs over the road to the neighbours if they're outside. She absolutely hates being groomed, even normal combing (have just been to vets to get tranq's for her next groom)

Apart from the above she is a lovely wee dog and has a great personality, but with a 5mo DS now, we need to sort her out or offer her free to a good home where someone has time for her, and more enthusiasm to train/groom her (this option is for us).

Any advice, suggestions, recommendations of residential school or experiences would be very much appreciated. (We're in north-east but could drive a few hrs to drop her at a school no problem)

TIA

My friends did it with their Alsatian guard dogs and I couldn't believe how well trained they were when they came back, makes me wonder how they do it though .

Can I just ask how far she gets walked? It sounds to me as though she isn't getting enough stimulation (unless she's under 1).

We road trained our dog by making her sit at every kerb and giving her rewards when she did. She can now be walked off the lead (although we don't)and still sits at the kerb to wait.

she's 2. the short walk is about 20mins long walk about 40mins. (i'm useless with distances so hard to say.) we try to take her every day, but previously a trainer came to the house, said it should be 5 times a day!

5 is ridiculous - unless you have no life, no job and no kids!!

Our lab/ collie gets 1hour in the morning and between half an hour and an hour at night, depending on the weather plus a kick about in the garden with a ball mid way through the day.

I think when they're young they need this kind of intensity (like small children!!)

Mary I totally agree with what you are saying about the training, it does have to be continual - for their whole lives sometimes; but I feel the latter end of that post is overly harsh - the OP is trying to get some advice!

I think the biggest thing to remember is that they need a routine and consistency, so the walks are non-negotiable - you have to go every day regardless of weather or your time.

Sometimes that means getting up at 5.30 if I am working as well as dp......

Thought it didn't sound like you , it's hard when you don't know how to train a dog at first.

I was lucky as my Dad trained them so I grew up knowing what to do! Only wish someone had taught me how to housetrain teenagers

had written a wordy post when it all went to crap..... so in summary

lola is well cared for. i'm now on mat leave so see more of her issues (mary, she wasn't a home alone dog, inlaws picked her up EVERY day and dog sat).

we try the sit at kerb thing, but she gets very distracted. (and would never eat on a walk, so refused treats, weird dog!) she'd see a man washing his car and want to be off across the road, or a bag blowing in the wind, and try to be after that.

Also the pulling on lead we try stop and stand still, wait for dog to circle back around you, she does it half heartedly.

The length of time her walk is, is sufficient for her size, she comes back knackered. But agree I must get out every day with her, have been slack past 2 weeks in this, but normally very good.

If she's extra boistorous (sp?) barking out the window, I put her out of the room (and she runs around to the other door quicker than me and races back in!). Have installed post box, so mail doesn't come through door anymore, but that doesn't stop her barking and thinking everyone carrying a bag round the neighbourhood is the postie and rushes to the door jumping up expecting letters to come through for her to rip to bits.

Can't remember what else I wanted to say, so hope this just bumps it up for more suggestions.

She sounds very spirited BS and probably gorgeous! I love the breed. Some dogs do take a couple of years to settle down and she may get a lot better with you there all the time instead of the shared care arrangement - that may have been confusing for her if they changed her routine.

We all have off days - my back was really bad this morning so she only got half an hour, and I was going slowly, but as long as they get out at regular times it's ok. I don't feed my dog until she is back from her walk (it's a good tip for keeping them interested in you as they're hungry). I don't use conventional treats, just a handful of her normal dry dog food. Sacha pulled on the lead at first but the harness round her body stopped that as they can't pull.

Does she like toys? You could try squeaky toys on a walk instead of treats? I'll carry on wracking my brains for you this evening

I have just been horrified to meet an elderly man with the most over excited labrador who is a disaster to control. He sent the dog away for a few weeks and spent over £700 for the pleasure of having it "trained" According to the trainers the dog would do anything when they had finished with him
Not only was the dog not well trained (given it didn't understand any commands given by me who has worked with and trained dogs so have the "voice" they need with it too) but they had given the man absolutely no guidance at home as to what to do to help him and the dog in the future.

Perhaps this is just a very bad example of a residential training school, but personally I am pretty disgusted by this. Dog training is about more than just sit and stay for the dog. It is about educating owners too where necessary and building up a relationship between dog and owner too. Personally I think you need a local training class and some decent behavioural advice too - maybe contact your vet for some help here.

mmm that sounds bad BG. the ones of read, talk about the owner being trained on pickup day. t he lady that came to do some sessions here used her finger a lot, and lola responded immediately, didn't even need to speak to her! lola must recognise someone that knows what they're doing

why not just join a dog school for obedience training ? it is SO much more worth it as they train YOU to train the dog - YOU are the alpha. The dog needs to know where it comes in YOUR pack (ie the bottom) and sending it away to a different pack is pointless

A good dog school should get your issues well on the way to being sorted within a 4 week period if you put the work in too - the dog school my mum trains for would manage that, with your co-operation and it would cost £120 - plus another £20 or so for correct equipment (lead and collar)

A friend of ours just got their 8mth old retriever back from one of these centres, he'd been there for 3 weeks and they had training on how to work him on collection day, he's a bit better, slightly better recall and pulls less on the lead, but still pretty naughty and not worth the money in my opinion, they're now having 1:1 training in their house with a trainer and them and the dog which seems to be a bit better, to be honest they just don't seem inclined to put in the work themselves to train him. we've got an 8mth old toller, the pups meet up to play alot, and he's much better behaved (although still naughty sometimes!) and all he had was an 8 week puppy training course, but with me doing the training and practising alot at home, and we do some traing with tit bits on most walks. It is hard if your dog isn't interested in food though. You could try clicker training, it works really well with some dogs and is a good alternative to titbits, or have you tried different titbits, liver or cheese can work well.