Just offloading I feel really disheartened with the Puppy class.

[Thismumrunsonhugsandtea]

I did a lot of trading before all the basics And I have also whistle trained her so she comes back when called and I let her off every morning for a little bit. I never have any problems today at Puppy class. There was a room full of puppies all standing round the edges and one person had to stand at the end of the room and then call the Puppy to them from the other end.she just ran up to another puppy straight away, and then we had to do a jump up thing where we tie them to the walls and walk towards them and if they jump up, we turn our backs to them. I’ve taught her not to jump at people by getting her to sit when anyone comes in and she was really good at it but she jumped up every time she also got frustrated when she was on the lead and there was a puppy next to her that she wanted to play with and started barking, which she’s never done before either then afterwards we took her for a walk to burn off some steam and I whistled and she came back to us, but she didn’t want to go on the lead she just circled us which she’s never done so I don’t know whether the puppy classes were a bit of a waste of time or not or whether to persevere. I’m not sure I guess I just feel really disheartened because she was doing really well and now I don’t feel confident letting her off the lead because of what happened tonight and literally every morning I go for a walk with her and she’s fine off the lead so I don’t know whether she’s going to start behaving differently now I don’t know. I guess the question I want to ask is has anyone gone through this and had a similar experience? Is it worth it?

^ This is the only reason I am going. Socialisation. 🙈12 puppies in a class sounds like chaos- but saying that I took my Lab and by the end of it some were quite obedient. (Not mine lol).

@DiamondThrone she is a Cavalier King Charles spaniel , Thanks 🙂

Ah, well, spaniel, there you go 😆

IMO keep taking her. She, and you, will learn loads, and benefit from experiencing the unfamiliar and intense environment.

@Glitchymn1🤞🏻

How many? Flipping eck! I just did puppy training with our now 5 month old English springer and the trainer has a max of 6 puppies per class. I’m not surprised they were all distracted and excited. Even with 6 at times the puppies were very distracted. By week 3 of 6 I felt the same as you tbh. It wasn’t anything I couldn’t have just googled and found out, but it did help to spot the signs from puppies that you may miss, like how many times they look to you for guidance and you may not even notice and choosing a marker word, but again, this is covered online.

I’d say with a bit more socialising and when your puppy gains confidence, they will be well on their way to learning what you want from them. Don’t be disheartened, they are just a puppy and it’s perfectly normal for them to be distracted and want to play when in a room full of pups.

Good luck!

I think it’s absolutely ridiculous they’ve asked you to do these exercises in a 2nd class, it’s too much in an over stimulating environment. I wouldn’t feel disappointment with pup the trainers set her up to fail in my opinion.
go back to what you were doing and do your normal on your morning walk your be fine! If your recall does start failing pop her on a long line and reinforce the basics

She's just a baby. Puppies are by design, hellish. Don't be too hard on yourself or on her. A lot will come with increase in age.

Thank you all for the support

It's perfectly normal for puppies to get overwhelmed by the presence of other dogs/stimuli and to 'lose' their training. At other times they will be gaining confidence and testing boundaries so may appear to regress then. You need to persevere and train her in lots if different contexts, including classes. No four month puppy has all their training complete; responsiveness will ebb and flow from early days into adulthood depending upon circumstances and developmental stage.

Please stop stressing.. you will give your poor pup anxiety. They are supposed to want to play with other dogs and have fun.. especially as a pup. Now she's got the basics, you would be better off taking her to a park and let her learn good behaviour from older dogs that you'll meet. If you're stressed , your dog will pick up on it and the results won't be good. Chill out and enjoy her.

@Thismumrunsonhugsandtea don't be disheartened. As others have said, this is one of the purposes of a puppy class, although yours does seem a bit busy.

Also, I would add that training a skill needs to be 'proofed' in a range of differing environments. Reading your posts, I would suggest that you haven't 'proofed' recall in enough locations. Five or six different places, in a range of weather conditions would be a good thing to do. Add in distractions gradually and you'll be amazed at the difference.

Dogs don't assume that because you've trained something in place A that they should also do it in place B. They need to learn this, hence the proofing.

12 in a class seems a lot, ours was always 6, maximum. Maybe find a class with less dogs.
I do agree with others though that the whole point of these classes is to teach your dog to be able to do these commands and with distraction. A lot of dogs will have fairly good recall in a field with one or two distractions, very different to it having 12 puppies who all want to play surrounding it.

@MTPFthanks you yes I agree,She’s so much better in the mornings as well she’s in so much of a better maid. I think the classes in the evenings are a bit much for her as well because she’s tired. It’s a really noisy environment so I can’t really hear the trainer very well either it feels like everyone’s stressed there so you’re probably right better off going for our chilled walks really and just meet another dogs.X

@Bumble6thanks yes I feel part of the problem is the group is a bit too big to be honest,I might see if there’s a smaller ones, I also find it hard to hear what the trainer is saying sometimes.

I went to one puppy class and decided it was a total waste of time for me and my hyper excitable Dalmatian. It was crowded, loud and not a good training environment. You’ve got the basics and it sounds as though you’re doing a great job. In the end I signed up for 1:1 training. It was money well spent. Good luck and enjoy your pup!

@Shit4brainsthank you,yes agreed 🙂

She was probably overstimulated by all the other puppies being there. It’s a big thing fir them.,

@Steelworks yes definitely was

Thanks all ❤️