Can you train your dog yourself?

[Riversidegirl]

I'm a great believer in training dogs as a pack and with a professional, preferably outside rather than in a village hall. Others think it's a waste of money to pay to be helped to do it.

I have great fun with my dog who is now good enough to do agility.

I found this hilarious cartoon

(some bad language)

What are your thoughts on training?

I trained my dog myself. It's no harder than training kids or horses. You just need firmness, consistency, patience and the right incentive. Oh, and to understand what makes them tick.
I did briefly go to a training class but realised after a couple of weeks that there was nothing they were telling me that wasn't common sense and blindingly obvious so I stopped going.
Only problem I have with mine is chewing, but thats not really a training issue it's just what teenage dogs do.

I train my dog also for agility I also go to a group class, but for me it's in a riding school. I enjoy training with other like minded people also with agility having others watching also helps as they can spot where you went wrong. I am really lucky to train with some really experienced people who are helping the handler catch up with the dog.

Sorry I was thinking the basic social training like sit stay down recall, leave it no don't eat the bloody chihuahua type training, not more advanced stuff. I would have no idea where to start with that as I don't do agility so no idea what's required!

I think the utube vid says it all though; some people think their dogs OK but put them with a few others or a lot of other people and SOMETIMES the training gets forgotten.

Also it's important as Lizcat says to watch others OMHO.

Pack walks with about 30 different dogs of all sizes and ages are very telling.

I go to a training class with one of my dogs, she will also start Agility soon. I also walk with lots of different dogs and friends as I think socialising with different breeds is important, especially for my 2.

DH, DC and I do bog standard training ourselves but in a group it is telling which handler is 'on the ball' and knows their dog and who doesnt.

Both my dogs have been brought up, socialised and trained in the same way, but they are so different in attitude, personality and general dog stuff. My boy is laid back and relaxed - but bit neurotic since his illness; my girl is a nutter youngster and quite dominant towards some other dogs, I keep a closer eye on her and correct any naughtiness straight away, but she can tell by my 'tone' whether I am distracted or not.

In training class we are outside and inside, depending on weather, and the dogs react/dont react to other dogs behaviour and when outside there are so many more distractions than in a hall. It is important to be able to control your dog no matter what the situation. This is what I and pupstar are learning at the moment.
Group work in a very distracting situation is hard with a young dog but we will get there in the end.

oh, I tell my dog to stay in class and she thinks its a release command! Its driving me crazy, I am sure she does it to stress me out. I can have her in a down in the middle of a field, tell her to stay and walk away and she is fine, put her in class and she wont do it. So, back to basics and baby steps.

I trained mine myself. When we got the first dog, I couldn't find a training class near me for adult dogs that used positive reinforcement, and I wasn't going to take him to a class where I wasn't happy with the trainer's approach. So I trained the second dog myself too. However, these were adult dogs when we got them and I think I would definitely take a puppy to a puppy class, just for the socialization with other puppies if nothing else. Also, I regularly walk my dogs with other dogs, like Jax does, so they get lots of socialization and also have to learn to behave in very distracting situations.

My dogs would have learnt some things much more quickly if I had taken them to classes, because it was a bit of trial and error for me sometimes. Also, classes would have been embarrassing with the husky x because he is so stubborn; to begin with it would take him ten minutes of thinking to decide if he would sit or not.

I think the most important thing is that they are trained, though. Dogs not being trained is a risk factor for them being handed in to rescue, because what was cute in a puppy can be a real problem in an adult dog.