residential dog training

[annuska]

Hi, has anyone sent their dog to a company called adolescent dog training, if so did it work?

Can you provide a link?

In general, I wouldn't touch residential dog training with a bargepole on the grounds that
a) if you don't learn alongside the dog, you will be unable to reinforce it effectively, and so the dog will forget everything it has learned very, very rapidly
b) you don't know what the trainer is actually doing when you're not there - they could be using electric shock collars, for instance, which can have permanent damaging effects.

What's made you consider residential dog training over traditional classes?

No I haven't but whilst it is tempting to send a dog to be trained I really think you need to be the one to train it in person.

I know that my dog reacts differently to DH and I so I wouldn't expect to be able to send a dog away and it comes back beautifully trained to my commands. Dogs react to your commands, voice etc and whilst someone can teach them certain things they will behave differently to you unless you also train them.

I googled them and quite frankly could not imagine sending my dog away for several weeks at a time. Remember training is ongoing and the 'adolescent period' lasts many months.

I would save your money and pay for frequent 1-1 training to help you bond and train your dog yourself.

What's the point in sending your dog away to be trained? Don't you need to be there and train along side them?

Aside from that, there's no way I'd send my dog away to some kind of boot camp - you have no idea how they're being treated!

Not the same but I sent my horse to boot camp and she was foot perfect while there.

Came back and reverted back to the same behaviour as before as it was me and the environment causing it.

Far better to invest money in one to one training I think.

Oh I should also have said there were many times I thought about sending my pain in the arse teenage dog away to learn some manners light hearted but really the only way they become the dog you want as an adult is to suck it up and train them yourself (even if it means paying a 1-1 trainer to tell you how to do it).

I did this with my pup. What was I thinking?! Nearly £400. She was perfect with the trainer (because trainer was very good at what she did) but it was me! As pp said.

What has worked for me and my lovely dog is being together on our walks. It took a while though.

I’ve been so temped by this after seeing their vids on Facebook. But yeah, £2k plus...you could have A LOT of one to one training for that

It depends on what training you require. Some behavioural work can be worked on 24/7 with the correct trainer. Some owners are not skilled enough or do not have enough time for this.

If you want general training eg loose lead, stay, sit etc then it is not worth residential training as the owner needs to be involved in the day to day aspect of owning a dog.

I do know Lila from Adolescent Dogs and she is a skilled, experience dog handler, however some are just trainers so again if you do use them interrogate them as to who is the actual trainer.

Another MN sent her dog to them a while back - but I can not remember her name and do not know if she felt it was worth it.

Can't imagine why anyone who wants a dog just as a pet would consider sending their dog away to be trained.

Training your dog is all part of the bonding process and you learn how to train your dog at the same time as you train the dog.

It's a wonderful feeling to know that you've trained your dog to be a team with you. Every improvement and bit of progress feels great. Why would you want to miss out on that?

The idea of sending a dog away and having it come back, well behaved, well practiced in all aspect of training, in short, the perfect dog is unrealistic. Training is ongoing, dogs will forget things, new issues can crop up, with no experience of training your dog how are you going to cope with things like that? Do you then send the dog away to be 'fixed' somehow?

Perhaps it would work for some people. As is probably obvious it wouldn't be something I'd consider.

PigsDoFly you are lucky never to have felt overwhelmed or out of your depth with a difficult dog - for some owners residential training is the difference between a dog being sent to rescue and being kept as a loved family pet.

There is a place for it for some issues.

But wouldn't it be cheaper and better to pay for lots of 1-1 training to teach you how to handle the dog?

How many studies have been done on residential training afterwards to show the percentage of issues that are resolved versus those that return because the environment/dynamic of dog and owner doesn't change?

Residential training can be invaluable for some major "issues". Human on human aggression, dog reactivity, dog destruction, OCD, behaviours, serious resource guarding etc.

The dog can be helped by professionals to be given coping skills which can then be transferred back to their home environment.

I have a shadow chaser with me at the moment. He is a very disturbed dog that is needing some intensive work. When he is able he will go back home and his training will continue from there. He is with me 24/7 and getting intensive, for want of a better word therapy to enable him to cope with real life.

His owners have 2 children, and can not spend 24/7 with their dog and do not have the knowledge to deal with this. By the way he is very obedient, has excellent heel work and recall. He has been trained well by them but he needs specialised help to deal with his OCD behaviour.

But that isn't what they are advertising is it. It looks like it is targeted at 'normal training'.

Don't get me wrong I can see how tempting it is and have thought about it myself when things were shit but having come out the other side of training a pain in the arse teenager I wonder how 'successful' it really is for most people long term and until there is a non biased study then people might be throwing a lot of money down the drain.

Oh and you are obviously a bit biased as that is the work you obviously do

Not biased as I do very little residential training 99.9% of my training work is with the client. Some extreme cases need more intensive help. Maybe I have had more experience of very difficult dogs than the average pet owner so can see the need for it from an unbiased way

I am glad you have not been in a position to need it - some of the best owners I have meet have needed more help and this was the solution for them. They were not giving up they were finding a solution that was best for the dog. I do feel protective of these owners as they have been through a lot and this is usually the last resort.

If an "arse teenage" made you think about it then some owners have to put up with much more than that before they succumb to it

But as PPs have said that the dog and horse reverted back in the home environment you have to question how effective it is long term even for the most desperate of owners.

I don't actually judge any owner doing that but I still have doubts as to how effective it is.

A couple of anecdotal reports on MNs must be 100% correct then

No different to the 'reviews' on the websites.

Honestly if there was independent studies showing the percentage of short or long term success then it would be easy to decide if it was worth the money or not to us as the consumers.

And the OP actually asked if anyone has used them so she was clearly after anecdotal reports.

Sorry OP for the derail of your thread.

I can see that in some very rare behavioural cases, the 0.01% of dogs, residential training could be useful. That said, I would have thought that such cases would have been through 121 behaviourist help first.

However, it's not what this adolescent dogs company is offering. Most of what they say they can help with should be teachable in a basic obedience class, and almost all with some 121 training from a trainer (aggression excepted, which is more of a behaviourist thing).

It strikes me as a company looking for custom from those who are cash rich time poor and don't want to put the effort into basic training.

Thank you for your views, my dogs have returned today after a few weeks training whilst we were away. I chose residential training as I wasn’t able to help one of my dogs as she is suffering from bad anxiety and ocd. We have tried one to one training and some regular classes too and they did help a bit but it came to a point when I couldn’t progress any further. It was a huge investment and perhaps its early days but it is not what I was expecting. My younger dog came back sick and the older one who has the issues seems to be just the same. We were given techniques on how to cope when she goes through her barking frenzy or what to do when she wants to bite us, but most of those things we knew already! The trouble is that they only work for a short period of time. I guess I was expecting for the trainer to do these excersises several times a day, every day for 5 weeks. We had a few pictures sent to us during the training and weekly updates too but the progress was minimal. If anything, they have forgotten certain things I’ve trained them previously like doorway manners and the basic sit command for my younger dog! Very disappointed

Sorry to hear that OP. Could you try a different 1-1 trainer/behaviourist instead for more intensive training at home. Not all trainers are equal so maybe it really is just about getting the right support for you and your dogs.

Vallahalagonebutnotforgotten Yes I have been lucky to have not felt overwhelmed by a difficult dog, but as far as I can see from the OP that's not what's being referred to here.

And as far as I can see there is nothing on the Adolescent Dog training website that indicates that they specialise in dogs that have massive issues or have failed to have issues dealt with by other 1-1 trainers.

All they talk about on their website is general training or issues that most dog's have such as jumping up, barking at other dogs etc - they don't mention dog on dog aggression.

They claim their training works better than regular classes. If they're comparing it with regular classes for effectiveness they're not talking about dogs with complex issues, because clearly those kind of dogs don't tend to go to regular dog classes.

If they do deal with dogs with complex issues they need to make that clear on their website.

Just seen OP's update - didn't read it before I posted I'm afraid.

Her experience would seem to indicate that dogs with complex problems might be better dealt with at home with an experienced 1-1 trainer.

Meant to say that of course, if someone with the relevant experience can take a very troubled dog into residential training and ensure it can, after training, remain in its home then that's a whole different ball game.

Of course that would be worth trying before rehoming a dog.

But I really don't get the impression this particular residential training company works to that level.