Bad puppy class - puppy was fearful aggressive to the other puppies

[puppyscared]

I have a 5 month old puppy who has been enrolled in puppy classes for the last few weeks. The puppies have not interacted up until this past lesson. My puppy has been doing well in the classes, they're able to settle and watch the other puppies. They will occasionally bark but more out of frustration/boredom towards the end of the class and not more then any other puppies have done.

This last lesson was a bit of a disaster. It was the first lesson where they were allowed 5 minutes of off-lead time paired up with one other puppy. For some reason in this lesson my puppy kept barking at the other puppies during the normal part of the lesson, so going into the off-lead exercise they were already not in their usual mood. My puppy kept backing away from the other puppy, barking, growling, jumping back. I found it surprisingly upsetting. I've had a reactive dog in the past and I think I'm worried this is the start of that happening again and that I must be an awful dog owner to have two dogs end up like this.

The leader then told me to put my puppy back on their lead which I did, and they then told me I was holding the lead too tightly (my puppy was lunging forwards so I was holding her back) and I was stressing my puppy out. I didn't know what else to do in that situation, as she was on a short lead that she was pulling away from me on.

Puppy has been socialised since I got her, she's only been allowed up to a few dogs (older, calmer dogs) as our the puppy class leader has advised. I don't have any friends or family with suitable dogs to introduce her to off-lead. On walks when we see other dogs I give treats for her when she calmly watches them walk past.

I'm really nervous this is going to be the start of reactivity or I'm doing something really wrong.

It may have just been an off day OP but some dogs are just not dogs that like interacting with other dogs like this, not all puppies are suited to puppy classes, off lead time with a random dog 121 in a room and being essentially forced to interact with no way of escape isn’t a natural situation for a dog to be put in and when dogs are uncomfortable with something they can’t tell us so they show us, and your dog is showing you they don’t like this.

Please try not to worry! I cried after several puppy classes, and left a couple of times as mine just completely lost concentration by the end and turned into a demon. However, every week was different. They are growing so fast, changing all the time, and puppy classes can be a very overwhelming environment. It might just not be the right class for you, it could be fine next week, who knows.

What breed is puppy?

Have they had any negative experiences with other dogs in the past?

Do they currently ignore dogs when on lead, walking by?

Don't worry! Puppies are like all living beings, they have up and down days, take a while to learn new things, etc. Dog training is about consistency over time. Take a deep breath and keep on at it. You will get there.

Puppies also get overtired and overstimulated quite easily. The puppy class might have just been a bit too much on that day. But she is growing all the time and it may go very differently next week.

Dont worry. I found puppy classes awful. Carry on doing what youre doing - calm watching dogs on walks. He isnt reactive

A miniature poodle, no bad experiences with other dogs before today. They've only interacted with a small number of dogs on walks and they have gone positively - each time an older dog that has had a quick sniff and then quickly trotted off.

When walking past dogs they will look at them quietly from a distance, but the last few walks if we are nearby they will cry/whine and try and pull to go and say hello.

Thank you everyone. It really knocked my confidence today and made me worry that history was repeating itself

Look up Frustrated Greeter OP.
My well socialised and very sweet pup started to lunge and bark at other dogs at this age when on lead- she just really wanted to say hi!

We preferred 1 on 1 sessions with a trainer to give us the knowledge and skills to train.

I have 2 super friendly spaniels and mostly they love other dogs but occasionally they come across a dog and they’re like “nope, not you”. I guess it’s like humans, you are happy around some people and uncomfortable around others. She didn’t feel safe, and that’s okay.

@puppyscared - I know a lot of people will come at me for saying this...but I don't think puppy training classes are necessarily the best thing for every owner or every dog.

Several reasons for this:

(a) very often the dogs are overstimulated and overexcited and it's not conducive to learning new command. To some extent, if your dog is not paying attention, or unable/unwilling to listen and learn as a result of the overexcitement or stimulation, it can actually make teaching them those commands harder in the long term
(b) socialisation should be done on your dogs terms. A 'free for all' or even what your trainer did, is a terrible idea (particularly in an environment, as I say above, where they are overstimulated or overexcited already).
(c) some dogs just don't do well learning in environments with other dogs. My boy is one of them - I know full well if I had ever taken him to puppy classes he's have been a bolshy bastard trying to harass every dog in sight. He'd have gained nothing from the experience except managing to piss me off tbh.

Your trainer sounds supremely stupid (being blunt - forgive me, I've only had three coffees so far today). Putting a dog on a lead that's scared and/or aggressive (including fear-based reactivity or barking) or even over-excited and thereby restraining them and 'locking them in place' is a bloody stupid idea. It just makes everything worse. She should have suggested you leave the room, walk your puppy around for a few minutes to calm it down and then bringing it back. A good trainer would know that. What she suggested just stressed the puppy out more and that is 100% on her, not you.

Honestly, OP, if you've had a dog before then you know how to train one. I wouldn't take your pup back if I were you. I'd invest in a 1-2-1 trainer if you are worried about training them yourself (but please do have confidence in your ability) and carry on socialising as you have been - on your puppies terms.

Group puppy classes aren't suitable for all dogs, they can be very chaotic and over stimulating. We did them but failed every part and I think contributed to ddogs bad behaviour.
We did more individual training and he turned out to be as good as gold

Op like others here in the early puppy classes I was so upset- I seemed too ok be the absolute outlier, and everything went wrong. I will say weirdly the way the trainer talked to you- just make sure you’re a match- we had a different trainer with the next set of classes and got on better- while yes he (our dog) had more experience, I think I understood her better than the first trainer. I promise you it gets easier xxxxxxx

I took my puppy to puppy classes. They were a complete waste of time and money.
Puppies learn appropriate behaviours from older dogs, not from other puppies, so it's more important to meet older dogs when out and about than having a rough and tumble play in a puppy group setting.
I took one of my dogs to a social class when she was younger. We had done 1 to 1 training with the trainer and all the dogs in the group were carefully selected by him as being appropriate for the group. My dog has excellent dog communication skills - she displays appeasing behaviours and reads other dogs well. She has never had any issues with any dog we have met in public places. In this social group, she was duffed up twice by adolescent young males. The trainer said it was her fault for being too submissive. I told him he could fuck off with his victim blaming. But it did really knock my confidence for a while when walking her, as I was worried other dogs would have a go at her. Pleased to say it hasn't happened.
And just because someone is a good trainer, it doesn't mean they know anything about dog communication and reading their body language. There are several trainers near me who I wouldn't touch with a bargain pole.
Please don't let a bad experience in a group setting put you off getting out there and socialising your dog. My current puppy has met loads of dogs (I do ask first) and she's learning to be calmer in her approach. You soon get to know which dogs are good to meet and which to avoid if you walk in the same places regularly.

I'm not sure what the benefit is of allowing two puppies off lead together when the fact they're all together in one class is in itself socialisation. Also, you're going to get a huge variance in play behaviour from one breed to another. Some will be full on, some will be withdrawn. It sounds as though your puppy was feeling overwhelmed and was basically telling the other puppy to back off. I do agree that putting tension in the lead was exacerbating things so you need to be mindful of that. However, walking away and allowing your dog to calm down would have been my advice. I feel this class may not be for you or your puppy and a change of trainer might be a good idea. Also, socialisation with calmer, more mature dogs will build your pup's confidence so if you see any when you're out and about with your pup, I'd stop and engage the owners in conversation for a few minutes. It's just been one bad class, don't let it get you down.

It's a very well-rated class, the trainers have decades of experience and are well regarded in our area.

I was seated when my puppy started barking, so I held her lead. I'm not sure what I should do if that happens in the next class - should I stand up and walk away or distract with treats? I know it was a learning point for everyone in the class but the way the trainer was speaking to me in front of everyone made me feel like I was back in school being told off.

I took her out earlier in the car and she saw a dog when we were in the car and she really barked at it, despite it being at a distance. She's never barked at dogs before yesterday, and I'm worried the negative experience in the puppy class has had a negative impact.

Also thank you everyone. I'm going to go back next week and give it one more go. The lessons up until now have been useful - having the puppies in the same room but not interacting. There is more off-lead play next week, but I will say that my puppy is just going to sit and observe from a distance

I've taken numerous dogs to puppy classes and ran them, do not panic! When dogs have done this (my own or a student's) I'd go home and dream up an all-singing, all-dancing plan then turn up and the pup is sort of "what? I'm fine with other dogs. What on earth are you fussing about?"

You can reach out to the trainers and ask what you should do if it happens again and I'd hate to think that anyone I taught felt like they were being told off. I'm sure it wasn't deliberate

I can totally empathise with feeling like you’re being told off - I think often dog trainers with decades of experience seem to be more animal people than people people if that makes sense! But try to be as confident as you can, as dogs do pick up when we worry and it can make things worse (I realise this is easier said than done). I don’t know specifically about the barking as mines never done that (has plenty of other bad habits!) but my go to has always been ask them for something else (look, sit etc) then reward quickly, and keep them distracted. Good luck!