Should I take my dog to obedience classes or should I train it myself?

You should NEVER take a totally untrained dog to obedience classes. You will never find an effective professional trainer taking his totally untrained dog into a room full of other dogs to start his training. I have written a complete detailed training article on this subject and placed it in the description portion of my video Basic Dog Obedience. If you are serious about doing a good job training your dog you need to read this information.