Wanted to get some opinions on taking my puppy (8 month old male german shepherd) to obedience class. I want to take him more for the socialization of being around other dogs and behaving. I think it would be good for him. The trainer knows I have done training with my other dogs so he kinda lets me do what I want. I dont really agree with negative correction until a dog knows the command, so I plan on bringing some treats and trying to keep it fun. So is it just a bad idea??? or maybe ok???
I live in a small town and havent had much opportunity for lots of socialization with my pup.

Kathy

I'm sure there is something about this in the articles, I don't remember where though. If your goal is socialization the class would be fine, probably. It depends how it is ran. In general my opinion is ob training group classes are next to worthless for teaching a dog obedience. We run one where I work and there was a lot of pressure for me to take it over, but I said no just because I think there are better ways to do it. Maybe it will be an okay class to teach the owner how to train their dog (that depends on the instructor). A dog will not want to do sit and down over and over again for an hour. Also keep in mind your dogs personality. Is it a very high energy dog? Alpha dog? Animal agressive? Easily distracted? So in my opinion, for socialization it's fine. For actually training purposes I would prefer private instruction or even some of Ed's DVDs.

Some people might say that your pup has no need to "socialize" with other dogs and the potential risks of a group situation might outweigh any advantage. While you may have excellent control of your pup other people may not with their dogs...so there is a risk of a negative encounter that could do a lot more harm than good.

If you haven't already done so, sit in on the class you want to join and take a close look at how it's run. If it's a chaotic free-for-all then you might want to avoid it.

Personally, I like the idea of socializing a dog to be neutral towards other dogs. Not over-the-top friendly but not Cujo, either. The nice thing about this is you don't really need to join a class to train it. On-leash neighborhood dogs on their daily walks provide all that you need and it's far less chaotic than a bunch of strange dogs and strange people thrown together in a small area.

I don't know if that's correct but it's JMO

Yeah, I really don't want to take him for the obedience (even though it is an obedience class-sounds funny) I have been training him motivatonally at home and want to compete in obedience down the road. He has a somewhat dominant personality and lots of crazy energy, I'm not sure about being dog aggressive since he hasnt been around many strange dogs, only when he was real young (my moms It Greyhound)and was fine- so I though it would help to start teaching him some control, I guess if the class gets too boring or it's not working out I will just have to call it quits and work on some other ways of socializing.

My experience is that I get WAY more from going to PetSmart or Pet Co or some such store and just sitting outside with my dog. Do it for an hour on the weekend and you could get dozens of dogs (and people) that range from crazy to calm, but all are required to be on a leash! (Well except the people, but that is a different discussion!) I can sit as close or far as my dog needs for the exercise or situation. Down stay with lots of distraction?!?

Anyway, if things are going well, you can always ask a person that has a well behaved dog to approach a little closer. If not, well you are not stuck there and you haven’t paid a dime to be there either.

that's a good idea too. But I can only wish that we had a Petsmart or something similar- I live in a town with 10,000 people- we are lucky to have a Kmart

Kathy

I do the classes and enjoy them, but I am very careful about letting my dogs approach other dogs because it seems so many of them are not real good with others and I don't want that bad interaction to leave a lasting impression on my dog if I can avoid it.

I do like the working with distractions but don't usually start the classes until I have the dog doing what I want it to do obedience wise at home in my own yard and home. I went to puppy classes once, and it was so utterly boring I stopped going. Came home, trained my dog on my own home turf and then I went back to an advance obedience class later and it worked out well.

I too do obedience showing and find that too much distraction too soon isn't a good thing with some dogs and they need it later once I know they are solid on knowing the commands. I hate to take a green dog into a class and feel like I am constantly fighting the dog to get it's attention. It doesn't feel very productive needless to say and we gain nothing more than frustration on both parts.

Having done a few OB courses now, I'd say to start with they're quite a good idea, especially for young-ish pups for a bit of socialising. However - make sure you take REALLY tasty treats to keep his interest.

A lot of it will depend on the other dogs in the class, and their owners. Sometimes the owners of 'foo-foo' dogs are so overjoyed with a 10 second sit-stay that they forget to control their dog when it then charges about upsetting the other dogs.

We had this issue with Teagan - she got to the stage where the classes were bad for her. We took her out, after chatting with our instructors, in order to focus on her training personally. She gets more one-on-one that way dedicated to her needs. We'll go back, but once we have her 'issues' under control.

Teagan has learnt a lot from going to a few Schutzhund classes too - not just the sport itself but behaviour. Having her just watch the other dogs behaving calmly I think has really helped. The over-excitedness in some of the OB classes was unsettling her, having her see the calm Schutzhund dogs is starting to rub off.

I'd say try the classes. They can be good fun, and good training for confirming knowledge/distraction training. But watch your dog - don't let him 'mix' too much with the others, and if he starts getting bored or disruptive, get him out and do the training at home.

HTH
Rob

I took 4 group classes with my dog and they were great! However, I had to NOT feed her the night before and bring fantastic treats to keep her under control because she would come unglued with joy at the sight of another dog (think OMG I just won the Lotto!). Empty tummy + I have treats = good dog!

A bonus was at the classes I went to, the focus was on teaching the PEOPLE how to teach the DOG, and it was a great way to socialize the dog and start teaching her that yes I still do exist when your doggy buddies enter the room. And yes, we can sit there calmly while another dog goes trotting by....

Well, took sampson to group class last night. Not sure it went too well or not. There were way too many dogs (it was held in a small gymnasium)about 24 or more dogs. When I first went in sampson was fine - thought he might bark at all the dogs - when we were waiting around for it to start I felt him and he was shaking like a leaf, I didnt baby him or anything because of it I just kinda let him take everything in - we started by trying to heel around the gym in a big circle which was kind of a mess with all the dogs - there were several dogs that were acting aggressively and a couple acted that way towards sampson - then after awhile he started acting that way back - growling, barking when they went by. The trainer took him once and walked him around- I could tell he was nervous, while heeling with me he occassionally would jump up at me, bite my shirt,whine etc. I was alittle concerned about him acting out at the other dogs, my question is should I take him back to work this out (i'm thinking after a few times he will become more relaxed with the surroundings) or am I going to be making matters worse by taking him? I would think I need to take him to teach him its ok to be around other dogs and its not ok to act out like that??
Confused.....