I've been looking at some of the schools you guys have suggested. What do they usually cost? Triple crown? Tom Rose? what others are there? As the previous topic came up, I looked into the ABC and found many complaints about it....some good things...but a lot of bad complaints also. Apparently, stated by some, you can obtain the same knowledge that you get at the animal behavioral college, by just attending a few petco classes for $100. Have any of you guys gone to any of these schools, and if so what did you do after you completed them?

Hi Shane, and welcome!
One question I have for you is what are you wanting to learn? That may ultimately make the decision up for you as to where to go to "school"... Some ways of learning may be better than others, depending on what it is you would like to do with the knowledge.

Hi. I've been wanting to learn things like working with dogs who have behavioral problems, aggression problems. I've also been wanting to go on the other side of that and learn Schutzhund training for my own sake so I can work with any dogs I get in the future, and I would like to go to train police dogs too. Different things like that. I'm good in obedience, I've worked with my dogs, and others here in the town I live in so I'm really not interested so much in that aspect. I'm looking for something where I can go and work with animals as a career....if thats possible. I know breeding doesn't make money, and I never plan to breed again. I had a Schutzhund titled female in the past whom I bred, and even kept a male out of it who I started some training with. I did drive building exercises, obedience, the things I know how to do. I don't however know how to do tracking. I've thought about actually starting obedience classes here and doing training for people in the town I live in, instead of just for some of my friends who wanted it done. And then theres animal behavioral problems and things like that....which is why I looked in to the ABC, but found it to be a joke according to most people so I'm staying away from it. Hopefully this comment wasn't too mixed up and confusing.

These threads might help:

http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=134&Number=109902&Searchpage=2&Main=12103&Words=shelter&topic=0&Search=true#Post109901

http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=134&Number=108971&Searchpage=2&Main=11981&Words=shelter&topic=0&Search=true#Post108963

Shane,

I am new to training as well. I paid for a private instructor to train my puppy in basic obedience, however, if I could do it again, I would train him myself. Since I sent him to training, I purchased several of Ed's videos (Basic Dog Obedience, Becoming the Pack Leader and Raising a Working Dog). These video not only teach you the "how to" but more importantly the "why" you do it a certain way. Since watching these videos and practicing the information therein, I am much more sensitive to a lot of the trainers out there. Many train a dog, but have not given the appropriate consideration as to why they train them a certain way and whether or not it is best for the dog and the client.

In the end, the decision is yours, but I would invest the money in these extraordinary DVDs and train the dog yourself, which will build your bond with him, and ultimately regardless, you will always be responsible for training, improving and/or maintaining the dog's OB training.

-Al

Shane,
We had a club member of ours attend Triple Crown and he came back with a solid foundation and good skill set for basic and advanced dog training.
He felt that he got his money's worth, which is saying something.

Tom Rose is $11,995 for the "Professional Program", plus your room/board/living expenses. It is about 4-6 months to complete, I think, which is good, it's not super short.

May I ask why you want to go to a dog training school?

On another note, I agree, ABC is a correspondence school, and is not worth anything. The owner of that school has a dog training book, I read it, and it was ok. They do have a partnership of sorts with Petco to supply "trainers" to them. Problem with correspondence schools being- Dog training is not learned in a book, it is hands on. I believe they have some program where you do hands on with another trainer, but I don't know the details of that.

The biggest question to ask is WHO is teaching you, and what is so great about them.

Jennifer,
I noticed that you were responding to my reply to the OP - are you asking who is *my* trainer?

Sorry, I made the mistake again of responding to the OP but clicking "reply" on someone elses post.

Well, I was wanting to do some type of school possibly to get more hands on. And I do have a lot of those DVDs that Ed has for sale on this site. I've worked with some dogs in the community belonging to my friends along with dogs I've previously had with a lot of success......not sure if I mentioned that before, but anyhow, I want to focus on other aspects of training, but at the end of things....I really want to do something with dogs as a career. I've had people around here suggest things like a animal day care, one suggested what she does, doing massages for dogs, and then another suggested things like a k9 handler for the police. Al Lewis, I did have a puppy that I had done a lot of training with myself. Such as sitz, platz, and he would do a very long down stay, and we had started working on the fuss. Hmm Will Rambeau, do you know how much Triple crown costs?