 How do you find a good obedience class?
#344498 - 09/16/2011 11:00 PM |
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I was thinking of taking a couple of my dogs through an obedience class this fall to test their training however I'm running into a roadblock as none of the classes I've been able to locate so far will allow me to put a prong on them for the class. They all insist on the use of a gentle leader or easywalk harness. Any suggestions? I usually just take the dog or dogs I'm working with at that time, everywhere I go that's dog friendly and run them through their paces.
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 Re: How do you find a good obedience class?
[Re: Dawna Provancial ]
#344500 - 09/16/2011 11:09 PM |
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Take them to a crowded park , playground,downtown during lunch hour, petsmart that should provide plenty of distractions to provide a test of your training.
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Re: How do you find a good obedience class?
[Re: john axe ]
#344501 - 09/16/2011 11:15 PM |
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I agree with John. If you're comfortable with your ability to train the behaviours and only want to proof them, you can go all sorts of places to practice (and for free!).
Also, many "pure positive" classes (not all, there are good ones out there of course) are insane free-for-alls, with out of control dogs and owners that aren't paying attention to what their dogs are doing.
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Re: How do you find a good obedience class?
[Re: Tabatha Farnel ]
#344504 - 09/16/2011 11:36 PM |
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Also, many "pure positive" classes (not all, there are good ones out there of course) are insane free-for-alls, with out of control dogs and owners that aren't paying attention to what their dogs are doing.
That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid as I also don't feel comfortable giving up my ability to give a nice solid correction when it's called for.
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Re: How do you find a good obedience class?
[Re: Dawna Provancial ]
#344507 - 09/17/2011 12:14 AM |
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Yeah, I had a bad experience at an agility class ran by "purely positive trainers", where a known dog-aggressive dog left the ring, ran about 100 feet to get to my dog, and body-slammed him, causing an injury that ended my guy's agility career.
These days I only train on my own at various locations, or with working dog groups, where the dogs are nicely under control and the people are open minded to various training methods, from clicker training to e-collars. 
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Re: How do you find a good obedience class?
[Re: Tabatha Farnel ]
#344508 - 09/17/2011 12:29 AM |
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Sorry about your dog's injury. I usually train mine on my own which sometimes makes the ultimate distraction, another "strange" dog sometimes a little hard to come by. My town doesn't have a dogpark that I'm aware of to work outside of. I'll keep looking to see if what I can dig up and if nothing else, I just might put one of my trainees in a down/stay during the noon hour under one of the outside tables right outside our local hamburger shop while I grab some lunch.
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Re: How do you find a good obedience class?
[Re: Dawna Provancial ]
#344509 - 09/17/2011 12:36 AM |
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Do you have a PetSmart or something similar? You can work in the parking lot there, or inside the store for more distractions. Or, depending on where the obedience classes are held, you could even work at the far edge of the parking lot, or an adjacent lot, when you know the classes are starting or ending.
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Re: How do you find a good obedience class?
[Re: Tabatha Farnel ]
#344510 - 09/17/2011 12:40 AM |
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Look for a class run by someone that's actually titled dogs in advanced levels of obedience.
"A dog wags his tail with his heart." Max Buxbaum
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Re: How do you find a good obedience class?
[Re: Elaine Haynes ]
#344511 - 09/17/2011 01:31 AM |
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Look for a class run by someone that's actually titled dogs in advanced levels of obedience.
Even that's not guaranteed though. I've attended and observed many obedience classes at our local KC, where instructors have Utility titles (even a #1 obed dog in Canada), and the classes are not something that I would recommend. Mind you, I have limited experience, but I've found that instructors are either too lax (with out-of-control student dogs) or too harsh (with depressed, slow, hating the work dogs). I know there are good obedience classes out there, I just haven't had the pleasure of finding any yet, lol.
The best bet is to observe a whole class and see if you like how things are run.
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Re: How do you find a good obedience class?
[Re: john axe ]
#344513 - 09/17/2011 01:47 AM |
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Take them to a crowded park , playground,downtown during lunch hour, petsmart that should provide plenty of distractions to provide a test of your training.
I would do the same.
Cassy & Leo enjoying a nap.
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