I'm planing on attending the tom rose school in October and was wondering what everyone thought of the school,and if you have gone there any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated or anything on your personal experience with the school

Hopefully someone else has a better experience than me. I made the mistake of taking Auster to a jerk and tug trainer that proudly told me he was a Tom Rose School graduate. I'll never be able to undo the damage, but that was just one graduate.

I think if you go into any learning situation with an open mind, but not a weak one. You can learn a lot that you can ADD to other training information and experience.

I think a large amount of the Tom Rose school's training is . Good to know, without a doubt, but best used with other training methods.

Lauren - your comments are unfair. In my opinion the Tom Rose School is the best dog training school in the country for training people to go out and open their own dog obedience school. The fact that you found someone who had attended the school that was to hard on your dog means nothing. That would be like saying you knew someone who had attended one of my Bernhard Flinks seminars that is a terrible trainer. Give me a break ! When you run a school you make the best effort to train everyone who comes. The fact that some people don't know their left foot from their right foot when they walk through the front door does not mean you don't try and do the best you can. Tom does the best he can with those that go to this school. Thats more than almost every other school out there.

I agree with Ed and just have to elaborate on that.
There are 'trainers' out there with so litte talent that NO amount of schooling or experience could help them. I know this sounds far fetched but I've seen it. For example, NO amount of literature can give you the key to sensing what a dog is thinking and how you should react to it (books can get you started but can't make a block-headed person realise where and how to use what was written). In the field some people work dogs for many years without ever really LOOKING at a dog and doing any alterations to what they did to every other dog they ever trained. These trainers are quick to blame the dogs for their failure. Going 'softer', praising, touching and 'watching' the dog becomes a risk for these idiots (most don't even know how to begin), while just being mean is easier for them, even if they sometimes need to work much longer on a dog that way. The good thing is some dogs are really smart, really fast, really strong and really sneaky and get a couple GREAT bites into these guys when they try to pull that sh** with them! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I love those guys.

Just like Tom says "dog training is an art". Well every one is not an artist and dog training is not a cookie cutter process.Tom puts emphasis on reading dogs and adjusting training to individual dogs and keeping the dog's stress level in check at all times.Any dog trainer will tell you its easier to train dogs than it is people and that applies to Tom too.How ever Tom will go the extra distance to work individually with people to make that person the best that person can be. There is more than one way to train a dog and Tom will be the first to tell you that and he is down with exploring all methods with you.Tom's school is just getting started where all other schools are stopping.

I mentioned that my experience was with only one graduate. However, if the quality of student coming in and going out of the school isn't regulated somewhat the certificate will loose its value. Some people just shouldn't be professional dog trainers, and if they get their Tom Rose certificate and start training dogs anyway then that makes it that much harder for everyone else.

In other words, if anyone can get the certificate regardless of ability what does it really mean? I am not arguing that someone can learn something there, just the value of the certificate itself in helping someone. Most pet owners don't even care if a person went to training school if they have to evaluate on a case by case basis anyway.

Lauren, I know you are unhappy with what was done to Auster, but I hardly think you can go back to say that the Tom Rose school is at fault for that. When you graduate from UNC, will people blame the college when you don't do exactly as they instructed you to? Most likely not.

With dog trainers, it is buyer beware. If it doesn't feel right, don't do it. Watch a person train BEFORE you hand over your dog. Etc.

There are plenty of trainers that did not go to the TRS that would have done the same.

Yes, he turned Auster into a driveless housepet from your description, but remember that is what 98% of the country wants. Don't lay all the blame on the trainer. Did you relay a want for a different goal? Even I will admit I would do things with a housepet that I would not do with a competition dog.

It is always easy to blame the trainer. Heck, I worked with some pretty harsh jerk and pull people back with my schnauzer and went through several trainers and methods before we ever worked it out, but I do not blame those trainers for what I did, I blame myself. It didn't feel right at the time, but I did it anyway!

If I were looking to go to a dog training school, the Tom Rose School would be my choice. Look at the odds.

I am sure Harvard Law School has even turned out some sh!tty lawyers...

Did one of you jokers mess with my post?

That isn't what I wrote, there were like three more lines of text.

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Tom Rose's school or Triple Crown Academy would be the only schools that I would even consider going to.
Deanna, Harvard Law turns out *plenty* of crappy grads- then they run for office.......<snicker>