Polly,
Unfortunately when you have a dominant or aggressive dog, your pool of qualified trainers shrinks waaay down. And costs sky rocket ( look at it this way, I charge $45 per hour and a diet Coke for a private lesson in someone's home. But if it's an aggression problem with a dangerous dog, I'll charge at least $100 if there's a chance I'm going to be bit...fair is fair ).

There are some folks that learn well from books and video's, and I always advise my students to seek out information that way, but there are significant portions of dog training that require physical motions that are best done first as a team, i.e., an instructor and student. But the people that have viewed those concepts first via books or video's have a big advantage is most classes.

That being said, many of us at various Flinks seminar's have been amazed when raw beginners show up and have mastered a lot of skills just from the video's - I love when that happens... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
But those folks are the definite minority.

Betty,
That's what I thought and suddenly needed to go to the bathroom. Heck, why not advertise to criminals, my dog will do exactly as you say if you feel like breaking in my house etc <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

People think hey i'll go to a class n I'll leave the class with a perfect dog. They don't realize you can't train a dog 100% perfectly in an hour class once a week for 8 weeks, especially since you really only spend 5 or 10 minutes training with the dog because you'll burn out a dog if you train the whole hour. Then people go home and forget all about training for a week till the next class, or they spend 20 minutes the day before the class "Catching up" on their training. Or they don't take their dogs obedience very seriously so say "eh the dog is OK around the house so I'm not gonna bother making him as perfect as he could be".

I hear stuff all the time like "oh you have more time to do training because you're single and don't have kids"... that statement annoys me, sure I have more time and less obligations, but if the desire is there then so is the time, most people in this forum are married and have kids, yet they still have time to work with (in many cases) more than one dog! People are always looking for excuses as to why their dog isn't trained as well as they could be because the desire to train it any better isn't there. It takes all of 5 minutes a day to pull your dog aside and go over its obedience routine, people who try to convince me they don't have 5 minutes to spare in the day, yet find time to sit on the couch and watch TV or read a book or walk to the kitchen to grab a soda and a snack just really irritate me, just tell me "I don't have the patience to train a dog", don't lie to me and tell me you don't have the time. But this is where trainers make their money, there are typically 3 types of students in a class from what I've seen... there's the ones that will leave the class at the end and continue their dogs training career, researching their own techniques and fine tuning their dog for the rest of the dogs life, there's the people that leave the training class and are happy their dog sometimes sits and sometimes listens and is a generally OK dog to live with in the home, and there's the people that went to class because their dog is driving them insane, they want a quick fix, they don't have the patience to deal with their dog, and they shouldn't even own a dog. A trainer doesn't make money if he fails his customers, so everyone earns a certificate if they kinda do what they're supposed to do at the end of the 8 weeks.

I think a GOOD trainer that comes to your home and does one on one training with you and your dog is by far more beneficial to a new dog owner than going to an "OK" trainer in a class setting where individual dog issues aren't addressed and the trainer uses methods that are "quick & dirty" to get a dog to do what they're supposed to do before the 8 weeks is over.

Will,
My dog is a handful, but at 10 yo, she has slowed down a bit. She also seems happier with her new training regime (combination of Look for treat and dominant dog collar). I am watching the Dominant dog DVD this week, and if I still have real problems with her after that, and after getting more input from the board, i will spring for professional help. The money is an issue for me, because it will be very expensive. By the way, I have a feeling she would not be stupid enough to bite you, she has a sense of who is in charge.

As far as learning from books, I do that for a living. I am a scientist, and very methodical by nature and by training. I know what I know and what I don't know, and since I do not know dog behavior or training on a professional level at all, I have no problem being a student.
polly

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so everyone earns a certificate if they kinda do what they're supposed to do at the end of the 8 weeks.

Yeah Mike, Logan and I will be graduating in another 6 weeks and you get more stars on your certificate the better you do- <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif" alt="" />
Can't wait <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

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( look at it this way, I charge $45 per hour and a diet Coke for a private lesson in someone's home.

Sorry forgot to add this to my last post-
That's way too cheap Will, come to the U.K and double your money <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

 Quote:

That's way too cheap Will, come to the U.K and double your money <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Well... if you take into account living expenses, property prices and taxes.... not to mention the nice weather here in the south....... can you see where I'm going with this? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Cujo didn't get any stars on his certificate, but I thought it was kinda cute they put his name as Cujo Schoonbrood <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> He listens a lil better now than he did back then <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Well he could do it part-time in the summer months!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
Just being awkward and yes Will I know you're a grown up and we're here talking for you and sorting out your career for you <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />
So I'll shut up!!

Does that sound right? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Will, i must owe you a million dollars and ten thousand diet cokes <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />, but, something that's important for amateurs like myself and many that read this forum is to try and find a professional with an open mind and patience, that's willing to explain why something is a mistake instead of just saying "do it this way", i've found in my area there's two kinds of trainer's, yank and crank and zero correction, it's amazing really. One of the main reasons i have dogs is because training is enjoyment for me, i don't want someone else training my dogs, all mistakes are my own,
AL
AL

Al,
Have the Tractor Trailer full of Pepsi One ( man..that stuff is tasty! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> ) pull up in my drive way next Friday...
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />


Hehe...if people knew how much time I spent on the phone giving folks training advice they'd never believe it! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />