Hi,
Have to tell you all that my puppy had his 'graduation' tonight at puppy class.
He had to do a 10 sec.sit, a 5 sec.down, a sit and a treat drop at his feet with a 'leave it' command, a recall and sit, a health check procedure and heelwork through some cones. Guess What? He got a 1st and top puppy in the class.
Everyone was commenting on how good he was and how the trainers methods were really good.
I just didn't have the heart to tell them what I was thinking which was " Actually I don't follow hardly any of the trainers methods, my dog is so good because of Mr. Ed Frawleys' DVDs and the Leerburg Forum members advice." <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
I'll have to go to the next stage of training at the class as I've now got the 'Training a Competition Heeling Dog' DVD and if I get that right with him, it'll blow their minds away. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />
Thankyou all again and keep up the good work!

That's fabulous news -- You & your puppy BOTH deserve some really special treats !!!

Lisa,
I'm very happy for you, However, I'm just to compelled to ask a question. You stated:

 Quote:

I just didn't have the heart to tell them what I was thinking which was " Actually I don't follow hardly any of the trainers methods,

Then why in the world were you paying that trainer to attend his/her classes? I have zero doubt that you really thought that, but if you learned more from the DVD's sounds like you could have saved a bunch of money on your car insurance by switching to Geico, LOL <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I put Aussie through an obediance class to work on distractions with him. Looking back it was a waste of money, but it did teach him to mind under distractions (petsmart, anyone?).

Chris,
I went to the class in the beginning for socialisation only and it's not an expensive class by any means. I didn't want an adult Dane with dog issues. I thought he'd see far more of a variety of colour, breed and both sexes than I could ever show him on our walks.
The training I've been doing with him myself has either been with no distraction or little distractions i.e. traffic in the distance when on the field I use or at home with the children buzzing around.
He did all of the test at class with around 14 mad excited puppies watching. I was so impressed. The one thing that the other puppies didn't do so well on was the 'leave it' command which the trainer teaches by putting the treat on the floor, then when they take their nose away she rewards them with that treat. When I followed Ed's way, he gets a different treat from my hand (now it's my mouth) so he watches the treat fall and then gives me eye contact. The other pups are just scrambling to get the food treat on the floor.
The trainer bases her training on just hand signals only, whereas my pup knows the voice commands too.
It's just little things that make such a HUGE difference in training isn't it? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />