Those of you that took your labs through pet obedience classes

[kaytris]

what did you like about it?
Dislike?
What was the class structure - how many dogs, how many trainers? How old were the dogs, generally?
What was covered?
How long was the course (6 weeks? 8?)
Did you have a 'no-dog' introductory night - did you find it helpful or would have preferred jumping in?

Thanks....

[Tanya]

it's been almost a year now but I took a basic obedience class.

8wks
no "intro" class with no dog (but I hear most puppy classes have an intro with no dog).
Only 1 puppy, others were 1+ of age. we were about 6 dogs

sit/down/stay
heal (basic)
leave it (basic, walking by a toy or food from far away at first, turning back if the dog went for it...)
getting the dog to pay attention to us
all on leash

[MarlansMum]

I liked the positive training philosophy. I disliked the lack of practical opportunities to apply the training in class (i.e. going outside, distractions, etc). In puppy kindergarten, I disliked how the trainer disallowed the large breed puppies to interact with the small breed ones.

Both classes I have been to had one trainer. In puppy class there was about 8 dogs (under 4 months old), in Intro there was 5 dogs (all 9 months plus). This worked out ok. My Intro class was inside a store, so there wasn't much room to move around. I didn't like that.

Generally, I found that both classes covered the same basic things (i.e. sit, stay, down, come, leave it, etc.). There were no tips on how to advance these things (i.e. making leave it more challenging). I was disappointed with that because I was hoping to get going with things that were more advanced, and also because I wanted to be able to apply the training to difficult situations at home (I did do this, but had to learn it myself elsewhere). In both situations, we eventually stopped going to classes. Perhaps it would have been better if the trainer had catered the class to the level of the individual dogs/owners.

Neither class had a no-dog night. Both courses were 8 weeks.

On a more positive note, a weekly drop-in puppy playtime is an amazing opportunity (i.e. Puppy play time at Sit Happens in Calgary, AB) for new puppy owners. I did this in addition to puppy kindergarten and was very pleased.

[MumtoEllie]

I did two. One was a private class at PetSmart. Four, one hour classes that basically taught you about dog ownership (grooming, housetraining, chewing, etc) as well as basic obedience (sit, stay, come, down, watch me, drop it, leave it). They sucked overall, but they did teach me how to use the clicker properly. Which helped me heaps when I was working with her on my own. We didn't get much out of them but sit.

I took a second class (six weeks, plus an extra night with no dogs) at the Humane Society. They were excellent. We learned sit, down, stay, come, wait, leave it, drop it, how to teach tricks, heel, and paw. There was one main instructor with two helpers. There were supposed to be eight dogs or so in the class but Ellie and I were the only ones that showed up week after week. I would say it averaged about four dogs per class. We also were introduced to basic agility equipment at the end of the last class. No dog the first night was very helpful for new/ignorant owners. We had had Ellie for a little while by then and had already learned heaps from this forum as well as other places. Still, I think it was a plus and recommend it. The instructors were very knowledgeable and very experienced. It made all the difference! Positive training, used clickers, all business. There was no dog interaction - we were told from the very first class that we were there to teach our dogs basic obedience and manners, not to socialize them. Very positive experience for Ellie and me and I now recommend this class to all my fosters' adopters.

[Baloo317]

Are you starting a class, Nancy!!?? How fun!!

here's my report:

Petsmart - we did basic puppy class, was looking primarily for socialization opportunities.

• My favorite part was where they had us switch puppies in like, the third week or so and practice just simple commands. I wish they had done more of this. I also liked that all family members were encouraged to come
• Dislike was the apparent apathy on the part of the trainer, she just didn't seem o be enjoying herself. I also wish she would have addressed certain things brought up by other classmates, but she just let them slide, or said something meaningless nonchalantly. For example, the people with the german shepherd pup said "she's biting us all the time, it really hurts." Trainer said, "That's not good." (that's all she said. then moved on to a different topic.) : :-\
• Class structure was 4 dogs including Baloo, just one trainer. The dogs ranged between 10 weeks - 3 and a half months.
• Covered house training, sit, down, come, stay, loose leash walk, leave it, take it, watch me, not necessarily in that order. Also they included little spiels on grooming and nutrition, but those were mostly a ploy to buy their food and use their grooming salon. Coupons were provided. :P
• The course was 8 weeks
• We brought the dogs from the first night, I liked that, but I've never experienced different so i can't say whether I would like the no-dog-the-first-night-thing. I don't think I would, though, I liked jumping right in.
• Cost was $119.00 before tax.

Competition Puppy Training class through professional Obedience School:

• I liked pretty much everything about this class. It was exactly what I was looking for. Some of the highlights were that we were given a handout that reviewed what we had done that week and what we should work on at home. The trainer is also very positive and upbeat, she clearly loves the material.
• I guess something that I disliked was that basic skills were not taught or reviewed, such as the loose leash walk, not jumping up, greeting strangers, etc. But i knew going in that those things would not be included, so it's not like I was disappointed.
• There were 6 dogs including Baloo, one trainer. But some of the people weren't there on some weeks, so it wasn't crowded or anything. Even when they were all there it wasn't crowded. Dogs were around 4-5 months, approximately
• We covered fronts, finishes, heeling, stand, sit, down, stay, started dumbbell work, started jumping, started scent discrimination, worked on attention, lots of recall work, wait, worked on building play drive. There was probably more but I don't remember now. It was basically an intro to a lot of the stuff the dog will be faced with in an obedience career.
• The course was 8 weeks
• Again, we brought the puppies the first night and jumped right in.
• Cost was $196.00 including tax.

Hope that helps some!!

[AbbyandMolly]

I did one with Molly when she was a pup and I thought it was very beneficial.

We don't know too many people with dogs, or places to go where there are other dogs so there was a big socialization factor there.

Our class started out as 5 dogs, 6 people, and 1 instructor. By week two we were down 1 dog, week three we were down 3 dogs so it left 2 (Molly/Me, and goldendoodle/his person). Molly was the oldest at almost 5 months old, Buddy was the youngest at 14 weeks. Our class ran for 8 weeks.

We worked on:
Look/Watch Me
Sit
Down
Stay (sit/down stay)
Come
Leave it
Off
Wait
Loose leash walking
Heel
and hand signals for our commands which I loved.
We worked both on and off leash for most commands with the exception of stay/come

Our first night we brought the dogs, and basically got to know each other. There was no real "training" that night. I really enjoyed the class, and got a lot out of it. The bulk of it was learning how to better communicate with Molly to get her to do what I've asked. I especially loved that the instructor was willing to do stuff not in the "plan". If we wanted to do off leash work she would let us, if we didn't understand something she took us aside and helped. If I could go back, I would do it again, in fact I'm looking for a class for Molly just to give us something fun to do together.

[Dawson Creek Girl]

I took Rowan to 7 sessions out of 10.
SHe was about 7-8 months old.

There were 3 'growly' aggressive pitbulls - I think that says why we didn't finish it out.

[myfavoritedog]

I went to two classes at the daycare I took Tal to. I really liked it and their approach.

I debated on enrolling in puppy kindergarten but since he had been going to daycare for some time, they felt it would be a waste for us since the kindegarten was mainly for socialization. Plus, at 6 months, Tal was way bigger than his puppy friends.

Tal was by far the youngest in there. We had about 8 dogs and owners. The next oldest up from Tal was 10 months, then a year or older. I liked the trainers approach because before even starting on commands, she taught us about body language, how they comminicate and developing relationships with our dogs. I think she was a big fan of Jean Donaldson, Ian Dunbar.

The next class was more advanced and there were only 3 dogs and their owners. In there, only 3 dogs and owners soi we got lots of attention. We did stuff with distractions and all.

I really enjoyed it and of course Tal did too.

The only thing I disliked was at first, Tal of course knew the place and was used to it being a free for all. Class was alot more structured but after about two weeks, he knew when we were there for class, we were serious (well most of the time anyway!)

[myfavoritedog]

I took Rowan to 7 sessions out of 10.
SHe was about 7-8 months old.

There were 3 'growly' aggressive pitbulls - I think that says why we didn't finish it out.

I am surprised they would allow them. There was one of those at our first session and they would not allow them back in class. I would not have continued with it either.

[imported_zoezoe]

what did you like about it?
the trainer :P

Dislike? can't really think of anything off hand

What was the class structure - how many dogs, how many trainers? How old were the dogs, generally?
one trainer, outside area, about 12 dogs, most dogs were 6 months to 2 years old

What was covered?
sit, down, stand, heel, wait, come on long lead, come off lead, stay (for photos)

How long was the course (6 weeks? 8?)
8 weeks and then you could advance to off leash (which we did), then on to hand signals (which we started but never completed) and so on. All we paid was the $110 and you could keep going from one level to the next for lifetime.


Did you have a 'no-dog' introductory night - did you find it helpful or would have preferred jumping in?
dogs went with owners on first night, however, nothing as far as working with the dog happened. we mostly introduced our dogs, told what problems we had with them and what we wanted to work on, got an overview from the trainer.