Should We Take Basic or Advanced Obedience?

[Camilla and Darwin]

Darwin graduated from puppy kindergarten at the beginning of October. The training club doesn't hold classes during the winter so we are resuming in January. During the class he did very well, and had no problems learning any of the commands we have taught him. In the past couple of months we have taught him to stay, sit, down, come and leave it pretty reliably. He heels very well at our apartment complex, but anywhere new and it's less than stellar. Our puppy kindergarten teacher advised us to skip basic obedience and take advanced, to avoid redundancy, but I am worried we may miss out on something, or that he may not be ready for advanced obedience. What types of things do they teach in basic, would he benefit more from advanced?

By the way, I post way too many questions, I know. I just have so many, and it's great to have a bunch of experts to help me out... :-)

[1xar0x2rcx0li]

I would ask what commands are included in each, and see if there is really anything you need in basic that you couldn't teach yourself over December. I think signing up for advanced would be the way to go. Doodles are so smart, they learn pretty quick and are eager to please their people.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Basic! Peri did puppy and mastered everything. But our trainer recommended the Basic Family Manners for the next step instead of Advanced because they really hone in on those commands and make them sit, stay, etc...longer and with more distractions. Peri of course did wonderful with Basic and graduated easily, but the class was not a repeat because there were all ages of dogs and we were required to hold commands longer...you get the point. It was just harder. And we learned other commands like advanced Leave It, Touch, and other trust building exercises. Expectations were higher because it was not a "puppy" class (lol even though Peri is STILL a puppy!). Graduation consisted of her having to race other dogs and COME to me with all those other distractions going on. It was a really important class for us.
But definitely ask your trainer. My trainer's next level is Advanced but that is also a Therapy certification class, which Peri was not ready for.
Before we even do Advanced, we are planning to do Basic Agility with her - our Trainer says that builds a lot of trust between owner and dog. Then I plan to have her do the certification for Therapy work (which is the Advanced class). Sorry if this was a confusing post. Lots of information!

[Azure & Muppet]

Do they have intermediate, between basic and advanced? It sounds like an intermediate class would be perfect.

[Adina P]

I would decide based on the class curriculum. Every training facility varies as to what they consider 'basic', etc.

[Azure & Muppet]

I've found this to be true.

[Azure & Muppet]

If there isn't an intermediate class that is a better fit, and you have to choose between a class that may be too easy or too hard, I would pick too hard. If it's too easy, it will be a waste of your time and money. If it's too hard, it will challenge you both more and you'll get more out of it to keep working on.

[Camilla and Darwin]

I agree that it is better to challenge yourself and your dog. As many of you have probably experienced with your doodles, Darwin picks up on things very quickly and didn't need as much time as most of the puppies in the class to learn a certain command. When the teacher told us puppies his age couldn't learn stay because they don't have the discipline, he was already doing extended stays. I think he would do well with a challenge, and he will be eight months by the time January rolls around...

That being said, I am a little worried if he is too much of a puppy, he will cause distraction to the other dogs, and slow the class down. I suppose if this is the case, I could always switch to the beginners....

There is no intermediate, it goes basic, advanced, and then the specifics such as rally, conformation, scenting, etc.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Gotta pretty much agree that it is based on the class curriculum. If your Kindergarten teacher is also the teacher for the advanced class and that is what she/he recommended, and you trust the instructor, then that is what I would do. Mostly because like others mention, every facility is different. I would also advise staying with the same instructor. I found that everyone teaches differently and if you start switching instructors then you can get some confusion. We had a sub one week in one of L&S classes, and we spent the whole next class unlearning what the sub taught us because she used a different method. Next time we showed up and there was a sub I just asked that class be rescheduled with our regular instructor.

[Julie B.]

I would stay with your current training facility and take the advanced class for many of the same reasons already mentioned. I find the most beneficial part of formal puppy training is that it forces you to do "the homework". I guess I need the formal aspect of dog training to get me to do all of the practice at home. Don't get me wrong... I always work with my dogs on manners, but the class puts some good pressure on me to make my dog the best she can be for every class so I am not embarrassed. Bottom line is any class is a good class from that standpoint but you're better off learning advanced stuff so you can work on that in the future if your dog is not ready at the moment.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

We did puppy kindergarten, and then I followed up with two private lessons primarily to train ME in how to best work with Guinness at home. After that I started working with him for 20 minutes each day on specific skills. I then put him in basic agility which was really fun for him and also enabled me to work with him on obedience in a very distracted environment (lots of dogs and activity). Now he's in a Canine Good Citizen class which I chose rather than intermediate or advanced. Ultimately I want him to be a Therapy dog, so this was perfect. I really love this class, and it has totally reinforced all of his skills, improved his social self control, and enhanced his reliability. I've had three different trainers, and they have all taught me different things (in a good way). I found having multiple training perspectives to be really helpful, and now I pretty much have developed my own style which works well for MY dog. So, I don't think there's a "right" answer here. I'd do what seems right for you and Darwin, and as long as you're actively training and you and Darwin are having fun, you can't go wrong.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Good points - if your trainer things Basic is too easy, skip it. Just in our case, our Basic was much harder than the puppy class.
Good luck! It is great you are continuing training no matter what.

[Lindsey, Lee, Whopper and Simba]

With Whopper, I initially provided most of her training and she was well socialized with neighborhood dogs, trips, etc. Because she knew so many commands, we skipped basic classes and went straight into advanced. Whopper was able to do all of the commands and everything asked of her in the advanced class. Our issue with skipping the earlier classes was that Whopper had never been in a formal training session where there were other dogs and no play time. We had some issues with her barking because she wanted to play or because she hadn't developed enough of an attention span for the hour class. Our issues weren't during the actual training but the explanation periods in between training where Whopper would get frustrated with just having to sit quietly. If you think the puppy class has prepared Darwin for this type of environment, I would say trust your trainer and try the advanced. I don't think your trainer would have recommended it if Darwin was going to miss anything major.