Can you adequately obedience train a dog on your own?

[Camilla and Darwin]

We were going to sign Darwin up for intermediate obedience classes this January but two things got in the way.
1- We have college classes during the time they hold obedience. We could change the schedule, but the classes we really need are during that time.
2- I am not altogether happy with the obedience class we previously took. I was already familiar with every "tip" or way to teach that they taught. They were very vague and gave comments like "try this and if it doesn't work, try something else". I don't feel that it was very beneficial beyond socializing him to other dogs.

Certainly it's good to take your dog to class and teach them to behave around other dogs and people but I do this on a regular basis around other dogs where I live. Is there online obedience classes that can be effective, or is this wishfully thinking?

Should we try and do an obedience schedule on our own, or is there no substitute for the actual class?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

LOL! "OFL" Adina should really be the first to reply to this, but in the meantime...
Absolutely YES! You can train your dog yourself, and far beyond "adequate". Especially if Darwin already has basic training.
I couldn't find any classes in my area that I liked, either. So after socialization class (for adopted adult dogs) and a basic obedience refresher course at Petsmart, we work on it ourselves, with help and ideas from books on various training methods and philosophies, and other people's suggestions .Once you have a bond with your dog, you will find your own methods and ways of communicating what you want, and that in turn will deepen the bond even more.
I really think sometimes the best trained dogs are those that have been trained solely by a dedicated owner.

[Camilla and Darwin]

Yes, we work on training every day with him and he's doing great. He's through basic obedience. He knows sit, down, out of sight stays, leave it, drop it, etc. He is also very good about not barking, etc. The things we need to work on are leash training and his overly excited greeting of people while he's on the leash. I've done a lot of research on this on my own though, and feel like I can personally work on it with him. I was just afraid I was biting off more than I could chew... that perhaps there was a beneficial part of classes I wasn't aware of. Thanks for the encouragement...

[shelly]

Okay Camilla - you had me at "very good about not barking". My DH wants to get a bark collar b/c she barks at every passer by, car passing,etc. I don't want I don't like the idea of the "shock". I know it's just like a static shock, but.... I'll be following this. I downloaded videos on line, read a a lot... but we all must really be consistent. I wanted to take her to agility classes, but I'm afraid of how she will be around "strangers" who is who she really furiously barks at. Thanks!

[Camilla and Darwin]

Ha ha. I wish I could take credit but he hardly ever barked as a puppy, so if he ever did bark, which was about once a week, we would discourage it by turning our backs to him and not paying him any attention. Now he almost never, ever barks. Not when people knock on the door or anything. I know it can be useful to have your dog alert you that someone is coming, but the people I know are a little scared of dogs, and barking really makes people nervous. I didn't want them to be scared to come over!

[shelly]

OH YEAH!!!! She is VERY scary sounding!!! It's like she has a one-track mind whenever she's in the middle of her barking frenzy.. NOTHING breaks her attention.

[Noble Vestal Labradoodles]

Yes! There are many courses that you can buy. I love clickertraining.com, there are others too. I have a program that I like to send home with puppies but the author pulled it from the shelves early 2009.. no clue why... because it is great and my families love it. I am thankful that I purchased 100 of them just prior to them being pulled.

My best advise if you do train on your own is to find someone who can watch you to make sure your form is correct (use of correct heal foot, stay foot, etc) and to train at a local park or outdoor mall area where there are people around. I suggest training in public places so that you can ensure your dog is proofed against distractions in and around unfamiliar places and people.

[Camilla and Darwin]

Yeah, we take him to our outdoor mall regularly and do training there. Thanks for the info on having someone watch my form. I will have to read up on the right form and my husband and I can switch off watching each other. I'm going to check out the clicker training site as well. Do they have non-clicker training programs? I prefer to verbally praise Darwin... although I am interested in learning more about clicker training... I've heard good things.

[F, Calla & Luca]

What is the name of the program. There may be used ones available online.

[Noble Vestal Labradoodles]

The Ultimate Puppy Toolkit... it was really geared for puppies but it took them right into basic training.

[Camilla and Darwin]

Do you think it would be appropriate for a more intermediate level?

[Noble Vestal Labradoodles]

I do not think so... I have a ton of training books and also like the one I got from The Whole Dog Journal by Kerns and published by The Lyons Press.

All of the products I have purchased from clickertraining.com have used the clicker method.

I am fortunate to have an excellent dog trainer here who does Puppy, Novice and Advanced training.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

i haven't taken Murphy to any formal training and he's one year old. Mostly due to traveling most of this year. So if I wanted a well behaved dog it meant I better get up to speed on the do it yourself kit to dog training. I do use clicker training with treats for new lessons, but praise and occasional treats with already learned behavior. I am still working on come, but I am more perfecting the "come " that we do have. I want a firm, drop-dead in your tracks COME here NOW! response from him so it's a daily work in progress. In public places and with distractions and distance. Right now it's more like "Yeah, I heard you, I'm coming already, I'm coming, hold your hat lady". I think if I can do it ANYONE can as this is my first dog. Books help and being around other well behaved dogs has been the best teacher for him too.