What do you suggest in regards to early training?

[Alli and Barkley]

I tried searching for relative posts, but didn't find any current topics on this. 

 

We are trying to decide on where to enroll Barkley for some basic puppy obedience classes, mostly for socialization.  We have three options and aren't sure how to proceed.  SO-

 

Barkley will be 7 weeks when we bring him home.  The two training classes start when he would be 10 weeks- do you suggest

 

1) Petsmart puppy socializtion/training using clicker $105 for 6 weeks (requires one round of vaccines and clean fecal)

 

2) Puppy Kindergarten at a center that also does higher level training/ CGC and Therapy testing $145

   Don't train with clicker, but we are more than welcome to use it (requires 2 rounds of vaccines prior and proof of clean fecal)

 

3) Save the money, since we are already spending a small fortune, and socialize/train him on our own- I will be home with him all day and have a read up a ton on training, etc.  Save the money for professional training when he is a bit older and his immune system is built up more

 

 

 

 

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

#2  by a million  to one

[Kyoko]

I totally agree!

[Connie & Bocelli]

When I bring my ALD home on May 28 he will be 11 weeks old.  I have a vet appt. for him on May 31 to get his second round of shots and then on June 1 he is enrolled in puppy kindergarten at PetSmart for the 6 week course.  And yes, it's mainly for socialization and to learn basic commands.  After he has had 2 weeks of that, I have hired a trainer who was highly recommended to me to come to my house for 6 - 1/2 hour sessions for obedience and etiquette training,  I have also read 3 books and watched a video but I figure this will be money well spent for a dog that behaves for a lifetime.  

When I had dogs in the past, my ex-husband refused to let me enroll any of them in classes and thus they were never as well-behaved  or as socialized as they should have been.  I swore if I ever got another dog, I would do it right this time for a happy well balanced dog.

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

It depends on what your expectations are and how far you want to take him with training. Do you want him to be CGC? Do you plan on using him as a Therapy Dog? There are also many many ways to socialize without a class. Walks, dog parks, trips to local Farmer's Markets and Petsmart, playdates with other dogs, etc. It's not like they get a whole lot of time to play with other dogs in a class anyway. 

I am a true "do-it-yourselfer" and I know many will have different opinions on that when it comes to dog training, however, I researched and read many resources, I was in no hurry and knew what I wanted to teach him. Nothing was that complicated for him or me. I just want polite, gentle, well behaved dogs that know to sit, stay, lay down, wait for their food, not jump or nip people and come when called. If they happen to learn a trick or two great, but I don't have a lot of need to train tricks and they get lots of mental stimulation with us just by the day to day activities we do with them.  Truthfully, play dead or roll over are not high on my priority list, but I can see where many would enjoy that.

With the training I have done with Murphy I know that he could probably be about 80% ready to take the CGC test if I worked on the rest with him. Mostly by the day to day activities and socialization we have done with him. 

Having said all that, I do need some help with Bella, mostly because I don;t have the one on one time to devote to her like I did Murphy however, with what I have done already the trainer said she can skip Beginner 1 and Beginner 2 classes and go right to Advanced Beginner.

Personally I would give it a try and you will know if it's for you or not. It is very enjoyable and rewarding and quite a bonding experience to do training with your dog. But getting back to my first questions, decide what your expectations are. That will tell you if you can provide the appropriate level of training or not.  For now I think I'd focus on potty training! Good luck.

[Alli and Barkley]

1 vote for each option lol.  I guess it just depends on what exactly we are hoping for.  So much to decide, so little time :)  Luckily I have all you awesome doodle friends to help me out!

[shelly]

I would at first glance go with #1... but how long is option #2?

We tried whistle training on our own and slacked off big time and now we are paying for it!  We should have really used the clicker training early on... but that's just MY experience and opinion....

either way!  You are doing EVERY thing you possibly can to prepare!  Kudos to YOU!!!

[Alli and Barkley]

Thanks shelly!  Whoops- forgot to mention that option 2 is also 6 weeks, both are hour long classes. 

 

Here is the description of the Puppy Kindergarten for option two at Canine University

http://www.ohk9u.com/index.html

This class is six week class for puppies ranging in age from 10 to 20 weeks plus their family. The class is designed to teach the pups basic commands in a fun play setting. We discuss how to work with and/or prevent the various undesirable puppy behaviors, improve housetraining and many other puppy topics. We also work on socializing the pups in order to desensitize them to unfamiliar puppies and people. Puppies get a 5-10 minute supervised play session at each class.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I like number 2.  The fact that they offer options to continue on to the higher levels would be a plus for me.

[Adina P]

Just my opinion, but besides the chance to have your dog around other dogs of the same age, puppy classes are sort of 'meh' to me--so to me that is limited socialization.  Now it's not easy to put together a group of dogs on a weekly basis for your dog to learn to behave around, so that's a benefit but most of the 'training' in puppy class isn't that useful long term.  Mostly because it's SUPER easy to teach things to puppies, especially smart pups like doodles.  I think those who would benefit MOST from puppy classes are people who haven't and won't read books and come into puppy ownership half clueless.  But those aren't the typical people that GO to puppy classes. 

 

You still might have loads of fun and get some good ideas, but if money is an issue at all, then I'd say take your pup as many places as possible, have your pup meet as many people as possible and focus on teaching:

--appropriate greetings of others

--keeping teeth off people

--chewing only appropriate toys

--going poo and pee only outside

 

If you can get those 4 things taken care of you will be far ahead of most puppy owners by the time your dog is ready for Beginning Obedience classes.  The rest of the stuff like teaching "sit" and "down" and "come" are CAKE with a pup. As I said they learn SUPER fast.  But it rarely sticks for long term obedience till they've had more serious training as teens and adult dogs.

 

Unless the particular PetSmart trainer has gotten RAVE reviews I'd skip PetSmart training altogether.  They aren't that good from what I've heard and I'd rather train with someone who has accomplished a lot with their dogs.

 

The other things to think about is "what do you WANT out of obedience training?"  What is your ultimate goal?  Do you just want a dog that is generally nice on leash and you can take places but you don't care if you have to repeat a command a few times to get the dog to obey?  Or do you want a dog that will be VERY reliable and obedient wherever you take him?  OR do you want a dog that is reliable off leash as well as on leash?  What is your ultimate goal for training?  Use the answers to those questions to help guide you in what classes to choose.  Most all but the smallest towns have a number of trainers and training classes available so there are probably more options than even what you listed. 

[Alli and Barkley]

Thanks Adina!  If we go with the at home puppy stuff, what age do you recommend starting an obedience class?  My ultimate goal would be to have a polite, well trained, respectful dog.  CGC or Therapy would be awesome too, and not something that we would rule out but its not a must do at this point.  Hubby prefers to have a dog that behaves on our off leash- which would more than likely mean lots of training :)

 

 We did find a few other training places, but most were over 30 minutes away which would be hard for us to get to during the week, and the other one that we really liked has no air conditioning so they told us that classes are really small in the summer months...

[Adina P]

Any polite, well trained, respectful dog can get a CGC :-)

I guess what I'm asking is what are examples of 'well trained' and 'polite' and 'respectful'?  Sometimes the same amount of training for getting a dog off leash reliable is required for getting all of those things you listed, depending upon HOW you define them.

 

I think 5 or 6 months (depending on the class requirements) would be an appropriate age to start beginning obedience.  But most important is that you don't stop training after beginning obedience...that you go on to whatever next levels there are.

[Alli and Barkley]

so true Adina! 

 

We absolutely want a dog that will listen to us on command reliably.  We want/need to work really hard to teach Barkley we don't want him jumping up- he will quickly outgrow the kids and don't want to worry every time the door bell rings. DH would love to have the most well behaved, loving dog on the planet- one that he could walk off leash, one that would sit/stay/come when told the first time, one that was happy, playful, loving.....etc.

 

I see lots of training in my future lol.  Your guidance is really helping us decide when we need to get him into classes to set him up for success.  Maybe we train him the basics, and socialize him on our own if we are truly committed and able, and instead of PK start him with Obedience 1 class first.