All dogs can benefit from training classes. The older dogs, who have perhaps forgotten how to behave properly and forgotten their manners. Rescue dogs who have had an uncertain origin. Dogs can't talk to you so you're never going to really know how they ended up in rescue. They've probably got issues and fears from their past life and you'll need to make sure that you're doing everything right to gain their trust and get them to work with you. Puppies really need to attend training classes. You will want to super-socialize your puppy and train him to be confident and well behaved in any situation.
Dog training classes can be expensive, but classes are one thing that I'm happy to pay for. I think of them as an investment in my relationship and getting good communication with my
dogs. With this good behaviour I can take them anywhere and I need to know that they're comfortable and safe in public. I want them to be confident, secure and well mannered wherever we find ourselves. Whether it's a hotel or visiting a friend's home for the weekend, I don't want people thinking “Oh my God they're bringing their dog!” and dreading our arrival…!
However, unless someone has a new puppy or a dog with a difficult behaviour that's causing problems most dog owners don't take their dog to training classes.
Given my job, as a dog trainer, I'm often asked by friends or family or even members of the public about their dog's behaviour issues. For example, separation anxiety, reactivity on a lead, pulling on a lead, excessive barking and so on. No matter what the question is, I always
recommend that they consult a local trainer and take basic training classes and nearly always, the response is “No, we don't need a class, it's just this one problem we're having”. If you knew even just a little bit more about training, not only would the problem behaviour improve - your entire relationship with your dog would improve too!
I think of a basic training class as the equivalent of high school classes. It's where you learn to communicate in a clear and effective way instead of shouting at others, arguing with people and not getting anywhere and failing to get your needs met. A course of lessons would help anyone get to know and understand their dog better and how to communicate with your dog. So many owners seem to have the expectation that their dog should understand conversational English by the age of four to five months and somehow they expect the dog to know how to behave calmly in any setting.
Most people managed to teach their dogs a few basics; sit, come, walk on a lead - well of sorts. But if you ask the average dog owner how they would teach a dog to perform a specific skill on cue and you made that skill something that the average dog owner does not expect their dog to do, like ‘waving’ a paw or a spin or a twist or a bow, very few people would know how to systematically shape that behaviour using well timed markers and rewards. In my opinion once you've learned the basic steps and mechanics of teaching a dog to perform any behaviour on cue, you should be able to teach them any other behaviour, and that's what basic training classes are for.
So I'm curious, have you taken any classes with your dogs? Or are you taking classes?
And if not, why not?
Credits to Nancy Kerns of the Whole Dog Journal
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