A few weeks ago I was talking about All Day Training
You see, you can do most of the “survival” training yourself. [“Survival training”? Sleeping, not biting, housetraining, chewing, etc. There’s info amongst the 300 articles here at Brilliant Family Dog for all those - just use the SEARCH box.]
And you can do this at home. Every day. ALL day, in fact, as I explained!
So while you wait for a vacancy at your local puppy class, don’t wait to train your pup!
There’s so much you can be doing long before you get to class.
And as for the class you choose, did you know there’s a lot more to this than meets the eye? 👀
If this is your first puppy, you may be forgiven for thinking that all classes are the same.
Not so!
Here’s what you want to ask specifically, and get proper answers to:
Is everything taught by force-free methods? (Positive reward-based training with no lead-yanking, shouting, finger-waggling … Any mention of Alpha, Leader, Balanced - run a mile.)
How many puppies in the class? (6-8 ideal)
What ages are puppies admitted? (That should be 8 - 24 weeks, no older)
Indoors or outdoors (HINT: you’ll get far more out of an indoor class than you can hope for from an outdoor one. Just think of all those distractions, not to mention classes missed through bad weather …)
Does the Tutor give homework - paper or online - and is it written in lay language?
Does the Tutor supply or sell correct equipment and toys, or advise what to purchase?
Is there a possibility to continue to further classes?
And do ask to visit a class before signing up. This is what you should find:
✅ It should be friendly, calm, fairly quiet, with an enjoyable feel.
✅ The Tutor should be aware of every puppy and be demonstrating the lessons with each of the puppies by turns.
✅ Does everyone have sufficient space to manage their puppies without getting tangled up with the other pups?
✅ The owners should be quiet and attentive and working the exercises carefully - with lots of Tutor input.
✅ Questions should be answered at appropriate times.
✅ Any puppy who appears stressed should be given special attention to soothe him.
✅ If there’s any puppy play it should be carefully supervised by the Tutor, with a commentary on what’s going on - and managed so that all puppies involved have an enjoyable experience.
See Resources below to find a suitable class near you.
Or just jump into the Brilliant Family Dog Academy! You’ll learn all about it in this free Workshop, along with the vital lessons for you to work through.
The thing is …
Don’t wait till your dog is giving you trouble before training him.
A puppy is so easy to train. You may not think so, but really, it’s true!
Adolescents are way harder. Because you have to undo all the things they’ve learnt that you didn’t want them to, then teach them what you would like them to do.
Undo. Re-do.
Far faster just to DO in the first place!
RESOURCES:
Fix everyday dog problems fast - free email course
