I found a most awesome dog training class!

[mommy4ever]

I am bringing the girls to doggie classes.

Gizmo - 7 mo- mini schnauzer x shih-tzu- stubborn although smart, hasn't quite figured out the potty training, she does go to the door, but doesn't make a sound, doesn't whine, and trust me she knows how, and if we don't talk to her IMMEDIATELY, she squats. ARGGGGHHH. So if you aren't staring at her, she will have an accident. She doesn't have a recall. No way no how, you call her, she looks at you and tilts that darling head but doesn't come to you. If you step toward her, she figures it's time to play tag and you are it. Other dogs? Well she figures she's an BIG girl, HUGE, the hackles go up and she is all aggressive. she is 8 lbs of fluff. SO she needs a little work. She IS smart. This is what floors me. You can teach her a new trick every day. She'll learn it in minutes. Sit, down, roll over, sit pretty, crawl, shake a paw, high five, dance. Uh.... there are more goofy tricks she can do. But will she ask for the door? Will she come? Nope.

Next Brat:
Bella - 19 mo- schnoodle - Bella is extremely bright, but a huge worrier. She is my fretful girl. She reacts negatively to boys after puberty starts. She reacts negatively to some teenage girls, and to all men other than dh. Negatively as is barking and making a fuss, but if reached out to she cowers and takes cover. She figures she's a 7kg sled dog when you put her on a leash, and figures mom is a spring board. Again, she's a smart girl, has an awesome awesome recall, can go off leash, knows lots of tricks, potty trained in just a couple weeks.

So there are my girls. Winter is coming and they are NOT outside dogs. So we need to work on Gizmo get her trained so having her in the house isn't a constant bomb patrol. We are planning on moving, and teh community is more strict on noise, so I need teh barking of both(Giz when she hears or sees animals, Bella when she hears or sees non-family members). I want to be able to walk Bella, I want my dd5 to be able to walk her. I want Gizmo to be able to safely go off leash where we won't lose her, be it as run away, other dog snack or hit by a car.

I have found a class to does on location. From parks, to downtown(larger city), to subway, to dog park, to...... All kinds of situations to get them used to all kinds of different scenarios. Am I likely to ever bring my dogs into a subway station? Nope. Downtown? Highly unlikely, but it's a way to get them socialized, used to focussing on me, or who ever is with them and respond to a command. While they may not ever be in a train station again, what about around 10 - 6 or 7 year? I should be able to control them around some rowdies. If they are in a dog park, they should come when asked to do so.

It is totally NOT treat based. I never cared for that form of training.

I'm very excited. PLUS, once the class is complete, I can do drop in classes anytime in the future to brush up if needed(with 4 kids, it'll be needed..lol) for $10 per drop in. So they are accessible to me at all times!

First class is Bella on the 19th of August, then Gizmo will go ont he 23rd. They are sharing the class, it's supposed to be twice a week, but we'll alternate dogs. Sundays are 1.5 hours, Wednesdays are 1 hour.

I'm excited to have found this class. While a little more expensive than the petstore, in the long run it'll be cheaper due to drop in classes.

[frugalfranny]

Kudos on your great find. Good luck with the training.

I took my girl and it was the best thing I ever did. She was going to be a 'problem child' and I managed to nip it in the bud. That kid has 'sent me to training'........forced me to read two training books......I watch anything I can find on TV about training dogs.

Good luck.........it isn't the dog that gets trained you know, it is the trainer!

[pollypurebred39]

That's wonderful. A well trained dog is priceless. Enjoy your dog training classes, while they are a lot of work they also are a lot of fun.