Obedience Classes

[NW_MONTANA_BC]

Does this sound right to everyone? I could only enroll Tucker in Foundation 1 classes as all others are full. 

 

We have a several different options available for classes. See below for
availability. If one of these sessions does not work for you, we will have
another session starting in approximately 7 weeks after the previous
session. All include some basic obedience commands. We have our Basic
Beginners (under 5 months and over 5 months of age), Better Behavior
(pre-requisite is Basic Beginners) and Foundation 1 (puppies and adults) and
Foundation 2 (pre-requisite is Foundation 1), and Beginning Novice Obedience
(over 6 months of age). All classes are taught through demonstration or
example, making sure you understand the exercise and then you teach your dog
at home during the week.

Basic Beginners: This class is for pet owners who want a better-behaved pet
and is not a pre-requisite for taking any other classes at TNT Dog Center.
Topics covered include basic obedience commands: sit, down, come, stay,
loose leash walking, and household manners. It does not cover any
pre-agility or core skills. This class has two class offerings, one for
puppies under 5 months of age (5:45 pm) and one for over 5 months of age
(8:15 pm). Upon completion of the Basic Beginners class we offer Better
Behavior which continues in the distraction, duration and distance training
that was started in the Basic Beginners classes. You must have completed the
Basic Beginners classes before moving into the Better Behavior class. Basic
Beginners and Better Behavior classes are taught on Monday evenings.

Foundation 1, 2, & 3 classes: This class is for puppies and adult dogs. It
is for people who want a better relationship with their dog, and for people
who may want to try agility training at some point in the dog's life.
However, anyone can enroll in these classes. These classes will help you to
understand your dog's behavior and to develop a relationship with your dog.
We accomplish this by utilizing obedience, pre-agility skills and core work.
These classes cover basic obedience commands with an emphasis on shaping the
behaviors (walk loosely on a leash near the heel position, sit, down, come,
stay with emphasis on the recall and stays), addresses behavioral issues,
pre-agility skills (playing with your dog, using food and toys to create a
working relationship, retrieving games, lots of hands on training, flatwork,
building motivation, introduction to a tunnel, etc.) and core work (teaching
your dog about body awareness, proper physical conditioning for the
continued health and wellness of your dog, utilizing balance equipment,
etc.). 

[Lawgirl]

Foundation one sounds good to me!

[jami74]

Foundation 1 sounds great!

The class we did looks like the Basic Beginners. Unfortunately our little boy found the whole thing far too exciting and I spent most of the classes trying to keep him calm in the corner rather than biting the lead, biting me and trying to escape his harness while everyone else got the hang of stay, recall and loose leash walking. However, I did find the classes very helpful and we have made so much progress practicing what we were taught in the classes in a calmer environment so we definitely benefitted in going even though he wasn't the model puppy I was expecting him to be.

I would definitely sign up for Foundation 1 if it was in our area.

 

[NW_MONTANA_BC]

I was kind of wondering if foundation 1 would be to much for a 14 week old puppy. He is a handful now at 12 weeks old. Though he should get a lot of socialization with other dogs and people, which would be good for him. It seems like the class tries to teach a lot in a short period of time (6 weeks)

I apologize if I put this topic in the wrong group. It may have been more appropriate in the next one down. 

[jami74]

I bet the foundation 1 would be very similar to the basic beginners. And I bet you are already on your way to having sit, down, recall etc anyway. I was a little bit disappointed in our class that there wasn't more of the socialisation part as that was the main reason I signed up. The classes were about teaching us how to teach our puppies which meant we had goes at lots of different things, there would be a few minutes of them talking, then a demonstration using one of the puppies, then we'd all have a go for a few minutes then the puppies would get a rest while they talked about the next thing. Certainly only doing it once a week wouldn't be enough to see much improvement, the things they show need to be practiced at least once a day between classes.