Inside or Outside

[Alto]

Which classes are you considering?
Have you met with the trainers or observed them in other classes? What's the maximum/minimum # of dogs per class?
Which dog are you bringing?

I suppose, most importantly, what are your personal goals in doing this? I'd think that the trainer would be more relevant than the venue ...

[LisaT]

Very good questions Alto.
I guess, without having seen them, I see the trainers as roughly equivalent in philosophy. I do like the "park trainers", because I know that there is a group of a similar philosophy and I like the team effort. One of the very first people that I assisted as a trainer used to work there many years ago.

I will be training with Max. He doesn't need to learn commands, he needs to learn teamwork and self-control. And he needs to have fun doing that.

He knows "stuff" and most folks, vets, etc., are impressed by him (once he settles in a new situation), but in all the years I worked with him, he never learned what I considered to be the important stuff. (And then there's that dog reactivity thing he has )

I have found that in the last 6 months with stb-ex (soon-to-be-ex) out of the house, this might be the first time he has started to electively defer his judgement for mine, so I think he's finally ready to learn all that stuff he missed before. He had a lot of years with too many aversives (this was his 5th home by the time he was 2 yo), and a part of him really shut down - I can see that changing.

[Kayos and Havoc]

Good for you taking hime to school at his age! I bet you guys will have a blast. I actually prefer training outside, after all most of my dog activities are outside and I think it is more 'real life' training. I also just like to be outside!

For a minute I thought you were getting a new pup........

[LisaT]

Yikes, I think you'd have to lock me away if I took on a puppy right now (not that I wouldn't love to)!


Wow, I hadn't really thought about his age in that way. To me, he finally matured enough to train properly - how scary is that????


Part of it is selfish. I want to be able to go places with both dogs, and handle them on my own. I need Max to step up and be the dog that he is supposed to be, and I need to give him that opportunity.


I've been thinking more about training indoors - I don't think I like the flooring - in the pics, looks like Max would be more prone to injury from a slip or awkward movement.