fitting in dog training for parents of teenage kids?

[x11]

a near neighbour used to help me out with training and i got him interested in tracking and some more formal obed, he enjoyed it but he and his wife both work and when they are not working they are a cab service for their teenage kids, football, ballet lessons, swimming.......

their feet never touch the ground, they are always exhausted and spending money all the time, as a result the dog is basically neglected in the back yard and sees them when they are rushing around before work/school and then chills with them while for some time while they veg out in front of the box, meals etc.

never having bred i never really thought about the amount of time families take up, the dog is a nice boy, he is a pet/show line Rott and doesn't not appear to need a lot of work....but still.

i appreciatte what you family types do to keep it together but how??

that question refers to finding time to train a dog to be more than a pet.

[Zeeva]

I'm thankful I don't have kids...I couldn't take care of 8 lives and a human baby if I had too...

[onyx'girl]

I'm a "bad" mom because I choose to spend more time with my dogs than I do with my almost adult teenagers. They don't want me around anyway!
My daughter use to go to training with me, she enjoyed it...until she hit 15, then it was stupid/boring.

I don't know how the balance can work with kids/dogs/training, unless the kids are interested and want to be involved. Otherwise you do have to put the kids first, dogs last. And kids in sports(travel ball/hockey/martial arts) is full recreational time. It is a huge commitment financially and time-wise. Just like dog training, if you are competitive, same thing.

[x11]

not sure how old you are but most people assume cos you never bred you must be gay, i just don't bother explaining it anymore.

[battleborn]

When I was a kid, I took it upon myself to train the family dog. It was driving me crazy and my Mom didn't have time and my brother (who had talked her into getting the dog) was really too young at the time to handle it.

In retrospect, it was a great project for 15 year old me. I learned a lot. So did the dog. Your neighbor could make their kids more involved in the dog's life. It'll be good for everyone involved.

[wolfy dog]

Our kids have moved out. They were never over-scheduled so I remained sane and I had time for my passion (dogs!!). As a result I was not an overstressed parent. Today it seems like parents are mainly cab drivers instead of parents. And the family dog living in the back yard or crated.
I don't understand why kids have to be in more than one structured activity any ways. There is too much peer pressure on nowadays parents.

[Gharrissc]

I think a lot of families don't see training the dogs as a priority. They may do some training initially,but don't see it as something that should be kept up. I see a lot of parents who have their kids so overloaded with sports,it's like a full time job. They don't really include the dog in things,but when they finally do nobody seems to understand why the dog 'won't calm down.'

[gmcwife1]

We have two adult children that are on their own and one teenager that is still at home with us. She is the reason we have added the GSD to our household. She is in her 5th yr of 4-H and that is her main activity.

She trains her dog at 4-H every Thursday. We also take one training class per week, the last 7 weeks it has been a CGC class. The next one will be an obedience class.

We are having a harder time balancing it all this spring just because our daughter made the basketball team at school. But the season is short so we are just going to tough it out for the next month or so.

[x11]

i think this could have something to do with all the "pet problems" that fill the dog forums and create a viable industry for pro-trainers and such, i think there is more work for fixing dogs problems that were mainly created by a dog being spoilt when it was a cute puppy and then left to rot in the back yard. i know these kids when they were youner were a real gang with the dog in all kinds of adventures, that old Rott would follow them off-leash for miles on their bikes etc, then teenage, facebook, competitive sport etc and pooch becomes a burden to have around, poor dogs, i wonder what they think.

[Capone22]

I don't have teenagers but I have a 6 year old (in 9 days =) and a 9 month old baby. You MAKE time. You can't use kids as an excuse. You can't have a third child but say you dont have time for it because your too busy with the other two children. Sure, maybe you have less time than say your single neighbor who spends all day every day with their dog. but to not make time at least once a day to devote to your dog for training and exercise is neglectful. All that means to me, is that the dog is not a priority to them.