Boarding school for dogs

[Rock]

Hi evryone,

Just a quick question here and then ill go into the introduction section to introduce myself and beloved GSD.

I was just wondering if anybvody has taken their dog to a boarding school for dogs, where they have been trained for obedince over a 1 or 2 week period?

Comments would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[Mac's Mom]

Do you mean without you there? I haven't but a friend of mine sent her newfoundland to a week long "charm" school and she said there was no improvement. I'm not a trainer...but in my opinion its important for the owner to be involved in every aspect of the training. I'm interested to hear other views on this as well.

[W.Oliver]

Do you have limitations that prevent you from training the puppy yourself?

[Elaine]

A friend of mine does the boarding training thing. A lot of what she does is basically reform school for out of control dogs. She gets the dogs back on track without the owner that made the dog that way in the first place, and then brings the owner back in for training with the dog at the end to help keep the dog from returning to the way he was in the first place.

As for learning obedience in 1-2 weeks, impossible. It takes a lot of time and repetition to be reliable and this short a time frame doesn't do it.

[GermanShepherds6800]

Dog training is about training the handler as much as it is the dog. If the handler is not dedicated then no matter what training someone else puts on a dog the dog will not be able to work the same with the untrained owner. I feel boarding trainers are not a good thing.

[selzer]

Not on your life. I wouldn't. Anyone can slap a prong collar on a dog and get the dog to do this or that, hold the dog up by the prong if it fights, put e-collars all over it, refuse it food and even water, or leave it in a small kennel for the entire time, save ten minutes every other day.

I am paranoid about stuff like that. I know that most places are probably just fine, but you hear about horror stories. And with dogs -- no one is telling if there aren't marks on the dogs, or unless the dog dies. Frankly, a dog can put up with a whole lot of abuse before it dies. There is just too much of a license to treat the dog fouly and no one will ever know it.

Anyway, for training to be effective, the owner needs to work the dog.

I do not think there are any short cuts to a well behaved, well mannered dog.

[H15A5H1]

Originally Posted by selzer

Not on your life. I wouldn't. Anyone can slap a prong collar on a dog and get the dog to do this or that, hold the dog up by the prong if it fights, put e-collars all over it, refuse it food and even water, or leave it in a small kennel for the entire time, save ten minutes every other day.

I am paranoid about stuff like that. I know that most places are probably just fine, but you hear about horror stories. And with dogs -- no one is telling if there aren't marks on the dogs, or unless the dog dies. Frankly, a dog can put up with a whole lot of abuse before it dies. There is just too much of a license to treat the dog fouly and no one will ever know it.

Anyway, for training to be effective, the owner needs to work the dog.

I do not think there are any short cuts to a well behaved, well mannered dog.

agree 100% with you on this. the problem is, most of these 'send your dog off for training' involves force trainers. exactly what you describe. since they only have a short amount of time to get results, they will use force techniques until your dog complies. whether it be slapping on a pinch collar, or ecollar, etc, your dog is not going to learn any of his obedience in a healthy way. this type of training will damage the bond between the trainer & dog, but since most of the dogs trained in this fashion wont see the original trainer anymore, i guess it doesnt bother them

[MaggieRoseLee]

I'd never do it for general obedience.

One thing I KNOW for sure is that 'dog' training is only about 25% about 'the dog'. The other 75% is about training for the owner/handler. And it's the 75% that is the problem with most of our poor pups!

So to send my dog off to someone who already KNOWS how to train a dog is great for my dog to get it's part. But unless the trainer comes back to live in my house for the rest of my dogs life, there is still 75% missing from the puzzle and the training will start to break down almost immediately.

Puppy/dog class is FUN! Bonding with the dog. Getting a leadership role with my puppy. Learning the proper way to play/reward/treat/correct with skills I'll need the rest of my life with my dog(s).

[Liesje]

Originally Posted by selzer

Not on your life. I wouldn't. Anyone can slap a prong collar on a dog and get the dog to do this or that, hold the dog up by the prong if it fights, put e-collars all over it, refuse it food and even water, or leave it in a small kennel for the entire time, save ten minutes every other day.

I am paranoid about stuff like that. I know that most places are probably just fine, but you hear about horror stories. And with dogs -- no one is telling if there aren't marks on the dogs, or unless the dog dies. Frankly, a dog can put up with a whole lot of abuse before it dies. There is just too much of a license to treat the dog fouly and no one will ever know it.

Anyway, for training to be effective, the owner needs to work the dog.

I do not think there are any short cuts to a well behaved, well mannered dog.

Do you think it's different than buying a titled dog? Just curious b/c you bought a titled dog recently, right? Do you think dogs that are titled to be sold receive better care and more thorough training?

I would never send my dogs away, purchase a dog trained or titled by someone else, or train and title a dog for someone else. I've had offers and opportunities for all three. No way. I will take someone else's puppy temporarily so that it can be socialized (for example, I took a puppy from a breeder for a few weeks b/c she wanted to keep more than one and it's better for them to receive all the attention they need/deserve than have to share at that age). But beyond puppy socialization...send away training defeats the purpose of having dogs for me.

[catz]

I wouldn't recommend it in any way. My friend sent her GSD mix to a 2 week training camp, an expensive one at that and the dog was returned to her with a big scab on the side of his face. Apparently her dog got its face stuck in a gate, which I dont believe as the dog came back very sketchy. It was no better trained then when it left and cowers a lot when you put your hand over its head. She essentially paid a lot of money to give her dog fear issues.
Please go to training classes with your dog and train as a team. I would hate to hear another horror story from theses places