tell me how to persevere with dog training classes are when you have the liveliest dog there

[Owllady]

that's it really :o

My dog is very spirited and wants to be the life and soul

all other puppies look very docile and shocked by her enthusiasm...

I have never done the training classes before last week and have been told to expect much of the same. They are worth sticking with arent they?

I am having that half term dread about everything atm though

[Floralnomad]

Did the others all start last week as well or is it like a 'rolling ' class IYSWIM , I went to the latter and mine was terrible the first couple of weeks .

[fanoftheinvisibleman]

We finished our entire class that way. My dog is absolutely bonkers for attention from other people and dogs. I clicker trained him to do all sorts at home but he was like a maniac at class.

The only one he excelled at was recall as he was encouraged to hit me like a speeding bullet and lick me to death. Other than that forget it, even watch me was too much. We stuck the full course out and just worked through it in the week.

We carry on alone and haven't signed up to follow on. He will sit and watch me when he meets a dog out and about now which I take as a moral victory. I may do an adult class if he ever calns down around ither dogs but we train at home for now.

[bubble2bubble]

Oh I feel your pain. Bubble pup was far and away the bounciest in the class, as well as the largest and the only mongrel.. I nearly gave up before we started

On the other hand I think I did learn quite a lot and it certainly out me under pressure to practice and prove myself the next week. Without it I don't think I would have got him to walk to heel in a week, but I did, just because I practiced every single day to go back and show those little toy pedigrees off

[SpicyPear]

Same here. We persevered and ended up winning the little competition at the last class! It's great to practice around distractions so put your rhino hide on and get stuck in!

[Scuttlebutter]

Keep going. I have sort of the opposite problem. I go to class with one of our greyhound girls. While the rest of the class is full of beans, she regularly falls asleep on her blanket. When tutor comes over she'll flirt and try and lick him, but when that fails (he is made of stern stuff) she turns her back. Last night, we were practising our Stay - tutor said thoughtfully "I can't decide if she is really staying or if she has just put two fingers up to me and can't be arsed". Quite often the bonkers Labrador and loopy lurcher in our class are creating mayhem (in a nice way) and she just sighs and rolls over on her little blanket.

[littlewhitebag]

I have the bonkers lab and i give a lift to obedience classes to a lady with a Portuguese water dog. The two of them spend the entire lesson plotting to break free and leg it round the field with looks of glee on their cute little puppy faces. It causes much laughter in the class and our trainer has the patience of a saint!

[JaxTellerIsMyFriend]

Training has to be fun! Dont put so much pressure on yourself or the dog and just keep on practicing. Every day, a little bit, lots of praise - for yourself and the dog.

I remember one class I had and my dog created such mayhem I walked out crying! I felt such a prat, but I was putting so much pressure on myself, was pre menstrual, frustrated and it was awful. Luckily, most in the group had done this at one point or another - it was a revelation.
That was the time I decided that inside classes were not for her us and started doing agility and outside training with her.

BUT I also went back to the class with her, did some work and she got better. There was one particular dog that had a go at her and that was the only one in our class, she took great umbrage and detested that dog from then on!

Doing lots of training in a hall full of smells, other dogs and chaos is all very well, but it needs to be enforced in real life situations too.

[mycatoscar]

That's me and my lab x collie every Tuesday night at the moment we are in a class of smaller more docile dogs and she's the weekly cabaret!

She has got better though over the weeks (we're nearly at the end of the course now) and on the advise of the trainer I take toys and a stuffed king with us to keep her busy during times when she's not up and doing something. The positive thing is that she's very responsive and learns quickly, so she's often used as the demo dog (shines gold star)

[Owllady]

well I ended up going before I had read your responses, sorry

I think I was having a last minute panic. My dd has been off school and things are usually very manic because of her disabilities./ But I took my eldest ds along and actually it was fine. I say fine :o she was still the liveliest but we made sure got there early and went for a walk first, so she could have a poo and calm down a bit as she isn't really that great in the car yet either - so anxiety plus a new situation last week most probably didn't help at all. She was still rather excitable, but I suppose who wouldn't be with so many new playmates sitting waiting to be played with! but she was easily distracted this week and was absolutely bloody amazing, honestly even my 11 year old son who has a downer on everything said 'god dog I am SO proud of you' when we got in the car

so i will persevere and now read your messages. She is such a lovely good dog at home and on walks though that I wondered whether it would make her worse, I think it's because I have always not gone before though with other dogs, but tonight, even on the 2nd one I saw the benefits (and the other dogs are opposite to mine and decided they would all start being more cocky, whilst my pretty dog has mastered watch and wait )

god thanks for letting me ramble!

[Owllady]

oh I love these messages. Incidentally the dog that keeps falling asleep at our class is a greyhound (or whippet) and I am the one with the lively happy collie x :)

[JaxTellerIsMyFriend]

you have a collie. they are bouncy, they need to do 'stuff' - keep at it. It will all be worth it.

[Owllady]

I know re collies i am just surprised it was so much easier this time
and the poor girl is exhausted
wanted her crate :o

[pimmsgalore]

My lab collie x was exactly the same through the 2 courses we have done. Caused much amusement when he was meant to be laying on his mat but got bored and decided to leap up the white wash wall chasing his own shadow

We didn't do the bronze test, as we were on holiday on the night, but the trainer said depending on whether good pimmsdog or mad pimmsdog came we should have passed

[Marne]

I think we may have the same problem when we start classes wit our lab x though at the moment he's quite shy and nervous with outher dogs but once he's checked them out he starts bouncing around, he is easy to train at home but not sure how he will be in a class full of other pups.

[aJumpedUpPantryBoy]

I feel your pain

My JRT was the naughtiest in the class.
I used to leave redfaced, exausted and dripping wth sweat - the whole thing was draining.
It got to the stage where I acually resented 'Freddie' - a beautifully behaved dog and I couldn't understand why on earth his owners were there. Everytime we learnt a new skill IFreddie would master in at once while me and JRT would be failing repeatedly

But... I am glad I persevered - even by the end my dog was still the naughtiest liveliest but he was one of the dogs who had made the most progress.

[TeaOneSugar]

My Cocker was the bounciest in the puppy class, we've now moved onto beginners (which is a rolling class rather than a course) and guess what, still the bounciest.

Most weeks he's in a room full of GSDs, who all think he's a fluffy daft pup :)

I keep going because he keeps improving, so it's worth it long term, even if I'm occassionally embarrassed.

[Twattybollocks]

Mine was a loon, we spent most of our time trying to stop her mosh jumping on other dogs heads and licking them to death. Recall was a huge problem as she would get half way to me only to veer off to bounce on another dog. Down was also hilarious as if I got on the floor to try to get her to go under my leg she would just jump on me and stick her tongue in my ear. We did do the 6 class course, but in reality it was far easier to do the basic training at home and get some semblance of control before trying it in company!