REVscene - Vancouver Automotive Forum

Sentinel · 02-09-2014, 09:03 PM

I have a 10 week old puppy right now, looking to sign up for some puppy training classes. What are some good places?

Heard mixed reviews about Petsmart. Looked up Yoga Dog, Dizine Canine, and Downtown Dogs. Positives reviews for those 3, but looking at other options.

Suggestions?

stewie · 02-10-2014, 12:30 AM

i took mine to downtown dogs on Kingsway during the summer(I think it was summer)

the girl who teaches is really nice, class sizes are SMALL so theres plenty of 1 on 1 time. you get your weekly homework...make the pup learn 1-2 new commands, and each class they build on everything you've already learned.

the puppy class taught my dog: sit, down, stay, come, finish, heel, and then everything again with no words, just hand signals.

im going back to her for the level 2...eventually hahaha

Gucci Mane · 02-10-2014, 01:58 AM

do it yourself with youtube videos. honestly... save yourself some money. its actually not that hard to teach a dog something, it just requires a lot of repetition and patience.

finbar · 02-10-2014, 08:13 PM

If this is your first pup I would recommend taking the class.
It will teach you to be more dog.
no free lunch FTW

stewie · 02-10-2014, 10:23 PM

i tried youtube videos before and they all kinda jerked me around. one person would say use this technique, the other would say to not do that etc etc.

if your going to use videos to train, do NOT reward the dog with toys or food or else every time they do a command they'll be expecting a reward. the only reward they should be given during training is affection (my gsd is just over 100lbs at 1 year old, the affection i give him is ragdolling him on the floor until he's able to get out...bugger loves to wrestle with me). only time he gets toys or a cookie is when im done his little 10 minute session.

westopher · 02-11-2014, 07:01 PM

Dizine is great. I disagree with Stewie about not giving a treat or toys, but agree with the affection part. I have trained Monty with treats for the first part to get repetition going, then weed him off of them until his behaviour becomes a habit, with the occasional treat here and there. I just use TINY pieces of dried beef liver so its next to nothing as far as calorie content. I strongly suggest using a professional for at least a basic class if this is your first dog. Yeah it costs money, but spending a couple hundred bucks on your best friends behaviour for the next 10-15 years its a very good investment, and honestly its fun. I always take monty to The breakfast club, put on by bad dogs gone good, but its more for socialization than obedience, however its also about building a relationship with your dog, which is huge when it comes to long lasting training.

gars · 02-12-2014, 09:36 AM

I'm just finishing my 6th class at Petsmart tomorrow. I found the first class to be a little disorganized - but I think my instructor really found her groove the next class. It's not as structured as I thought it would be - but I found it just really nice to be able to ask questions to someone other than the internet.

You can youtube/google everything now - but different dogs respond differently to training, so it's nice to have someone with tons of experience help you out.

The City of Vancouver actually has a lot of different dog classes offered at the community centres. You can filter it by days of the week, location, etc - Petsmart actually teaches some of the classes at the community centres.

Like Dizine said, it'd nice to just have a professional teach you a few things, especially if it's your first dog. My girlfriend and I are both dog people, but we've never raised a puppy before, so I thought it was great to be able to socialize my puppy in a controller environment, and also learn a few new things!