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Kola's First Class!!

492 Views 6 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  Willowy
Kola and I started training classes. I figured I wouldn't get any training done for all of her pulling, snapping, and growling... She couldn't of behaved better though!! When we went in with the puppies she hung out by my side, heeling when I was told to walk around. She was being very laid back.

After that we went out to watch Marko's retrieving training until the adult classes started. During those we practiced the sit, sit-stay, heel, down, down-stay, reverse stay, here, and weaving. The only thing Kola didn't do well was the down and down-stay, but after we brought in the treats she did fantastic. She didn't even flinch when the other dogs walked by!!

In the class there was a St. Bernard, Standard Poodle, Black Lab, German Wirehaird Pointer, and the most awful looking English Pointer I've ever seen. I don't get why people say it's normal for a Pointer to have it's tail touching it's belly and every bone visible. Last time I checked, that wasn't in the breed description.

In the puppy class there was a Welsh Corgi, Bull Mastiff, and Marko. Um...Not a place I"ll be taking my next puppy. They did alpha roles, where they held the puppy on their back until they stopped struggling. That teaches what? For their recall owners were instructed to pop the leash and call their dogs. Why not turn around and walk away happily? Puppies shouldn't play with eachother or other dogs because it teaches them to not focus on you. Yeaaah riiiight.

They over use prong collars. That eight week old Bull Mastiff owner was told she should buy one. A puppy! Why not a flat buckle, martangle, or even choke chain? All the dogs in the adult class except Kola had one. I don't get the point... Don't get me wrong, they are fantastic tools but not for every dog. Most of the dogs didn't even have them on correctly! Uuuugh.

I'm keeping Kola in the class though, because for the most part I was happy with it and she needs the socialization. And, I don't think I've ever been so happy with her in my life. :D
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You'd never catch me in a class alpha rolling dogs. Puppies, no less!

Thankfully it seems like the adult class for Kola is working out a bit better. Good luck with it.
Where are you taking her? Sioux Falls AKC? That's where I took Penny for obedience class.....yeah, they did make us use a prong collar. I never did understand that one. But Penny did OK---she was star of the class (not me, just her :p )! They even wanted us to go on to Agility training, but things got nuts right about then and I couldn't.

Ugh on the puppy class. I thought about taking any future puppies I may get to their classes, but not if that's what they do.
Hold the puppies on their back until they stop struggling? I don't like the idea of that. So Kola did good? CONGRATULATIONS KOLA!
Where are you taking her? Sioux Falls AKC? That's where I took Penny for obedience class.....yeah, they did make us use a prong collar. I never did understand that one. But Penny did OK---she was star of the class (not me, just her :p )! They even wanted us to go on to Agility training, but things got nuts right about then and I couldn't.

Ugh on the puppy class. I thought about taking any future puppies I may get to their classes, but not if that's what they do.
We are taking her to Joe Rodriguez in Hartford. He does most of his training in hunting with retrievers and pointers, but he also does Obedience and Agility. IF Kola gets good enough in her training, we are going to move on to Agility, I think it would do her good.

IMO the puppies shouldn't have even been on a leash, and positive reinforcement should have been used when training the recall. Before letting them play (as for their socialization) again, they have to sit/down. I think puppy class's should be...fun!

Hold the puppies on their back until they stop struggling? I don't like the idea of that. So Kola did good? CONGRATULATIONS KOLA!
I told Steven he'd better not ever do that back at the farm...it teaches noothing.

But I'm still happy with Kola!! lol My mom has really been getting into our training lately too! It's shocking since she has never bothered helping before.
I want my dog to obey me because he learns to want to... not because it's a pain in the neck. (ok, small pun intended, but still). And what wriggling puppy is gonna stop? Mine will do it when he's calm, but if he's hyper, good luck to anyone who tries.
If that's the guy I heard about, he's big on e-collars, too. Oh, no, they don't SHOCK the dogs, they just....."communicate" with them :p . Yeah. Glad the classes are working for you and Kola. Agility is fun! Hopefully that works out for you, too.
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