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Confessions of a Dog Owner: I’m Not Getting the Most Out of Class

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How to Get the Most Out of Your Dog Training Class

Dog Training Classes
amadeys/Deposit Photos

Committing to weekly group class sessions can be challenging, but it’s worth it. Make each class session count. It’s all about time management sprinkled with preparation and a dash of understanding your environment.

Arrive Early

Plan on arriving early, meaning you’re parking at the dog training center 10 minutes before class begins. This extra time cushion provides time for gathering treats, finding your clicker or giving your dog a quick potty break. Five minutes before class, find a corner spot inside and set all your stuff down so you are both ready for class to start.

If your dog is nervous about classes, arriving early provides extra adjustment time before other excited dogs begin filing in. For easily excited dogs, arriving early keeps your dog calm because you’re not rushing or piling in with the masses.

Bring Plenty of High Value Treats

Yes! The night before class, select and chop up high value treats into pea-sized portions. Plan on bringing 50-100 tiny treats per class session. It seems like too many treats, but usually it amounts to one cheese stick or hotdog if portioned correctly. If there’s extra treats after class, let your dog race the treat bag on the drive home or freeze large amounts of leftovers for next week’s class.

Running out of treats during class will halt your progress. Either you stand still and watch others practice or you’re running into the retail area purchasing more treats. Either way, you’ve wasted at least five to 10 minutes. This usually happens during demonstration time (i.e. the dog trainer provides feedback while you practice), which is a crucial part of the learning process for you and your dog.

If you’re busy, try this time-saving tip: Place cut-up treats in a plastic bag and keep refrigerated. When running home to pick up your dog, grab the plastic bag and shove in your bait bag or purse. Keep an extra clicker in the car along with extra poop bags, as clickers always go missing it seems (maybe they’re hiding with all those missing socks). Voila, you’re all set!

RELATED: Choosing Dog Training Treats

Keep Your Distance

By arriving early, you can choose your spot before others arrive. Usually, corner spots work best for easily distracted or nervous dogs. Corner spots allow more wiggle room, so you’re able to control distance between other dogs and handlers. Distance is important, especially during the learning process, because it ensures your dog focuses on you until he learns polite behaviors. When in doubt, take a few steps back from other teams, and keep and maintain a three- to five-feet bubble from others.

Ask Questions If Confused

The worst thing you could do is leave class confused and frustrated. Usually, this happens during lecture time when the dog trainer is explaining how to teach your dog a new behavior. If you’re confused, raise your hand and say so politely. More than likely, you’re not the only one.

If you’re confused, the dog trainer didn’t explain correctly. Yes, it’s true. A dog trainer’s (teacher) job is to explain how to teach dog behaviors effectively so all dog owners (students) understand how to teach their dogs. Remember this when your dog (student) becomes confused because you (teacher) may need to explain it differently too. 🙂

RELATED: Is Your Dog Confused?

As a dog trainer, I’m constantly interpreting your body language and checking in, so I can usually tell if you’re confused. There are moments when I’ve misread the group and everyone is doing their own things. That’s my fault.  If I spot several confused expressions or someone staring into space, it’s my job as a dog trainer to stop and figure out how to explain it better. When new behaviors go seamlessly, I pat myself on the back.

Stay After With Questions

If you’re still confused, stay after class and ask more questions. Usually a third of the dog training class stays afterwards with questions pertaining to the session or behaviors at home, so be prepared to wait. Sometimes, a few seconds of one-on-one with a dog trainer answers your questions immediately.

If you’re pressed for time, plan to email your questions within 24 hours. Quickly emailing questions ensures you remember valuable details, which is important to understand the situation. Email is hard to interpret sometimes, but hopefully your dog trainer is able to send links to answer your questions and provide further research on specific topics.

Practice at Home

Practicing at home is very important! Ninety percent of behavior issues happen at home, so practicing within your environment is vital. Post homework sheets in a visible area, such as the refrigerator, and read thoroughly.

Set aside five minutes per day for practicing. Keep dog training sessions short (one to two minutes) and practice throughout the day. Another good thing about practicing at home is you can control distractions, which is not the case at the dog training center. 🙂

The secret to teaching foolproof behaviors is teaching and practicing at home, so you can polish them during group class!

Happy training!

Dog Breed of the Week: Great Dane

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Meet the Great Dane

Great Dane
RalfWeigel/iStock

The Great Dane is elegantly compiled of great size and power. So much so, they are known  as the “Apollo” of dogs. Great Danes descend from Mastiffs like most breeds of dogs, which is not surprising due to their large size and short coat. They were bred for boar hunting in Germany and are known as “Deutsche Dogge” in their native country, which loosely translates to “german mastiff.” Great Danes are a member of the Working Group through the American Kennel Club (AKC). Instead of hunting, the Great Dane’s function is mainly serving as a companion.

General Characteristics and Temperament

This powerful dog usually stands at least 30” tall. Males typically stand at 32” or more while females stand at least 30” or more. Males weigh in at 130-180 lbs and females at about 110-150 lbs. They’re by no means a small dog.

Great Danes range within three color families: fawn and brindle; harlequin and mantle; and black and blue. An interesting tidbit of information: each color family tends to have different characteristics and even specific health issues.

Great Danes tend to be spunky, confident, friendly and easily trained dogs that are generally good with children and other pets in your home. However, with any giant dog, they should be supervised. Their size and spunkiness can be a bit overwhelming to children and smaller animals. In addition, their long wagging tail can clear a coffee table within minutes. Training will greatly benefit Great Danes and allow them to be well-mannered family companions.

Health and Dietary Needs

As with any giant breed, their lifespan is a bit short, so expect seven to 10 years of enjoyment. In terms of health problems, your major concerns will be: gastric torsion (stomach flips over), cardiomyopathy (heart disease) and osteosarcoma (bone cancer) while your minor concerns being hip dysplasia, CVI (Wobbler’s syndrome), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), HOD (skeletal disorder) and hypothyroidism.

Choosing a reputable breeder can drastically reduce heath issues. Parents and grandparents that have been health tested before breeding can reduce the chances of passing on their crippling diseases to your dog. If adopting, ask your veterinarian to complete health testing as well to rule out any lurking health issues.

Diet

Most likely, your Great Dane will thrive on dog foods blended for large breed dogs, meaning higher protein levels and reduced minerals to ensure they grow slowly, which is a good thing. Some Great Danes do very well eating balanced raw diets, but be prepared to order meat in large quantities. With Great Danes being so tall, it’s recommended you provide them with an elevated eating and drinking station to prevent bloat.

Dog Grooming Needs

Great Danes have a short, thick and sleek coat that requires weekly brushing with a rubber curry comb. While their coat is short, they still shed. Never use a deshedding tool, as it can cause brush burn (blisters and bleeding skin) in unskilled hands. To keep dander to a minimum, weekly or bi-weekly baths with a gentle shampoo is important. Remember to rinse completely.

Ears

Great Danes have medium-sized ears that are naturally floppy, but usually cropped (personal preference). Either way, checking their ears regularly for buildup is a good idea. Most of the time, a quick wipe down with an ear cloth will do just fine.

Nails

Oh, they have strong and thick nails, so keeping your Great Dane’s nails trimmed weekly is important. Using clippers or a nail grinder will prevent overgrowth and splitting, which is very painful.

RELATED: Dog Nail Trimming Tips: Teaching Nail Drags Across the Board

Exercise and Dog Training Needs

You may think that this large dog needs a lot of exercise, but this is not exactly the case with Great Danes. They tend to have pretty low energy, so regular walks or even a daily game of fetch will suffice. Although, they do need enough room to move around and stretch those long legs. If you don’t have a yard for them to play in, I suggest taking them to a park or a safe fenced area.

The good news is Great Danes are easily trainable and learn fastest when using positive reinforcement. Due to their size, they can easily pull you around during walks or vet visits, so I would recommend a head halter. Personally, I’ve had great success with reward based training and the right tools, such as the head collar with the Great Danes I have trained.

Conclusion

If you are considering bringing a Great Dane into your family, I invite you to locate a reputable breeder or rescue organization from the Great Dane of America Club.

Ask the Dog Trainer: How to Find an Excellent Dog Training Blog

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Finding a Dog Training Blog

Dog Blog

Blogs are a great thing. Who doesn’t enjoy the convenience of Googling an answer to your question? I don’t know how we lived without this option, honestly. But finding an excellent dog training blog can be challenging so follow these simple tips to keep you and your dog safe. 

Everyone Thinks She’s a Dog Trainer–Yikes!

Before diving knee-deep into a dog training blog, take a moment and research blog contributors. Are they dog trainers? If so, have they taught? Do they still teach group classes? Have they earned advanced dog training certifications? Earning advanced certifications is vital. This is the only way to differentiate between beginners/dabblers and dog trainers with proven knowledge of training all different types of dogs. Be careful about titles. Anyone can call herself a dog trainer or animal behaviorist, but unless it’s earned through testing councils, I would be very leery.

Take it a step further. Now, search the Internet to find more information about a dog trainer blog contributor. While doing a search, her advanced dog training certification should pop up along with any professional dog training memberships and maybe other blogs or videos.

RELATED: Dog Trainer Fanna Easter

Never Follow Harmful Training Methods

The most important tip is blog contributors should never recommend harmful training methods. I can’t say this enough. It’s much easier missing a “click and treat” opportunity than punishing your dog. If you’re not sure what you’re doing, you can certainly cause further frustration and possibly damage your relationship with your dog. Reading and watching videos are helpful, but nothing takes the place of having an expert watch and provide feedback while practicing.

Lastly, follow blogs with current and updated training methods, such as training principles founded by science. If someone recommends alpha or dominance training, run. This myth was dispelled over a decade ago. Check out my reasoning on why these methods don’t work.

Trust Your Gut

If something, or someone, sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Dogs aren’t like cars. You can’t fix them or guarantee results so ignore those promising too much. Trust your gut and do no harm. 🙂  When in doubt, find a professional and certified dog trainer in your area for best results.

You may also like: Ask the Dog Trainer: Resources for Dealing With Reactive Dogs

Dog Training Nation is a dog training blog for pet owners and dog lovers. We cover a range of topics from puppy socialization tips to dog aggression to dog health. It is our hope you share our content to make the world a better place for dogs.

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