Training classes – How to get the most from them.
From someone who has been to a great many classes in several places, as a pupil, as an observer and as a (very) occasional instructor, here are a few suggestions for getting the most out of your classes, in terms of both fun and learning. Most of these entail some common sense (which, of course, must be in short supply or we wouldn’t have taken on our dogs in the first place), and some consideration for the other pupils and the instructor.
Always try to bear in mind that everyone else has paid the same as you, and that they are therefore entitled to just as much of the instructor’s time and attention as you are, and that the instructor has the already difficult task of watching several dogs and handlers tie themselves in knots whilst offering help and advice where needed and trying to give equal attention to everyone. It’s not easy.
Hopefully these points will give you a better insight into how classes work, for you and the instructors.
1) Remember it’s a dog! They may be extremely adaptable, more intelligent than most people give them credit for and eager to please, but they don’t have adult human powers of reasoning and deduction and they do not understand our language. (Sounds, yes, but the actual meaning of even a few words? The jury’s still out, but it’s doubtful.) Ask yourself if you’d expect an 18 month old child to understand what you’re trying to tell the dog. If the answer’s no, you shouldn’t expect the dog to either.
2) Don’t talk so much! If you are constantly trying to train your dog by having a conversation with it, it is going to take you a very long time to get anywhere. For a start, it isn’t a conversation, it’s a monologue, delivered to a listener who hasn’t a clue what you’re going on about, but who might pick up the tone of voice and the sound of the odd word (his name, “sit”, “down” etc.). He may eventually do what you want, but it will take much longer and may not be very reliable. “Come on now Mizzi, just be a good boy and calm down and sit for me.” is never going to be as effective as simply saying “Sit!” for all sorts of reasons, not least of which is that the first word of that sentence is a command (“Come”), then you’ve used the dog’s name, which is effectively another command (“Pay attention” or “Come!” again), then you’ve praised him (“Good Boy!”) for no reason at all, then there’s another command (“Down!”) and finally we get to “Sit!”, which is all you actually wanted. All the other words are just confusing noise to poor old Mizzi.
3) Try to avoid repeating commands. If you start training your dog to come to you by yelling “Rex! Rex! Rex! Rex!” it won’t take long for him to think that’s his name, or at least that he doesn’t have to come until you’ve repeated it for at least that long. (Anyway, if you must name your dog after a rubbish “Australian” lager, surely “Fosters” would be a better choice?) The same goes for any other command. Repeating “Sit!” for thirty seconds until he eventually does it, then giving him loads of praise and a treat, has just taught him that he shouldn’t sit until you’ve run out of breath and gone blue. Mildly entertaining for those around you, but no fun for you.
4) Keep calm. If you get nervous, frustrated or angry, your dog will instantly reflect this, usually by becoming confused and anxious. It knows that you’re upset about something, but almost certainly has absolutely no idea what, however obvious it may be to you. It may try to calm you down by rapidly going through all the positions it knows (sit, down, stand etc.), or by trying to play with you. It may just “shut down” and collapse in a heap, or it may react in a hundred other ways, none of which are what you wanted it to do, so you become even more agitated. Trying to continue in this situation will only ever make things worse, so don’t let it happen. Take a breath, wait for the dog to calm (it will, once you really do) and start again, this time in a calm but firm way. There are times when you’ll need to use excitement, but only ever in a positive way.
5) Don’t confuse “Assertiveness” with aggression. At some point, you may well be told that you need to be “more assertive”, or “a bit firmer”. Truly assertive people are not those who raise their voice or use the “force” of their personality or physical strength and aggression to achieve what they want. Those who do that are just bullies. Really assertive people (and dogs) are very relaxed and get the result they want basically by knowing that‘s what is going to happen. They simply don’t expect anything else to happen, so usually it doesn’t. If you tell your dog to stay, and walk away from him totally relaxed and not expecting him to move, then once he’s got the basic idea of what “Stay!” means, he’s less likely to wander off. If you walk away with your body tense, resisting the temptation to look over your shoulder, and flicking vague hand signals at him, he’ll almost certainly get up and follow you, just to try and see why you’re so worried.
6) Leave the past behind. This is a tough one. If you think that your dog has suffered some traumatic event in the past (being beaten, being attacked by another dog etc.), do your very best to let it go. Until you do, the dog will have no chance of getting over it. Dogs are incredibly resilient, and it’s very possible that he wasn’t anything like as traumatised as you think. (Or as you were.) This is especially true if you actually witnessed the event and were very upset by it. Your immediate reaction is transferred to your dog, and your subsequent behaviour when presented with a similar situation can make things worse for him. If you think (or even know for sure) that he was attacked by a particular breed, and you react to seeing a dog of that breed by making a fuss and becoming protective, you are only reinforcing any fear he may have. He won’t recover from that until you overcome your own emotions, and let him be a dog again, and he won’t respond well to any training while he’s still stressed out.
7) Remember who’s really being trained here. Although they’re called “Dog Training Classes” that’s only part of the story. What’s actually happening is that the instructors are training you, and you are training your dog. So if you go to a class thinking that you don’t need training (because you already know all about dogs, after all you’ve had several of them before), or that “I’m paying them to train the dog, so why should I have to make the effort to learn anything?” then I’m afraid you’re in the wrong place. I’m not sure what would be the right place, but I am sure it shouldn’t involve a dog.
8) Be honest. Unless they’re starting off a new puppy, most people don’t take their dogs to training schools because they want them to learn to sit, stay and lie down. They take them because some aspect of the dog’s behaviour is so embarrassing, infuriating or even downright dangerous that they simply can’t stand it any more. They turn up at their first class and say things like “ Oh, he’s never done that before!”, when it’s blindingly obvious to the trainers that he does “that” every time he gets the chance. Trainers are experienced people, and while it won’t take them long to work out why you’re really there (or for you to confess), it does make life much easier for everyone involved if you’re honest from the start.
9) Remember that one of the goals of modern training classes is to socialise the dogs with each other and with people. If you have a small dog, and you’re worried about him mixing with bigger dogs, trust the instructors. They are not going to knowingly put your dog in danger.
Bear in mind that a bit of snarling, growling and the odd snap are perfectly normal social interaction for dogs while they sort out their own hierarchy, and that it is extremely rare for any of them to get hurt due to this as long as humans don’t interfere. It’s also perfectly normal for them to bark, growl, grab each other by the neck and generally knock each other about when playing. The instructors see these behaviours every day, and are extremely good at knowing when things are getting out of hand, so if you are told to drop your lead and walk away from your dog, trust them and do just that. Similarly, unless there is some medical reason why your dog shouldn’t do some of the more strenuous activities like agility training, trust their judgement as to whether it’s O.K. for your dog. If there are any medical issues with your dog, make sure you inform the instructors before the class starts!
10) In a class, your dog is not a special case. He may be at home, you may be sure that he’s the most sensitive little soul ever, but nobody at the class will be impressed with him taking five minutes to lie down because he “Doesn’t like the dust.” The other dogs will probably think he’s some sort of weird cat. In a class he’ll be treated just like all the others, because the instructors don’t have the time to make exceptions unless there’s some physical reason why a dog can’t do something. (And give him ten minutes loose with the rest and he’ll be rolling in dead seagulls and jumping into muddy ditches with the best of them.)
11) Don’t be embarrassed. Yes, at some point you will look like an idiot, but so will everyone else. Even the best handlers fall over their own dogs, give the wrong command, or get confused about left and right. So do instructors. (Frequently!) Training classes are one of life’s greatest social levellers. You’ve all paid the same money to have your dogs make fools of you, so you might as well just enjoy it.
12) Be slightly early – When dogs (and owners) get together, they want to greet each other. (Sniffing bums etc. –even the dogs do it.) Most trainers allow for this at the start of the class, so that by the time the actual lesson begins, everyone has settled down a bit. If you arrive late, at least the dogs next to you will want to say hello to/investigate yours, and they, their owners, and probably the instructor, will be distracted from whatever they were doing and may well have to repeat it. This will tend to irritate everyone, especially if you make a habit of it. Instructor’s tolerance levels vary (often day by day!), but don’t be surprised to be told that you can’t join in, or that you’ll have to wait for a suitable “break” in the class.
13) Try not to monopolise the trainer. The time to ask specific questions about you and your dog is at the end of the class. (Or before it starts, if you can get there early enough.) If you have a really specific problem, you will probably be better off arranging a separate session with the trainer, outside the normal class structure. If they suggest this to you, they’re not fobbing you off, or trying to make more money out of you – they have to consider the rest of the class, and whether they can hope to deal with that problem in the time available for you.
14) If you don’t agree with, or “believe in” something the trainer is doing or saying, the middle of a training session is not the place to bring it up. Instructors have to be fair to everyone in the class, and don’t have the time to deal with someone who wants to start a philosophical or moral argument which is going to leave everyone else standing around for twenty minutes. (They won’t be too impressed either.) Most trainers will be perfectly happy to have a private conversation about their methods away from a class. If they really can’t convince you, walk away.
15) Stay in your own space. This applies whether you’re doing something as a group, or waiting for your turn to do something. Don’t let your dog play with/sniff /hassle the dog next to you. Don’t make a fuss of the dog next to you. Don’t chat to the owner next to you. If they are trying to get their dog to sit quietly next to them, and you keep leaning over, making eye contact with it and saying “Hello”, you are making that task twice as hard for them. Whilst they’ll probably be too polite to say anything, they will be annoyed by it, and there will be opportunities for this kind of socialising before and after the class.
16) Be observant – ALL the time. You can learn just as much (and often more) from watching someone else do something (right or wrong) as by doing it yourself, so when you are waiting for your turn to do something, don’t just “switch off” or get distracted, keep paying attention. Remember that dogs are incredibly good at reading very subtle body language, so the way that a handler positions themselves, and every tiny movement they make, can affect what the dog does. If you’re watching closely, you can use what you see when it’s your turn, and you may be able to help them by pointing out something they didn’t know they were doing. It’s usually quite entertaining, as well as educational. The time you spend waiting is only wasted if you don’t make use of it.
17) Listen. I mean really listen. Again, this is about concentration. Your own dog can be a hindrance in this. If you’ve been told to make him sit on your left, and he’s insisting on laying down in front of you, it’s very easy to focus all your attention on sorting that out and miss what’s being said. Even if the instructor is talking directly to someone else, you may well still learn something useful from what they’re saying. Also, please bear in mind that there is little more dispiriting for a trainer than talking to a class or an individual and knowing that at least half their attention is on “That nice looking dog/owner in the other group.” “Oh, there’s a plane, wonder where that’s going?” or “What a pretty cloud.”
18) Enjoy it! Apart from the obvious benefits of ending up with a well trained, well socialised and happier dog, you will meet, and become friends with, people you would never come into contact with anywhere else. You’ll also get to know lots of different dogs who will be really pleased to see you every week!
© Brian Hayward/4 Paws.es, 2009
