Joey is our latest addition to the family and at the end of week 1 of him being with us we decided to take him to dog training. He’s a very good natured dog and we are delighted to have him from the Ash Rescue Centre, but we decided that now we have 3 dogs – dog training was a must!
I was unsure how Joey would react with lots of new dogs and people, as he had only been around our other 2 dogs – Coco and Patch. So we decided to arrive early at the training class to let him get customised to his new surroundings for the next hour.
He was excited by his trip in the van and seemed happy to play in his crate on the way there. We also took our older dog Coco for a little refresher course!!
Once we arrived at training other dogs started to arrive and Joey was quite relaxed with it all. He didn’t mind other dogs being around him and was happy to just have a sniff around. The class started at 8pm and we were both glad to be in out of the cold.
So what did we learn at Dog Training?
My Dog Is NOT the most badly behaved dog in the world It’s funny because I did wonder what all the other dogs would be like – would they be super trained and make Joey and Coco look really badly behaved! But I was surprised that although they were not the best in the class they were not the worst either. Everyone was just there to try and teach their dog something and shared the same interest as us.
It all starts with getting their attention I guess it could be seen as common sense really, but if you don’t have your 
dogs attention then why would you be able to control them. You need to have them focused on you.
We practised getting our dogs attention and then rewarding them with a treat and praising them. So get the dog to make eye contact with you so he is totally focused, give him the treat and then say Good. Sounds simple! But it does take time – and although Coco does all of that at home, she was very distracted by the other dogs. Joey was a bit better as he is VERY into his treat – but it did still require constant effort.
How to walk your dog on a loose lead. The next exercise was to get your dog to walk with you and be focused. We were advised to keep the lead loose and instead of dragging your dog along for a walk on a tight lead – to keep them focused on you, with the use of treats. Coco has never been great on the lead – she is a terrible puller. So this was a challenge for her. Joey however trotted along like an angel eating his treats. Until of course he got bored and more work then was required to regain his attention.
Sitting and Rolling Over. This was the next section of the class. Coco was good at this part – but Joey just didn’t get it. So it will take more work getting his attention and practising before we get to that stage.
Overall I think it was a very successful hour at Dog Training and we plan to go back next week. This week will be spent going over the things we learnt and concentrating on getting Joeys attention.
TIP – If you are thinking of going to dog training I wouldn’t feed your dog just before you go as they are less interested in the treats if they are full from their dinner!!
Have you been to dog training with your dog? How did you get on? Did you dog do well?
Let us know in the comments below 🙂
