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by Helen Dohrmann, Firerose Papillons
Dog Training...Is it Really Necessary for a Small Dog?
In a word, YES! But why, you might ask....they're little, cute, surely ...it won't hurt not to train them..? Again, yes...training is necessary for ALL dogs, no matter the age, breed, or size. Training, with a positive motivational trainer, accomplishes the following:
What age should I begin training my Little Dog? Right away! I started my dogs, Nicky and Oscar right away at 12 weeks in Puppy Kindergarten classes, when they came home from the breeders. They did not get a 'settling in' period before starting classes. If I had waited, Nicky would have been ruling the house within a week! (He loves to think he is "King". Occasionally he must be reminded that I am Queen and rule the house!) Twinkle went straight into conformation show training, and shows. Now she's playing 'catch-up' on obedience, and I'm wishing I'd obedience trained her from the beginning, along with her conformation training. Can I wait till the puppy is older to begin training? Going to a positive, well-organized puppy class as soon as you get your dog is recommended. It will help you and your new puppy bond more quickly and will help you get your dog the best start in life. If you've adopted an older dog, it's never too late to start training. So, young or older, I'd start classes as soon as you can. Puppy Kindergarten is a good foundation class - they begin to learn the basics: accepting being handled (from coat brushing to toe-nail trims), bite inhibition, walking on a lead, lying on a mat, not jumping on people (something most people don't seem to mind from a little dog). You, as the owner, begin learning how to discipline your puppy and become the pack leader (instead of the puppy leading the human pack), and learn about stages of puppy development. It is also an exposure time for puppies - they learn to be around other humans and puppies appropriately. A Note About Puppy Kindergartens: They aren't all equally good or sane. People with small breed dogs need to be sure that bigger, rougher dogs don't have the opportunity to free play with their little, breakable puppies! Do go observe at various puppy kindergartens and take the time to discuss what happens in the classes. Ensure that the class is both safe and appropriate for a tiny dog. Most of all, do not let an instructor 'encourage' you into letting your little puppy participate in 'play time', 'socializiation time', 'free time', or any other variety of non-leashed time. People have little to no control over their puppies when they are loose and having fun: TRANSLATION: having fun chasing and scaring the wits out of your little puppy, with possible injury! Puppy classes, done with a knowledgable trainer, are confidence boosting to shy puppies. Should I take a break between class sessions at this point? No! Continue on, right away, while your puppy is soaking up the lessons. The next class is a canine good citizen, novice or beginning home obedience class. In beginning obedience, the lessons previously learned are reinforced, and new ones are introduced: sit, sit for greeting, down, stay, walking on a loose lead, recalls and more on pack leadership (by the human). Depending on the facility, more or different items may be involved in this class, which is about beginning formation of the partnership between you and your puppy. You will learn the appropriate way to correct your puppy for behavioral issues, and how to modify with any behavior issues that come up. Advanced Home Obedience reinforces what you have already learned and should be practicing with your puppy, and introduces some new exercises. Depending on the facility, they may begin heeling, drop on recalls (as a potential life-saving command), and more advanced moves, which will prepare you for continuing on with Rally Obedience or classical Competition Obedience lessons. One class I highly recommend is the Canine Good Citizen class. I enrolled Scarlet (who was acquired at 1-1/2 years of age, and had no obedience training classes) to bolster her confidence and increase her understanding and skills. She learned to ignore distracting noises, accept a chest scratch from a stranger, to walk on a loose lead, down, stay, sit, stand, and recall. This class was one of the best I've taken a dog to so far (it was through the Washington State Obedience Training Club, Dee Carlson was the instructor). Take the Canine Good Citizen test, even if you think it's not necessary or your dog isn't ready. My primary reason for putting my dogs through this test is to find out exactly what we need to work on, and I submit a copy of passing paperwork to my insurance agent as well. He puts it into my file, and it shows my dogs (1) have passed this test, and (2) have had some basic training. I was pleasantly surprised by Nicky and Oscar - they both passed on the first time. I entered Scarlet and Twinkle in a later test, (and did not expect them to pass - neither had any obedience training at that point), and it showed me what we needed to work on. It was then I found the class at WSOTC and enrolled Scarlet. She did pass the test that was offered by WSOTC after the class. How long should basic training take for my puppy? The 4 basic classes will take about 8-9 months. This is starting with Puppy Kindergarten, continuing with Novice/Basic Home Obedience (some facilities call it Canine Manners or something similar), into Advanced Home Obedience, and ending with the CGC class. How long are class sessions? This depends on the training facility. Some class sessions are 6, 7 or 8 weeks long. If you have a choice, take the 7 or 8 week sessions if possible, unless the instructor is highly recommended who teaches in six week sessions. A lot of facilities take a 2 or 3 week break between sessions, others continue straight on, week after week. It's easiest to figure 2 months per class session, so it ends up being 8-9 months of training with instructors. What do training classes cost? This depends on the facility or trainer. The norm seems to range from $65 to $80 for six weeks, to $80-90 for 7 weeks. Some facilities give a "second class" or "second dog" discount when the first dog is enrolled in classes. The cost can vary quite a bit. Figure, to be 'safe' - $90 per set of lessons. If you take 4 sets of lessons, that's almost $400 to have a nicely basic obedience trained dog from puppyhood. Will I have to repeat any sessions? (grin) You might. It all depends on your dog's mental attitude, and the practice you put in to accomplish your training goals and the goals of the class. What if my dog isn't learning? Dogs go through a couple 'attitude' periods in their adolescence, similar to children and teenagers. (I repeated novice obedience three times with Nicky....he is bright, smart, but willing to do only so much sometimes....so we repeated. I think he did it just to keep going to school!) Also, ask yourself if the class is focusing too much on drilling the same thing over and over - are you doing this at home also? If this is the case, begin to break your training into smaller pieces with more variety. How much time should I spend training each day? It only takes just a few minutes (3-5 minutes) of repetition of each exercise, a couple times a day to train a dog. If the instructor is big on drilling until the dog 'gets it right' and correcting when they don't, you might look for another instuctor. What about training my dog, at home, by myself? For all the reasons mentioned below, I prefer to take my dogs to school, and recommend you do the same:
The value of going to scheduled, structured training classes cannot be emphasized enough. What if I don't agree with something an instructor wants us to do? Then DON'T do it! If you feel uncomfortable with the way a trainer is teaching a class, please take the time to check out other classes that might better reflect your philosophy and the needs of your dog. What if the instructor wants to use my dog for a demonstration? You do not have to allow this...did the instructor state what they were going to demo, in detail to you? Remember, you're paying the instructor to train YOU to train your dog. What about places to practice? County/City Parks (observe leash laws!) are good places to practice with distractions. Fun & Practice Matches, put on by dog clubs, is a great place to practice obedience and agility. Some Matches also offer the CGC test. You do not have to enter a Match to take your dog and practice outside the rings. You can practice sits, downs, and stays in front of places like Home Depot. There are various avenues you can take to have fun and more training after the basic classes with your dog:
What about Clicker Training? Clicker training is a wonderful tool. It creates a great, positive association with your dog - I have used Clicker Training with Nicky, Oscar and Twinkle, and some with Scarlet. The kids look forward to training with the clicker - it's all positive motivation, no physical corrections, no 'bad dog'! verbal corrections. Clicker trainers, unfortunately, do not seem to be prone to group lessons, only private lessons.
Notes - local training: Behavioral issues - Choose To Heel, Pawsabilities, WSOTC, Dogworks and Family Dog all cover behavioral concerns and issues in their puppy and home obedience classes. WSOTC has an excellent CGC (Canine Good Citizen) class, that runs 8 weeks. They offer a 9th week at no charge - which is the CGC test - to all CGC class participants. The class is well organized. Novice I Obedience is also an excellent class! Walter Kilmer was the instructor for the session Oscar was in: very positive, extremely helpful, individual attention when needed, always willing to help, and no advocating of jerking. The classes WSOTC offers is well worth the drive. WSOTC has assistant instructors in the classes. Some of the CGC assistants advocate strong jerks as corrections; be alert, you don't have to hand over your leash to anyone. Choose To Heel is a very good, positive motivation training program. Dawn Jecs and Pam Buck are patient and thorough. CTH also has assistant instructors in the classes, so there's lots of attention for everyone. Pawsabilities - Dana does a good puppy class, her husband Larry does the obedience lessons. Rosemary Petter is their conformation instructor (she's good). Larry runs a really great Novice obedience class (it is their entry level competition class). Helen Dohrmann teaches the rally classes and coordinates run-throughs. Family Dog - Kathy Lang is the competitive obedience trainer, Kathy Horrock is the Home Obedience & Agility trainer. No intense drilling, exercises are rotated. Downside: jerking the dog is advocated when training.
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All photographs on this site are copyrighted to the photographer, even if they do not contain a copyright logo. All articles contained herein are used with permission of the authors. Website © Firerose Papillons, 1999 - 2011, all rights reserved. | |||||||||||
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