Rose, Yes, you are exactly right. One of the best places to find a good trainer is to look at the Association of Pet Dog Trainer's website (www.apdt.com) And classes are usually best -- socialising the young dog, learning to work w/ other dogs and people around, is very important.
Once you have talked on the phone to a training school and gotten a feel for their approach, ask if you can go and observe a few of the classes (without your dog of course.) Get a gut feeling to see if this is the kind of learning environment in which you and your dog want to participate. You should see handlers and dogs who are working hard at learning the new tasks (and probably far from perfectly behaved yet) but who are HAVING FUN! Are the handlers making their dogs' tails wag excitedly w/ lots of tasty treats and fun toys and happy upbeat voices, praising and petting and encouraging? Are there smiles on the instructors and handlers faces -- at least some of the time!? :-) Or do you see a group of dogs being jerked around on choke chains, no food and toys to reward and motivate, only occaisionally getting a quick pat on the head and a verbal "good dog" .....are dogs out of control, handlers/instructors frustrated and angry? If a dog training school wont let you observe a few classes, run the other way. If they dont use food and toys to positively reward the dog, run the other way. If you just get a bad "gut feeling" about the place, run the other way. The focus should be on teamwork, not domination. Your dog deserves only the best, most positive experience possible ..... he should learn that working w/ you is great FUN! Vilma Briggs (Kistner) Mt. Gilead, OH U-UD Mocha Java Slurp, UDX, HIC, TT Ch. Brighteye Expresso Bean, UD, NDD, TT U-CDX Our Little Buddy, UD, NA, TT Thirdtym's A Charm, CGC and Ted
