Looking for a good obedience/social class?
I’m adopting a rottweiler puppy this Saturday from a couple who rescue abused dogs. I want to take her to an obedience class to help train her as well as to make sure she doesn’t become aggressive toward another dog. I was hoping some of you on here have experience with a place in Indiana, preferably Bloomington or Indianapolis, that you went to and liked. Any suggestions for a certain place?
IMHO one of the biggest mistakes people make is to take young puppies out and encourage them to interract with other dogs on their own terms before they’ve formed a strong enough bond with the handler.This is why so many people end up with dogs who can’t pass within 10 feet of another dog without going crazy, whether it’s aggression or friendly playfulness. When a dog learns to find fulfillment and gratification in interracting with other dogs before it learns to find fulfillment in following your lead, you end up with an animal that cannot function calmly and focus on you when there are other dogs around. I would say that description accurately depicts at least 80-90% of the household dogs out there. At this point I don’t care if she’s just being friendly or she’s trying to be aggressive. She’s interpreting the presence of another dog in the immediate area as free license to ignore and disobey me.
Do private classes or do the research and obedience train your dog on your own. There’s lots of good information on raising a puppy from 8 weeks to adulthood here:
leerburg.com
Some of the general training techniques are more geared towards working dogs and red zone aggression cases, but there’s alot of good information on raising a puppy and laying basic obedience groundwork. BTW they don’t believe in letting their pups go play with other dogs too early in life. The dog learns first that the handler is the center of their world, and everything else falls into place after that.
When your dog is trained, ie demonstrates she understands all commands you have taught, you can bring her into larger classes with other dogs to help her practice what she already knows under distraction. The absence of opportunities to play with other pups in the early stages does not create an aggressive dog. In my opinion puppies that aren’t allowed to interract freely with other dogs until they’re fully trained and mature tend to behave better than dogs who learn early on that every passing dog means it’s crazy time. Why? Dogs raised this way don’t make their own decision about when and how to meet other dogs and humans. They look to you to figure out what to do rather than making it up as they go along.
Teach your dog to retrieve – Remote electronic dog training