What are the disadvantages of sending your dog away to be trained
Two key disadvantages of residential training are that you won’t be learning alongside your dog. And that the trainer will be limited by time in what he can achieve.
Your competence as a dog handler
There are two aspects to owning an obedient dog, two distinct training journeys going on when a dog is being trained by a novice dog owner.
The main problem with sending a dog away to be trained is that only one of these journeys is addressed. Your dog’s.
You may say “I don’t want to be an experienced dog handler, I just want a well behaved dog” but the truth is, unless you learn to be at least competent handling a dog, it doesn’t matter how well trained your dog is, you’re probably not going to cope.
When you send a dog away to be trained, the journey you need to make, to become competent at managing and handling your dog, and dealing with inevitable holes that appear in training from time to time, has not been addressed at all.
Nor will you be equipped to solve the problems that will arise in the future.
How thorough can residential training be?
The other problem is that dog training is a long process. There are no effective short cuts.
And whilst basic behaviors such as ‘sit’, and ‘down’ are child’s play to teach to a dog. They are a good deal more complex to proof or make reliable
We’ll look more closely at what that means in just a moment.
The long and short of it is that anyone who says they have trained your dog in a matter of weeks, is not giving you the whole story.
Having a dog thoroughly trained by a professional takes months and requires deep pockets.
What does proof mean?
What did I mean by ‘complex to proof’? What is the ‘proofing’ that a professional trainer might not have time to do?
Well, to proof a behavior, you make sure that the dog understands it is a wide variety of different contexts. So in different locations, for different lengths of time, and in the presence of various different distractions.
A proofed ‘sit’ for example, is a sit cue (command) that your dog will obey outside the mall, on the beach, at a fairground, in your friend’s garden – as well as at home in your kitchen, or in your professional trainer’s yard.
Getting out and about with a dog in training
Dogs aren’t very good at applying something learnt in one location, to other locations. And this means getting out and about with dogs and rehearsing their training in all kinds of situation.
It is this ‘proofing process’ that takes the time.
How much time you need to spend proofing different aspects of training and in different contexts will depend on your dog and his preferences for entertainment.
If his passion is for playing with other dogs, and you have to walk your dog daily in a busy public park, proofing is going to be a big deal for you.
A basic level of training
When you send a dog away for training, the chances are, he will only have been trained to a basic level. There will be more work to do.
Some proofing may have been done, depending on the length of time he has been away. But the bulk of the ‘proofing’ will be down to you to do, when you get him home.
Now if you had done the basic training yourself, you would at least have an idea of how to go forward with proofing your dog’s obedience.
Without that experience, you have a bigger challenge ahead of you.
Because the truth is, proofing is the hard part of training.
That’s right, the bit you pay for, is the easy part. You might want to think about that for a bit.
The final, and perhaps most important part of this whole issue, and the thing most people need to consider above all others, is what can happen to your dog whilst he is away.
How long will it take for puppy school to train my dog
It takes quite a long time to train a dog thoroughly. Several months.
How long your dog will need to stay in school for will depend on what definition of ‘trained’ we are looking at, in other words, what outcome you and your trainer have agreed on.
And it will depend on what bad habits or problems (if any) your dog currently has, and on any specialist training that he needs.
There are ways to hurry the process a little, but they are not usually very pleasant for your puppy.
If your dog is only going to be away for a few weeks, therefore, there is a limit to how much he will learn. And it is important that you find out what you can expect from the trainer before parting with your hard earned cash.
Is it a good idea to send your puppy away to school
Now we are getting to the crux of the matter. Is it actually a good idea to send your dog away to school?
Would it be better to keep him at home and train him yourself, or get a local trainer to come to your home and help you?
Teach Your DOG the Go OUT / Send Away – Dog Training Video
Best Buddy Dog Training offers personalized dog obedience training in New York. We specialize in dog obedience on and off leash without using ‘clickers’, treats, prong collars, or e-collars.
The in home dog training program is designed to conveniently help you develop a loving, affectionate, cooperative relationship with your dog. The dog board and train program is designed for dogs with more intense training needs, or deeply entrenched behaviors. Our training methods are focused on getting your dog to be obedient for the right reasons; that there’s a working bond between you and your dog.
There are lots of of dog trainers in Massachusetts, but what makes Best Buddy Dog Training different is the focus on the human and the role they play in shaping their dogs’ behavior and attitude. While most dog trainers focus almost exclusively on commands such as “sit”, we emphasize proper communication, proper attitude, trust and affection.
We teach your dog to do a handful of things that serve as powerful behavior modifiers. These things affect your dog’s psychology in profound ways that are immediately apparent. Things like “follow” where the dog walks 3 to 6 feet behind you, “go on” where the dog retracts 6 to 10 feet away from you and disengages, and “down/stay” where the dog lies down and stays there for 30 minutes to an hour. For many people, just those three things will change their lives for the better.
But we don’t stop there. We guide you to develop trust and respect so that your dog will defer to your decisions no matter what. Even off leash with lots of distractions around. Leadership is the only thing we know of that is more powerful than instinct.
Often, clients call us after spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on dog training but still struggle with things like jumping, running away, chasing other animals and being generally unruly. In many cases, the dog knows commands, but will not obey when there is something interesting or exciting around (like visitors, other dogs, traffic, etc.) You see, it’s not what your dog knows that’s important; it’s who you are to your dog thats important. You don’t need to teach your dog everything; only to be obedient.
Other clients have spent thousands on a dog behaviorist, only to be told to drug their dog with Prozac or some other mood-altering drug. We think that’s not fair to the dog. Instead of spending your money on a dog behaviorist or altering your dog’s brain with drugs, you should hire us to help you train your dog the right way.