billboe,
To be honest, we have taken our dog to obedience classes. Since I commute a hundred miles back and forth to work daily and our youngest daughter was the one who primarily wanted to have a dog, we had to resort to formal training.
First and foremost, understand the breed of dog before jumping in headfirst. It really makes a difference. Each breed has traits that need to be understood. A Bordie Collie is a highly motivated animal, they just love to work and please. Key word is work. Very high energy animal which needs a lot of attention. They are task-oriented and need to be worked. That is one example. See the attached photo of a Red Border Collie in his observing mode. Seems like he's ready to attack, but actually just watching and "counting". Yes, they count.
My youngest daugher had ZERO experience with training or, for that matter, being around dogs. She watched too much Animal Planet Channel and thought that it would be cool to have a Border Collie. I like dogs and thought that it would be a good experience for her. So, she promised to work with the animal, yada, yada, yada..... /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif
The Contain and Train system was primary to keep the dog on our property. I hate kenneling dogs in a run or tieing them up. What's the sense of having a dog if you can have them be a dog? Anyway.... This system has given the dog a couple of acres to run a play and we don't have to worry about him taking off. It has also helped in having him respond to commands. Tip is a very focused dog and loves to be outside. Once he made his mind up to be outside, he was going to stary there!! The collar came in handy to change his behavior. Since he understood what the beep meant with the containment system (beep once - no shock), all we had to do is utter the command "Come", if he did not respond, I'd beep the collar and he would come to us for safety. Two sessions and now no problem. There is a little more in the next paragraph.
We joined the local Kennel Club. Luckily, it is only a few miles from our house. They have a women who is an excellent trainer. The lessons were to teach my daughter and the dog (the daughter needed more work /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif). Since joining the club and taking advantage of the lessons, Tip is becoming more manageable and the daughter has more confidence. I also have learned by observing how the trainer works with the people and the dogs. It is amazing to see how the dogs behave with the trainer and then with their owners. Uh-huh, dogs are REAL dumb - right!! They know how to manipulate us and get what they want. Cost - $85 for the first eight weeks, $50 for next eight weeks, $35 for the next session. Yes, the cost goes down (at least for us). The trainers reasoning is that the further training you receive takes less time and effort on her part and that you want to be there. Very interesting concept!!
To sum it up, if you haven't had the opportunity to work with dogs for a while or at all, it would probably be good for you and the dog to go to classes. It gives you the understanding of how to work with the dog and confidence to command them. The dog will learn the commands through the training and reinforcement by the owner. Again, once trained, dogs are a joy to have around.
Oh yes, trainers. Ask around your area. Talk to some local rescue groups. Two reasons, they'll be able to tell you about trainers and you should be able to get a nice dog.
Hope this helps.
Terry
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Edited by TerryinMD on 12/24/01 08:12 AM (server time).</FONT></P>
