Why the puppy class did not really work

Most people I speak to have already done a group class. Usually two. They describe it the same way every time. It was fine, the trainer was nice, it did not really change anything.

The class was probably fine. The problem is upstream of the class.

A class is a room, and rooms have a difficulty

Eight dogs in a hall is one of the hardest environments a dog will ever be asked to work in. Other dogs at close range, none of whom they can greet. Owners who are tense because everyone can see them. Noise, echo, a slippery floor.

For a dog who is already comfortable, that difficulty is exactly the point and the class is excellent value.

For a dog who cannot settle, cannot be near another dog, or cannot think when aroused, you have put them at maximum difficulty and asked them to learn something new. Nobody learns anything new at maximum difficulty.

The class did not fail. The dog was in the wrong room, and the room was decided before anyone assessed the dog.

What the format cannot do

An hour a week is about forty minutes of instruction split eight ways. Five minutes of individual attention. That is not a criticism of the instructor, it is arithmetic.

It also cannot adjust. The curriculum was set before your dog arrived. Week three is loose leash walking whether or not your dog is ready for week three, and if you are behind there is no mechanism to slow down.

And it cannot follow you home. The thing that decides whether training holds is what happens in your house on the other six days, and a class has no visibility into that at all.

The part that does real damage

You go, it does not work, and you draw a conclusion about your dog.

He is just not trainable. She is too far gone. We left it too late. I hear all three constantly and they are almost never true. What actually happened is that one tool got tried once, in a hard room, and the result got attributed to the animal.

That conclusion is expensive. People who reach it stop trying for a year or more, and the year is what costs them, not the class.

When a class is exactly right

Your dog can eat and think with another dog fifteen feet away. You want mechanics and a bit of pressure. You have a puppy inside the window and you want structured exposure with a knowledgeable person watching.

In those cases go, and go to a good one, and it will be some of the best money you spend.

How to know before you book

Run the six checks first. They take twenty minutes at your kitchen table and they are free.

If your dog passes most of them, book the class. If your dog cannot be left, cannot be called off something, or cannot eat near another dog, a class is going to cost you a hundred and fifty dollars and six weeks and leave you believing something untrue about your own animal.

Knowing which of those two you are is the entire decision, and it is knowable in an afternoon.