Last week, I wrote about how best to find the right trainer or class for you and your dog. This week, I’ll suggest questions you might ask your friends or family about classes or lessons they have taken.
Who taught the class or lesson?
Training facilities vary greatly in how they assign instructors to teach classes or lessons. Many groups of people interested in dogs and dog training form clubs. These clubs often start from a mutual interest in one particular breed of dog, or one specific sport or competition. Clubs are usually nonprofits and instructors are not paid. Instead, they are volunteers. Often, they are individuals who started as students themselves, then worked their way up the ladder to become assistants, then instructors. Although certainly some clubs do require their assistants and instructors to take outside courses on training and instructing, many clubs base any advancement as an instructor on time spent, not on outside education. That system tends to perpetuate the use of out-of-date training methods and beliefs.
Chain pet stores that offer training classes usually require that potential instructors complete a video course. Often, the “instructor” has absolutely no other experience whatsoever. I remember being astounded when I asked an “instructor” of classes at a local chain pet store about experience; they admitted they had taken the video course, but the only dog they’d ever even helped to train belonged to their mother. That is not an instructor or a trainer—that is a person who once walked a dog.
Ask your friends who’ve taken a lesson or a class. What did you know about your instructor before you took the class? Were you told specifically who would instruct? Were you given information on this person’s training background, experience, and continuing education? What had this person accomplished with their own dogs? How long have they been instructing? What have their past students said about them on post-class evaluation forms?
If the instructor is a mystery, don’t sign up!
What was taught in the class?
You want instructors and assistants who are aware of currently acceptable training methods and who use them. For example, if the instruction being given is still military-style punitive training, you can expect choke chains, pinch collars, and the use of “corrections.” (Instead of teaching alternate acceptable behaviors, they demonstrate a “pop” on the collar or a push down on the dog’s rear to make the dog sit every time you stop.) In more up-to-date training classes, the dog is offered the option of a reward for the action desired—in this case, a sit—instead of a punishment for not completing the action.
You want the instructor who encourages positive reinforcement, not punishment.
Was the instruction clear and communicated well? Were students easily able to comprehend what was taught? Was the instructor able to answer simple questions without stalling the class’s progress? Did students feel encouraged and comfortable or were they hesitant and insecure? Did the instructor and assistants give equal time to all students and their dogs, or did they seem to have favorites—students who took up the majority of their time while the rest of the class watched? Did the instructor and assistants model positive and punishment-free training with their own dogs?
Where the class was held? Was the location safe, comfortable, appropriate?
Not all instructors and trainers have access to a luxurious training facility! I wouldn’t hold that against anyone as long as the location they use for classes and lessons is, first and foremost, safe for all concerned.
Ask friends or family who’ve taken instruction there. Was it safe? Was the footing good, both for dogs and for humans? Was equipment stored properly, not in the way of the class? Was it clean? Was there room for observers, well away from the class currently taking instruction? Were there rules for observers? (For example, were children expected to be accompanied by an adult who would sit with them during the class session, or were children allowed to disrupt the class by making noise or running around wildly?) Were all staff aware of emergency and first aid procedures?
When was the class or lesson held? Was the schedule consistent and convenient?
This is where an individual instructor or trainer can have difficulties, and not without reason. One person teaching on their own can have little choice about canceling classes or appointments because of injury, illness, or emergency. It can happen.
Ask what contingencies are set up in case a class cannot be held. Expect clear information about make-up classes or refunds if the class cannot be rescheduled. Instructors who usually work alone may have substitutes; you should know as much about the substitute as you do about the regular instructor. The substitute should know about the students and dogs in the class, too, from notes the instructor makes after each session.
Why was the class set up the way it was? Did it work for you?
Was the class the right length, both in terms of the time spent at each meeting, and in the overall duration of the class schedule? By and large, class sessions or individual lessons of one hour are standard. That amount of time each week is comfortable for both dogs and owners; worth organizing oneself and one’s dog to get there, not long enough to bore or wear out either member of the team.
More time may be spent on individual lessons, especially in your home. The trainer will spend a lot of time talking with you, but not working with your dog. A longer session may make the trip to your home more cost-effective, as well.
How many weekly sessions make up a full class schedule is another factor that varies widely. Puppy classes are often four weeks. Beginning classes for grown dogs can go on for as long as ten weeks. Most important is how many dogs and owners who started the class schedule finish the class schedule. Ask about retention rates. A ten-week-long class that starts with eight dog-and-owner teams but ends with only two of the teams completing the full course? That class may simply be too long for the average owner.
What happens at the end of the class can also be important. How many times have you heard, “My dog flunked out of obedience school”? Is that how you want your training experience to end, with a feeling of failure?
Sure, if you’ve signed up for a class (and this would not be a class for beginners) specifically tailored to train for the Canine Good Citizenship test, and the test is administered at the last class meeting, then you’re getting exactly what you wanted.
But if you’ve signed up as a rank beginner in a class that’s supposed to be teaching you the basics, you don’t expect an exam at the end. You don’t want Pass or Fail. You are there to learn, not to be tested. Personally, I prefer the beginning class that offers participants an opportunity to show off what they’ve learned through a fun last-night event like tricks or dressing up the dogs and people in funny costumes. “Graduation” from a beginning-level class should inspire the dog-and-owner teams to continue training, not to give up!
What is the goal of the trainer, instructor, facility?
Their goal should be the same as yours: for you to learn how training works, and for your dog to learn that training is fun and rewarding. You should be taught in the same way you teach your dog, with a positive, upbeat attitude, a good sense of humor, and confidence that a love of training will be instilled in all participants, human and canine. It’s not supposed to be scary, uncomfortable, or disappointing. If it is, you may have the wrong trainer!
