obediance traning

[bezrk]

i have been training our pugs by my self and they are doing great. they are 4 months old they sit on comand every time.they know off, down. they stay for short periods of time 30 sec to 1 min. the boy knows tuch (come) the girl is more stubern on that one if they are doing this good do i need to spend the money on puppy classes or am i doing ok on my own?

[ViralMD]

I would most definitely enroll in puppy and obedience classes. You can only do so much by yourself and it's more a question of training YOU than training the dog. I highly recommend Pat Miller's book, 'The Power of Positive Dog Training.' It's available online and is excellent. But nothing is a substitute for getting your dog's attention when he's in a room with a lot of other dogs. You can only do that in class.

[Pugasaurus]

Oh, by all means get your guys in training! The socialization alone is well worth the class. Plus, you'll find out that pugs are extremely greedy which makes them relatively easy to train! Do look for a trainer that uses positive (i.e. treat) methods as opposed to more traditional correction-based training. Observe a class before you commit to anything. The dogs should look like they are having fun with wagging tails as opposed to scared and slinking away behind owners.

I train dogs for a living and in my perfect world all puppies would be given adequate socialization. So many people make the mistake of waiting til the dog is older (read wilder) before starting class and the poor dog is out of the socialization window and is already getting skittish and afraid and heading down the road to becoming a fear-biter. And I've had to rehab some undersocialized pugs. A well-run puppy class will help your dog become confident and give your puppy (or puppies, in your case) the socialization they need and give you valuable skills on how to train your dogs and how to deal with problems when they come up.

Plus, training your dog is fun! It will really enhance the relationship you have with your dog. If you have two dogs, I'd recommend putting them in seperate classes. That way each dog gets their own special time with you and what happens with most dogs close in age is that one dog becomes the confident decision-maker and the other dog always looks to the dominant dog for cues on how to behave. Putting the dogs in seperate classes will give the submissive dog the confidence they need so they are not so dependent on the other dog.

Good luck!

Karen and the Pug Posse

[bezrk]

thanks for all the info i will be looking into trainers in our area. in 2 days they get their rabies shots so we will be heading to the dog parks soon.