silly behaviour during training classes -help please.

[Josie81]

Thanks again for the replies.

I have contacted the dog training school and enquired about 1-2-1 sessions. The trainer said that 1-2-1 would be a good idea, but that it wouldn't be ideal to stop the group sessions at this point as it is important that my dog is trained in the presence of other dogs too. I have already paid up front for a number of group sessions as well.

I have been feeding him before going to the obedience group, unlike I did when he was attending puppy classes, as the classes are now at lunch time. I just feel a bit mean not feeding him in the morning, but I guess just one morning a week won't matter? I do walk him before classes.

In response to Lurchergirl -I feed him on Purina Beta puppy, just twice a day now, and he has up to three 20-30 minute walks per day. I do let him off the lead if there is nobody about, as he isn't very good at recall if he catches sight of another dog or person. When he is on the lead I have been using an extender lead, but I think I should stop that if I want him walking to heel on the lead.

Josie x

[panda66]

Lila was an embarrassing nightmare, we got demoted from gundog class and intermediate obedience down to puppy class.    They reccommended a Kumfi halti because it would give me much more control as she was absolutely manic.  Ten lessons on and she is a different dog, it is all treat based and I don't feed her before we go.  She will even walk to heel with a loose slip lead now. I have felt like giving up at times but I can see such an improvement and she is doing KC Silver in a couple of weeks.

[Ben's mum]

I have been feeding him before going to the obedience group, unlike I did when he was attending puppy classes, as the classes are now at lunch time. I just feel a bit mean not feeding him in the morning, but I guess just one morning a week won't matter? I do walk him before classes.

Personally I don't think its mean at all, I found it does make them more focused on you if they are hungry. I couldn't bear not to give anything at all as I couldn't cope with the sad eyes when Ben used to look at his bowl at mealtimes, so I would just put 3 or 4 bits of kibble in , so he was still starving, but for some reason he seemed to be appeased that he had something in his bowl. I also used this method when following the really reliable recall outside, again if your dog is hungry and you have good treats then it does make the recall much more tempting for them  .  Even now Harry is 4  and his recall is variable if he is not hungry, so if we are planning a moor walk which has lots of distractions we make sure he has very very little to eat before he goes.