obedience training

[limited out]

Does anyone have any good recommendations for obedience classes for a 1 yr. old lab in the metro area? Not looking for anything too fancy, just something that is once a week with solid results. Thanks.

[sakman]

That's very easy. Canine College. If you are willing to put in the between class time you WILL get solid results. Many people who are trying to earn the various obedience titles awarded by the AKC go there for obedience training. Marlie Whiting is the owner and has also written several books on obediance training. You do the training under her direction and classes convene once per week.

[gspman]

Many of the humane society shelters offer basic and more advanced obedience training classes as well as some of the "big box" pet stores like Petco.

I took Dixie to the MN Valley Humane Society in Burnsville for her training. The good thing about going to a class is it kinda forces you to do the training each night in order to avoid embarassment when you go to the class.

[Dbl]

I'll second the Humane Society. I went to the Golden Valley location, once a week for I believe six weeks. gpsman is correct about embarassment, do the work in between.

[fivebucks]

The only thing I don't like about the humane society is there ties to PETA. I will never support anything the humane society does as long as most of their donations go to fuel anti-hunting lobbiest and PETA. I think the work they do with the animals is great but it is just a big snow job to get more donations. Please think twice about supporting the humane society.

[gspman]

Most, if not all of the Humane Societies around here are not affiliated with the Humane Society of the United States which is the group I think you are concerned about. The first question I asked before signing up was if they were part of the HSUS or PETA. They said no. In fact one of the gals teaching the obedience class was trying to recommend certain bird dog trainers for the hunting dogs in the class.

Don't mistake the local humane society with the HSUS. They are 2 separate entities.

[fivebucks]

gspman,

I appreciate the update on that. I knew the national org. was like that and I assumed local org. paid something to the nationals for the use of the name etc. I feel better about the local chapters now.

[Ufatz]

This exchange of messages reminds me once again that we should all do what we can to make sure others understand the BIG difference between the two "humane society's" It is shameful and a disgrace that the anti-sports anti-everything people fabricated a name INTENDED to confuse people.You see how it works by the instance above. Lets all make it a point to make certain others KNOW the difference. If you WANT to support the "other" group thats fine. But don't do it, or let a friend do it, unintentionally.

Thanks. Carry on.

[311Hemi]

Quote:

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That's very easy. Canine College. If you are willing to put in the between class time you WILL get solid results. Many people who are trying to earn the various obedience titles awarded by the AKC go there for obedience training. Marlie Whiting is the owner and has also written several books on obediance training. You do the training under her direction and classes convene once per week.

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I did a search and only find one "Canine college" in Edina....is that the only one in the metro or are there more towards the north metro?

[sakman]

Unfortunately, she only operates out of the SW metro location. When I used her services, I lived in Richfield so it was not a problem. For the north metro I have heard very good things about Big D's. Maybe someone else has info on him.

[limited out]

I called the edina/richfield location and they are no longer accepting dogs over the age of 4 months. Does this sound correct?

[sakman]

The only thing that I can think of is that Marlie has pretty much retired. The last time I used her was 12 years ago, and she was probably pretty close to 60 at that time. Perhaps she's switched to puppy training and no longer deals with obedience classes for mature dogs.

I am surprised that there were so few suggestions from the readers of this forum. To me, the first thing a hunting dog needs is obedience. The fact that so many don't appear to bother with obedience training is a boon to the retailers of shock collars and the like. I find it intersting how many guys pour hundreds of dollars into having their dogs trained for hunting but do nothing with quality obedience training. It also explains why so many guys end up straining their vocal cords screaming at their dogs.

I own a Vizsla and received the info on Canine College via the Twin City Vizsla Club. I know that those people are dedicated to all aspects of dog training and that many of their dogs receive hunting and obedience titles. Try looking at their HSOforum and make contact with one of them. I am quite certain that they can recommend a quality place to go for obedience training.

Good luck.

[Jammer]

A-1 Dog Training in Brooklyn park is very good and they have instructors that have worked with a variety of dogs, so they know how to handle most problems. I've taken three dogs to them, and put titles on two (still working on the third). They have a HSOforum, just Google search on their name.

[springerspeed]

I think most of the available "once a week training" classes have been given. The only ones I can think of are the humane society and most of the petco's and petsmarts. Some kennels may do a per session training. Not necessarily once a week.

Another suggetion I can make is join a club for your specific breed. Most of them get together at least once a week and you can get a multitude of training tips from pro's and amatueres that have been down the road that you are going down now.

Just my 2 cents.