Fairfax County Park Authority dog obedience and agility training

[Anonymous]

Has anyone used this? I just noticed it in the listings and I'm intrigued. The price is right and the location is convenient.
I just wonder who exactly is teaching these courses, what experience they have and how helpful they are.
I don't want anything extreme, we just adopted a 2.5 year old do this year that a little help, not much.

[Anonymous]

We did the basic obedience course a couple years ago with our adopted adult dog. I thought it was good -- a good foundation for my husband, who was new to dogs, and a good reminder/reason to practice with the dog (which is what really makes the difference anyway). We covered the basics: sit, down, heel, stay, and come from a stay. Some of the heeling moves were more than the average pet owner will use, but it was all stuff I'd seen covered in other obedience classes elsewhere. The theoretical goal of the class is to have the dog pass the "canine good citizen" test at the end: I think half the class would not have passed an actual certification test, but most did fine in the fake practice test so we all ended on a good note.

Our particular instructor was someone who raised and showed retrievers for years, and had won obedience titles. She was a little abrasive but kept your attention. One of her rules was that the same person had to work with the dog every week -- no trading off between family members -- and while I understand her reasons, it was sometimes hard to do with our work schedules.

The parks "space" is not as good as the more expensive private classes run by indoor kennels. Our class at Oak Marr was outdoors in a parking lot and it was hot. We wanted to do an agility course but the locations available were not fenced, which I felt was unsafe for off-leash work with our particular dog.

Overall, a good value.

[Anonymous]

Great thanks so much. I think I will give it a go. Appreciate the feedback.