Maybe I'm just too brash for this area, but I am perplexed why no one has advised you to talk to the management of the place you pre-bought 20 classes that they are not meeting your needs?

Don't talk to the front desk staff, speak to the owner/manager. You don't have to be an ass, just state what you wrote here and see what his suggestion is, it seems irresponsible for them to have sold you group lessons with varying attendance and guidance when you have a 17 week old puppy. Dogs that age are like toddlers, it's hard for them to focus on much.

Kudos to your daughter for wanting to train the puppy!

I second the above poster. I took Dunbars classes in CA.

We went to classes with a Certified Professional Dog Trainer who follows Ian Dunbar's gentle but effective training. It sounds like you are getting great socialization for your puppy, but need a more structured trainer. Classes started with 10 - 17 weeks old for puppies. We're not in the area, but look for a trainer with CPDT - KA.

Ian Dunbar has a book called Before and After You Get Your Puppy that is so helpful to understand shaping dog's behaviour from a very young age.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbdDm5MmkAs
He has many training videos on youtube and a website, Dogstardaily.com

Don't wait! It's best to start training puppies while they are young - 17 weeks is getting old already! By 7 months, they have a teenage attitude and you have to keep up with training, or they can rebel.

We did puppy classes at Petsmart - beginner, intermediate, advanced. They were structured and included "homework".

There wasn't any free for all playing, the puppies/young dogs learned to sit calmly in a classroom together. And actually we trained them to stay by our sides and not get overly excited/pull towards the other dogs.

It sounds as though you've been doing a good job getting your pup out to socialize and meet other dogs/people. But the class that you chose is not structured training.

I don't think rotating puppy class curriculum is unusual. The primary goal is socialization, though. Most formal, group obedience classes begin at 5 months of age. Ask your veterinarian to recommend a local dog obedience classes or dog training clubs he/she recommends. You'll want to find one with a training philosophy that matches your puppy's needs/personality.

"Find it" can be used to teach recall, but you'll want to start on a leash first so your puppy can figure out what you're expecting of her.

If the class isn't a good fit, I'd stop going and find one that is. Or, continue with private. We did one private session with our 2 year old rescue dog when we first got her, then the rest on our own. We're planning on looking into more private sessions since we just added a second dog.

Anonymous wrote:OP here: Just a clarification. It is a puppy class, but the puppies are of varying ages and stages, and the class does not seem to follow any apparent order or structure.

That doesn't sound like a very typical puppy class then. Puppy classes should still have structure to them, they just have more socialization time built in. They are also usually split into age groups so the much younger puppies aren't in with the one that are more adolescent.

The class you're in sounds like it may be great for socialization, just not actual training. A more typical puppy class might not feel like so much of a waste of time to you.

OP here: Just a clarification. It is a puppy class, but the puppies are of varying ages and stages, and the class does not seem to follow any apparent order or structure.

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like you want a puppy class. The class you are currently in sounds great for socialization, which is extremely important. Maybe sign up for a concurrent puppy class, and go to both. Or continue with the current class and buy a training book. Training a puppy isn't hard, it just requires consistency, patience, and time. She's still really young.

+1. Socialization is great, especially if you want to pursue therapy dog training but you'll also need actual, structured obedience training. Puppy classes are much more geared to what a puppy can be reasonably expected to learn.

It sounds like you want a puppy class. The class you are currently in sounds great for socialization, which is extremely important. Maybe sign up for a concurrent puppy class, and go to both. Or continue with the current class and buy a training book. Training a puppy isn't hard, it just requires consistency, patience, and time. She's still really young.

We have a 17 week old puppy who we got when she was 8 weeks old. We have 2 kids, one of whom has special needs, and we have been determined to train the puppy well and potentially advance to therapy dog training. We had one private session when we first got her at a place in Rockville that was great and helped us with what we needed to know initially (crate training, chewing, etc.). Then we purchased 20 group sessions, and have attended 3. They seem like a total waste of time. They are chaotic and our puppy gets completely hyper and distracted and wants to play with the other dogs. Part of the time is spent playing, and part of the time is spent showing us seemingly useless exercises that seem too advanced for our puppy ("find it" when she doesn't even reliably "come" yet). The classes are rotating, meaning that they don't have a structured 8 week session, people just come and go so there are varying abilities (some dogs are just starting out, and some have some degree of training). Is this typical of training classes, or do we just need to find a better place? If the latter, suggestions welcome. Now that our puppy is fully immunized, we have been taking her to Petco for their free puppy play time which is great for socialization, and our dog walker often brings her puppy - so socialization is not a problem, we just really want to find a good place to train her. She is now pretty much crate trained, meaning she doesn't have a ton of freedom but she never goes in the house anymore. She also sits pretty reliably, and comes sometimes.