Training classes

At the mixed breed beginners class Bacchus does well. I have him sit, remove his lead, give him the wait command, walk away and recall. He comes straight to me,makes no attempt to run to the other dogs, sits, has his lead put back on. Walks reasonably well during the on-lead work. But as soon as we sit down between sets he constantly pulls to get to the other dogs, which is very, tiring and annoying. Also I worry about the constant pressure on his throat from his collar. I don't enjoy the fact that the worst behaved dog there is a staff. ( i don't mean in the context of his work as he is better at some things than some of the older dogs) He is the youngest pup there ( 6mths), the next youngest being a collie/lab who is 14 mths.

I don't mind it so much at our other classes which are run by a staffy breeder and predominantly for staffies, as they understand the breed there.
Will this constant, almost obsessive, desire to play with other dogs decrease as he matures?

Do you have a good, tough, wide collar you could use for the training classes, being wide it will at least spread the stress a bit around his neck rather than it just pulling in one place. Are you able to use a harness there ?

we suffered the same fate on occasions at our training and had to give ourselves a bit more distance from the others as Tommy would selectively growl at other dogs. More practice with the "watch me" is the key to this one and works for us.
Tommy was much better on the outdoor work than the indoor just having a bit more space around him

Dave wrote:we suffered the same fate on occasions at our training and had to give ourselves a bit more distance from the others as Tommy would selectively growl at other dogs. More practice with the "watch me" is the key to this one and works for us.
Tommy was much better on the outdoor work than the indoor just having a bit more space around him

Can you explain the "watch me" please.

Watch me- Get Bacchus to look at you when another dog approaches you, with him keeping eye contact with you less likely to react to the other dog.

You just get Bacchus to concentrate on you , so will adopt his strongest stance , maybe sit for example and have him focus as you make a gesture (I use the 2 fingers to the eyes) watch me (and nobody else)

I used this with Tilly as the first step of leaving hr off lead when other people , cyclists etc were passing , she would have her back to the action so to speak. Now for Tommy to take his mind off the other distractions around him

i need more practice with watch me too