Puppy Training Classes Next Week

I decided to take Loki to some puppy training classes, mainly due to the biting. He's a fast learner, but I'm having problems stopping him from biting me, so I figured classes would be a good idea. It's a small class, so if I'm having problems with the technique they teach, they'll be able to help me out hopefully. Not only that, but even though he's a fast learner, it'll be nice for him to be more consistent in coming when called, and leaving things.

It seems like the training is very reward-based (it says to bring a stuffed Kong and some nice treats like chicken and etc.). I was thinking that the downside to this would be that it makes them very food-dependent (by which I mean they won't be willing to do anything without treats). Has anyone tried this kind of training classes, and do you think it makes the dog rely on treats, or do they just learn to do it without it after a while?

On a positive note, I'm excited though Loki's only walked past dogs so far, he hasn't really met any, so it'll be a good chance for him to really socialise.

Reward based training is very good; as your dog gets better at the commands you occasionally leave out the treat & just give verbal praise. then you gradually increase the verbal & decrease the food.

Don't bank on it stopping the biting, though. Loki's not even 3 months old yet - you just have to be consistent with the "no" and ignore method. It will work soon enough. Don't forget that he'll be starting to teeth as well, so he may have sore gums.

We took Ralph on reward based training and it's really good and Ralph picked it up really quickly.

We are already cutting back on the treats each time. Except for the recall. Still working on that!

I've always felt reward based training is the best method for them to learn.

Oh good, then that's not a worry, thanks

As for the biting...heh...I know that won't be a quick fix, but there hasn't been any real progress with the biting, even though he responds to my dad and doesn't bite him, so I feel like it's maybe something I'm doing wrong, which is why I think the training would be good, because someone would be there to tell me if I'm doing something wrong and etc.

Should I be worried about him accidentally, you know....swallowing one of his teeth when they start coming out?

He'll have a ball! Saf started hers last Sunday. Mines a pretty big class and she was distracted quite a bit, not by the other pups but because she wanted the owners to make a fuss over her! Little minx!

Anyway, I found we used a fair bit of treats during the 'lesson time' so next time I shall be using some of her dinner instead. Don't know what people are gonna think when I pull out a bag of raw beef steak chunks, but tbh I don't really care! Haha!

And you could try stopping other dog owners on walks for a chat? I do every walk so Saf gets to meet new dogs. She met about 8 dogs/owners today!

Bella had her first lesson yesterday evening, she was desperate to play with the other pups, sooooo distracted it was hard work concentrating on the teacher!! However she responded well in demonstrations so I'm looking forward to all the practice we'll be doing until next week. Our classes are heavily reward based but as long as it works I'm happy with that x