Training class nightmare!!

Help please, we have started to take our pup to Ring craft training, we took him last night and he has started to jump up and nip at us again like he did when he was abit younger. The problem is one of the people who run it took him up to stand him and walk him and he was horrendous kept jumping and nipping at her, as you can imagine she was not amused:( They told us we need to change his diet,take him to the vets to get him sorted,or see a behaviouralist!! He is only 5 months old, he is on fish4dogs . My main concern is that they have told us to smack him on the face, the woman did and he got worse , do you think we should keep taking him to this class?At home we have gone back to basics with training, time out ,ignoring him and turning away from him etc...

Smack him on the face?! If any person in any training class told me to do that, I'd leave and wouldn't go back again.

Zeus turned 9 months old today and he still has his tantrums where he jumps up and nips, but its up to me to correct it and eventually he'll get the idea, just as you should. Smacking him on the face isn't the solution.. telling him off and/or putting him in another room as a punishment is the solution.

Don't go back... she hit your puppy!!!

He's 5 months old and excited, its perfectly normal. Keep doing what you are doing and try and socialize him with other dogs as much as you can.

Find a different class! How dare she hit any dog round the face, let all yours!
Is it ring craft you want or obedience?

I go to puppy training and it is all reward based positive reinforcement. I would never go anywhere that suggested physical punishment....but that's just me!

Reward training only! That's terrible! Find somewhere else.

Find somewhere else hitting is not an option as far as im concerned, have you tried clicker training with treats ? its a fantastic method Duke is ten weeks and today we had a visitor he got all giddy as they do, one click of the clicker and he was sat at the side of me waiting for a treat , our visitor thought i was dead clever but it's a very simple way to get their attention , best £7.00 i have spent i reckon , by the way i would tell this so called dog trainer you are going to report her to the RSPCA for abuse, that should wake her up .

I totally agree with everyone, I feel so guilty that Louie was treated like that, he did get his own back by nipping her hands , which the stupid woman made a big issue of.
Caryll, we have tried so many obedience classes in our area , but have alwalys faced the same problems , they don't like Louie cos hes a Stafford and they all train by squirting water at them or smacking them on the nose! Ring craft was our last option as the breeder we had Louie off suggested it. Louie is ok when any of our family trains him at ring craft but sometimes he gets over excited by new people or other dogs. I feel awful That this has happened to Louie especially as they were trying to say he had problems , hes alovely boy just being a pup x

Forgot to add i got the clicker from pets at home it has a built in whistle as well .

Sounds like this woman is a right sergeant major! How dare she hit a dog! Anyone would think she had never worked with an exuberant puppy before.

As far as I am concerned she should never work with a pup again, you can't smack a dog into obedience, positive reinforcement treating the correct behaviour is the only way!! Shame on her!

Smudgewudge41 wrote:I totally agree with everyone, I feel so guilty that Louie was treated like that, he did get his own back by nipping her hands , which the stupid woman made a big issue of.
Caryll, we have tried so many obedience classes in our area , but have alwalys faced the same problems , they don't like Louie cos hes a Stafford and they all train by squirting water at them or smacking them on the nose! Ring craft was our last option as the breeder we had Louie off suggested it. Louie is ok when any of our family trains him at ring craft but sometimes he gets over excited by new people or other dogs. I feel awful That this has happened to Louie especially as they were trying to say he had problems , hes alovely boy just being a pup x

To be honest, if that's the case, I wouldn't bother with training classes at all. I'd do it all yourself. You can socialise at the park & do regular periods of training as well.

No way would I allow any dog of mine to be hit by anyone! I wouldn't even allow them to take my dog to demonstrate anything - if they can't explain what they want me to do & demonstrate on their own dog, then I wouldn't want to know!

Good advice Caryll Duke is our first STB and we were going to take him to classes but he is responding so well to me training him. i don't think there is a need to take him now, we are finding out these STB's are intelligent Dogs indeed .

I would of hit her across the face back.... I know two wrongs don't make a right, but blimey what a stupid women. And poor you and louie

I had all Intentions of taking Percy to puppy classes, but as I've been at home with him since we've got him I've managed to do it all myself, (have a small amount of knowledge from training with my dads dogs),and have put a lot of effort into socialising him in the park etc

Crap trainer, do it yourself.

You can train him yourself. No point going to any training classes if their methods are bad. I took Loki to one where they went on about how dogs need a leader and I was OK with that because I think dogs do need a leader, though not a bossy or forceful one. Then they said you have to poke him whenever he barks to get him to stop, and don't be afraid to be forceful to him, blah blah. I didn't go back. Smacking a puppy is bad even because it might scare them, but even if it doesn't, it'll make the puppy think you're just playing and will do it even more.

Seriously, at this age there's no need for a behaviourist, he's being a normal puppy and pushing his luck or getting too excited and playful. Going to puppy classes based on positive reinforcement helped me with Loki, but I already knew almost everything they said, so don't worry if you can't find a training class.

Thanks everyone ,its nice to know I have got somewhere to come to get the best advice. We have come so far with Louie now, when I first came on this forum he was an uncontrolable 8 week old pup and now he is much better, still nips and jumps at times but thats when you won't let him get his own way but then he ends up in his crate for time out. Tonight he was cuddled up close to me on the sofa and I felt so angry and sad that that horrible woman had had the nerve to treat him like that,I think some people must get kick out of being so dominating and forceful with dogs, its scary. This stupid woman suppose to have champion crufts winning staffords!! I think we will train our little Louie ourselves as we have come this far with him. Thanks again for your support

You would do better to do the training yourself. This person is giving trainers a bad name which is a shame as there are some very good ones out there.

Get yourself a small bag of good quality treats and carry on without the training class. Reward the good behaviour with a small treat. Turn your back and ignore when he is naughty, he will not like to be ignored.

Louie has started to jump up and nip at us in public sometimes now , and we don't know what to do as when you ignore him he keeps nipping at you like he knows you have got nowhere to put him in time out. Any advice?
We have decide not to got back to ring craft as it has knocked everyones confidence and I think he is just being a naughty pup, but not sur eabout coping in public

I used to take my Dobes to ringcraft training because I wanted to (and did) show them. But that is all ringcraft training classes are - training for the show ring. If you don't want to show Louie then there's no point in going - it is totally different from puppy training.

As I have no intention of showing Kuchar I tried the "clicker/treats" puppy training classes, but this was a disaster as far as Kuchar was concerned (I have expounded on this elsewhere on this site!). If it works for some Staffs - great and I'm glad - but it didn't work for my pup.

So, I would agree with the opinions above - train him yourself. That's what I am doing now. It's a long haul - no instant results guaranteed like some puppy training classes promise! (No names, no pack drill). Just keep at it slowly and steadily, suiting the training to your own dog's progress.

And someone else smacking your dog on the face is just TERRIBLE. Don't go back there.

I would find a different class or home train. I've hinestly never taken any of mine to a class before. He is likely starting the teenage phase and you are on the right track with going back to basics.

If you find anthor class you may want to exercise him before so he isn't as energetic

I guess I was lucky, the trainer at our puppy classes loved staffies.

He had about 6 of his own dogs, and would bring one in for training too, older ones to help the pups learn how to behave around them.

But as others have said, it was always treat rewards for good behaviour, seems very strange that some of these people would do it any other way, the guy who helped us with training does monthly pack walks too that we have gone on, his dogs are extremely well behaved, never slapped in the face!