Training lessons...

So I've been thinking for a while and once I get home I'm taking my boy to training lessons, for anyone who doesn't know the story why he needs lessons here is a quick why.

Dragon is rather violent towards other dogs and has bite 3 dogs, 2 which were just a bite and then he'd let go and one that he proper bite the dog and it took us around 5 minutes to take him off the other dog.

So I've heard good things about this training lessons right next to my house, every Saturday at 8:30 for £6 an hour, which isn't bad because I'm only taking him for an hour every Saturday.

What I was wondering is, what do they normally do in this type of lessons? I mean I need someone to somehow help my boy stop being this violent, so what should I expect from the lessons and how can they help? That's basically my question, since I don't see how they'll be able to in a way ''change'' him from violent to not violent.

Have they promised you they will change his temperament ?? I wouldn't think so as it is a very difficult , if not impossible thing to do sometimes. Some dogs just don't like some other dogs.

As far as the training it really depends on the course as to what the will be doing as you can range from puppy classes to general dog obedience and onwards with various levels if they are kc approved

Maybe its down to you to get him out of the habit. I think lessons may help though. Are there going to be other dogs there too

To be honest I haven't gone there myself as there only open on Saturdays I think, although I've heard good things about the dog trainers there etc.

Yes there will be other dogs, I just really don't know what to expect from this lessons, because my girlfriend took her pup to some lessons and she said all they did was walk around and talk to you for a while and spend a bit of time with the dogs... but that was pup lessons, that wouldn't help my situation at all, I mean if they just walk around in a circle talking to you and stroking your dog it's a waste of money

well we've just had Tommy to an older pup course. They focused on things like recall , jumping up , stay , watch me , wait and some loose lead walking , but the socialisation opportunity was good , though we did have to separate ourselves a bit from the main group when indoors as Tommy could sometimes be a little growly

I see...
Well teaching my boy some more commands would be really good specially the ''Watch me'' so when another dog goes by he focus on me rather than the dog... He's a very smart dog and picks up things very quickly, he already knows a few commands such as stay, sit, lay down, roll over and paw, but the thing is we need to do some gestures for him to do the commands, which isn't very good because if he's not looking at me he'll not see the gestures and won't do the commands

If I were you, I'd get some one to one with a behaviourist before going to training classes. It's often an exciting and enclosed environment that really isn't the best place to start. If you go for a behaviourist, they can still teach you various commands and techniques to handle your dog, and you get the advantage of their undivided attention, an easier environment and the plan will be totally tailored to you.

However, if it's in a big enough area, you could see if you could take your boy along to watch and do his own thing, without the pressures of being too structured.

Go along to watch the classes before taking him anyway, speak to the trainers and make sure it's the right place. And remember to take it slow. It's a complex issue, and it won't be resolved overnight.

Yes I wasn't expecting it to be a quick thing.
What is a behaviorist? I never heard of something like that around my area (it's a really small town so we haven't got much, specially to do with dogs... )

http://www.apbc.org.uk/

Have a look at this website, there you'll find more information about what they are, and also of anyone in your area. There are other qualifications they can get, but I think this is one of the more well reputed bodies.

I'm sure someone else can give you more information.

A friend of mine took his dog to a dog training centre to learn basic commands etc. as he tended to jump up at visitors and pester them in the house etc. They went to a group session and found that due to the different levels of dog obedience, they got little help at all because the trainers were either spending time with difficult dogs or then moving on before Simba was reacting.

After the lesson they spoke with the trainer about their concerns and he mentioned one-on-one would be more ideal. It's abit more pricey but they said that the results in one hour were about the same as 10 group sessions.

I'll admit he's like a different dog, they've only had three sessions but you could clearly see a difference after just one session!

I don't know what it's like over there but here training lessons in a group wouldn't benefit a DA dog, only teach basic commands.. I would recommend a behaviorlist also, just make sure you pick one that has the same training "opinion" as you.. One that trains on positive reinforcement etc not one that recommends shock collars etc.

Thank you all for your help.
I might go check out the lessons have a word with the teacher etc see what he says and see what I think, if they can't help me there then i'll see about the behaviorlist, which seems to be the best option.

The training class I took millie and bella to was just the basic commands but they also brought in a coiple of aggressive dogs and worked with them to get them to ignore the other dogs there.

Yea that wouldn't be to bad, I mean my boy is normally fine while his ball is out, he normally ignores other dogs... but that is not enough for me to be secure to let him off the lead while other dogs are there. I need him either to be ok with other dogs or at least be able to just not care... Only bad thing is, if they come to sniff him he'll get aggressive, specially if they come from behind or sniff his bum he does not like it at all

Bless him, but yea hopefully with time and effort we'll be able to change him into liking dogs, since I really want to get another dog, not now but in the future I'd love to have another staffy.