Help!- Training our puppy

Hello- we have a beautiful blue staffy and we recently passed puppy training (by the skin of our teeth!!!) but he is getting strong and heavy so I want to carry on training with him but didn't feel like that training school was right for us. They seemed to single reg out a lot and always bought up the fact that he was a potentially dangerous bread (all he would do is lick you to death!)

I am based in the West Midlands but don't mind travelling. I want complete control over him as soon he will be heavier and stronger than me.

Could anybody suggest anyone or anything I can do?

Do you live near a Dogs Trust centre? They run training classes, I went to the one on Merseyside with my last dog and they were great.

Good thinking, I will look into that now.

What is it like, obedience?

Hi and welcome to the forum!

It sounds like a wise decision to discontinue with that particular trainer. Singling out staffies because of their breed is just plain ignorance.

Instead of looking to have complete control over a dog, I'd urge you to more think along the lines of training that sets your dog up to want to do what you're asking. Mastery and domination can have the desired effect but only because the dog feels he has to. You'll get a much better response and have a much better relationship if you dog does something because he knows it's fun and rewarding.

There are some great trainers out there who can help you, this is a good place to look:

http://www.apdt.co.uk/

In the meantime, you should be able to carry on working on your own with a little guidance. I'd suggest looking at these videos, you might be past some stages but they can still be worth watching as the general approach she takes is great:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0C724F6F6A597540

You can see it's all fun, easy for the dogs and they learn because they want to.

There are other good videos around, she's just one I like.

Yeah I think so too! They wouldn't let my Reggie do puppy play!! Not fair!

Fun and rewarding does sound much better and that is what I am after, this is my first dog and I just so want us to be on the same wave length.

That is all sooo helpful thank you so much I will start researching!

good luck with your search,i hope you get the right one for Reggie 

Get I'd luck with the ongoing training, let us know how you both get on... Oh and some pics of Reggie won't go amiss either Sophie

Hi we hope you find somewhere better for training. We had the exact same experience at puppy classes, every time one of the puppies misbehaved Gus was to blame! Keep us posted on how you get on