How do you decide which training classes to take your dogs to? I have 2 choices, our local dog training classes that has been running for years so they know what they are teaching, or I have been in contact with someone from APDT whose puppy classes start next week. Any advice please?
jane

Do you know anyone who goes to the already established classes? If so i would go on recommendation. Or, failing that, the closest ;)

Why don't you just go to both? (without the dog of course) and see which one you like best before you part with any cash :)

I too would go to both and see which one's the best.  Our local one is awful, so I do a 40 mile round trip to the best one!  Well worth it!

Sarah.

Our local training group I have been to  before. It costs £1 and is close to me (and I wasn't unhappy with the classes). The apdt class is a little way away and costs £60 for 8 classes. I have never attended one of these classes before. I wondered if there was any difference, whether the classes would be smaller and more 1 to 1 attention, really whether it is worth paying the extra money and travelling the extra distance.
jane

I'd just like to point out one thing, which is that just because someone's been established for years it doesn't mean they are any good :)

We have a terrible training club near us, but because its run by a husband and wife team and the bloke is so personable, they have lots of owners go there - but the training is very harsh on the dogs and i've seen very depressed looking dogs come out of there, and one woman who ended up being helped by me (for free) said her dog refused to go in there aftere a while :)

The wife also dragged a very shy pup out from under the chairs (this pup was a Bernese MD) and it snapped at her, so she said it was vicious :rolleyes:
They've been around for years. The APDT one should be kind, fair and effective.

I'd suggest going to both just to look at first - you need classes which control the pups and don't allow free off lead play all the time, and a trainer who instructs the owners how to do basics like recall and so on :)  If it were me i'd go to the apdt one.

Just my view :)

If you've been to the local one before and had no problems then thats the one I would choose.
Better the devil you know ;) :P Don't know about apdt classes, the one I went to was recommended and I wasn't disappointed, really friendly and professional. Like someone suggested, you could go along - without your dog - to the other one and check it out for yourself :) then only you can decide if it is worth paying extra :)

after a very bad experience with our local kc regestered training club which like the one you mentioned has been around for years and years (really no idea or knowledge about any breds except labs and grs) i would go for the apdt trainer every time. we have just enrolled into a class run by the most lovely lady, who after meeting my lad and asking a few questions about him told me that he had a lot of working blood in him, being a pastrol bred as you can imagine this has answered loads of what i thought where "behaviour" problems. i atend her classes and this means a 70 mile round trip for me!!!

I always say to new puppy owners, that they should go to all the local clubs with out the dog first, watch what goes on and then choose the best one that way. Just because the local club has been established and running for years does not mean it is worse or better than other local clubs, or clubs with APDT trainers. Sometimes a well established club will get a new trainer and things will change for the better or for the worse. If ever you are not happy with any form of training leave the club and find some where better to go.

When I used to run a club years ago I used to make sure anybody wanting to help out with any training classes did so to start out under guidance then I would send them on a training course for trainers.

If you've been to the local one and like it then I would stick with it. The dog improves not by the one hour a week at training but the time you put in during that time. If you feel happy and relaxed at the one you're going to, I would go with that. If your happy then your passing that down the lead. Trainers should be positive and constructive NOT pull you to bits on what your doing wrong. If you have a good relationship with the trainers then stay where you are.
£60 for eight weeks seems really excessive. I pay £2 a week which the norm in the area. Sounds like your paying for the building not necessarily the instructors.

We take our Danes to a dog training club I took my first dog, a Jack Russell to when I was 14 years old.  It isn't the same person running it now, but the training methods are the same.  I don't even know if this person has any qualifications, but he is absolutley great.  As many will know we had problems with our rescue RR and other dogs, and our trainer suggested we take her to training with the pups and he would assess her.  He observed how she behaved and offered tips and since then she is like a different dog.  Go with the trainer you are happy with :D