I live near Blackpool and am finding it really hard to find training classes for my puppy. Leo did his puppy training with a local trainer but he has now moved to Scotland. I looked on the APDT website and e-mailed the 2 trainers that were within reasonable travelling distance to me and one of them said i could go and see a class with Leo and see if i liked it. I went to watch a class last night and I didn't like it all all really, the trainer was not interested in Leo at all and although she told me it was a puppy class over e-mail when i arrived Leo and two other puppies were the only puppies. The other dogs (7) were all adults of at least 2 years plus and had what the trainer described as "socialisation issues". At least two of the dogs had completed her puppy, intermdiate and senior classes but had come back to start at puppy classes in the hope of socialising their dogs. Leo spent the lesson very confused and a bit upset as we were put next to an unsocialsed dog who kept randomly lunging and snapping at Leo at which point the trainer would yell NO really loudly at this dog scaring Leo half to death. I went to speak to the trainer at the end of the lesson and said that i didn't think the classes were for us at which point she got really snotty and implied that i had wasted her time. After this experience i think that i would much prefer a personal recommendation or just give me a few more clues as to where to look. I don't mind travelling up to about 50 minutes but car journeys make Leo sleepy and any longer than that and he would probably sleep through the entire class. It was recommended to me to ask at the local vets about a trainer, i am training to be a vet nurse so i work at the vet and the only trainer that we used to recommend was the one i went to that has now moved. I contacted 8 training clubs through an obedience website but 7 of the e-mails were returned as the e-mail adresses were no longer valid and the last one only caters for competition obedience and does not run basic obedience classes. I am really sorry to ramble on but it was such a bad night last night that i thought it would be best if i tried to explain what i had done so far.

I'm just about to go out so have only read this quickly, but how old is Leo?
A puppy shouldn't be in a class where there are undersocialised dogs IMO.
He should be having good experiences with other dogs so that when at some stage he does come across an aggressive one, he is more likely to take it with a pinch of salt :)

If you felt really upset about the classes, contact the APDT head office and tell them as it's important training standards and people skills are kept up by trainers and the trainers are not just paying lip service to the APDT.

Maybe the other trainer you emailed will be better? Go along to watch a class before taking your dog is my advice. Also look on the APDT site as they i think explain what to look for in a good class.

Lindsay
X

Leo is nearly 6 months old. I don't really want to cause any trouble or complain because although at the time i was irritated and Leo was upset luckily as Leo is such a friendly and happy dog he got over it very quickly i just thought it was a bit odd to have under socialised dogs in a puppy class. The other dog trainer is in lancaster so really it is a bit far, the address on the apdt website isn't actually the place where she takes the classes. On a route plannner it says it will take me just over an hour to get there and that is if their is no traffic. When i finally find another class to look at i will not take Leo with me. I wasn't going to take him on thursday but the trainer said i should to see how he got on. I am planning to do agility with him when he is old enough so he is on an agility clubs waiting list but that is a 2 year waiting list. Will carry  on looking.