Dog Training

October 29, 2009 2:47 PM

Dog(Pug)TrainingFilter: So....We have this pug which will turn 1 in November. Hes a sweet little guy however he has some very bad habits. CHewing on any and everything, darts out of the door at any chance and then plays a game having us chase him, barks all the time outside, and pees anywhere he likes. Heres my question....Is $850 in your opinion average, above average,under,etc...to pay someone to train him. The women that would train him takes him for Two weeks and then returns him home. I do know she is good because my brother took his dog to her 7 years ago and his dog behaves great. Just an FYI...we would try a class but to be honest the wife and i just dont have enough time between our jobs and having two kids.
posted by flipmiester99 to Pets & Animals (18 answers total)

In my experience with dog training, the real purpose of obedience lessons are to train the owners to react properly to the pet--you're mostly training the human, not the dog. Because of that, I would not pay such exorbitant prices to train a dog without getting the benefit of the added human training you'd get with a normal obedience course (which, in my area, is about $100 for six weeks). I understand that you're busy, but the whole family really should be involved in the dog's training for it to be effective--and it's part of the basic responsibility of being a pet owner. What efforts have you gone through to train him already? Is he fixed?
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 2:51 PM on October 29, 2009 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: He is fixed and somewhat potty trained.
posted by flipmiester99 at 2:58 PM on October 29, 2009

Sometimes trainers call this version of training "charm school." The problem is that when the dog comes back to you, who is going to train you?

As an owner of Ripley the Wonder Pug and a frequent attender of pug-get-togethers, I can tell you that pugs are relentless in their habits and it will require discipline, consistency, and a sense of humor for you to persevere in training the little imp.

How about one of the kids going to obedience school with the dog?
posted by answergrape at 3:06 PM on October 29, 2009 [2 favorites]

Training is as much for you as it is for your dog -- you need to learn how to communicate with the dog (both verbally and non-verbally), you need to understand what boundaries to set up in your home, etc., you need to learn the most effective ways of correcting unwated behavior and rewarding wanted behavior. I'm not sure how this can happen if the dog is away from you and your home. How did your brother learn to work with his dog after training? Is his dog the same breed (and the same age at the time of training) as yours?
posted by scody at 3:21 PM on October 29, 2009

I agree with the above--you'll send him away, and he'll come back with and have the same problems, because you won't be familiar with how to implement the things that he learned.

There is no "quick fix" when it comes to dog training. There has to be someone in the family that is willing to spend some time/effort to work with the dog, be it taking classes, spending some time with a one-on-one private trainer, etc. And honestly, it may not be as time consuming as you might think--and you'd be doing a disservice to both your family and the dog if you don't at least ensure that he has some basic training/good habits.
posted by mingodingo at 3:25 PM on October 29, 2009

Well, for what it's worth, several years ago we paid a vet-recommended trainer $500 to come over to our house and train for five hours. It was money well spent; it fixed our dog problems and we still occasionally find ourselves referring to things he taught us. In that respect, PhoBWanKenobi is right: most of the time was spent with us rather than with the dog. We were basically learning how a dog anticipates and reacts to situations. So I kind of see the dog being trained away from home as a red flag. The training is not complete until the dog comes home and is aware of its place in the hierarchy and has consistent expectations.

I would recommend first off Googling the woman's name since if she's good there ought to be at least a couple of hits for her (and of course be wary for shills), and if not she may not be very well established. You could ask your vet if he's heard of her. Another idea is to pay her a visit with the idea of covertly observing how her dogs interact and see if the dogs show elements of respect or fear, or have her visit and interact and see how your dog reacts.
posted by crapmatic at 3:26 PM on October 29, 2009

As a follow up, when I was a kid, both my parents worked full-time, but our six-week-long, one-evening-per-week obedience class for the dog became a "family activity" of sorts. My brother and I went along (although Mom or Dad had to be the person actually working with the dog), and we had a great time watching all the dogs, and learning tips from the trainer.
posted by mingodingo at 3:28 PM on October 29, 2009

n-thing what everybody says. It's the people that need the training. When you understand how to train a dog, then your dog will obey you quickly. Nearly all dogs are predesposed to be easily trained and want to obey their owner (except the evil ones of course ;-) )

I raised a couple of dogs and I still go to training sessions with our new dog, because then the trainer can correct my mistakes.
There are many dogs around that obey their trainer perfectly and even other people but are uncontrollable in their owners hands, because they know that they can get away with it and do not respect their owner.

(A pet needs patience and time, time, time. Dogs moreso than many other pets.)
posted by mmkhd at 3:34 PM on October 29, 2009

To add to the voices, I think your brother's experience doesn't constitute a reliable data point. Some dogs are really well behaved; we never did much to train our girl and she's never chewed shoes or tore the garbage apart, and she's thoughtful and listens well.

So two things: your brother may have a naturally amiable, well-behaved dog who's just not interested in any of the behaviors that concern you, and all dogs calm down and become more well-behaved as they get older. Like the rest of us. At seven years old, you're likely to get a pretty well-behaved dog.

So, I agree with the rest that say there's no substitute for doing the groundwork and investing time and patience.

Also, if you're saying they take the dog away from you for a couple of weeks, that would creep me out beyond belief. That's just me, though. And maybe I misunderstood.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 3:37 PM on October 29, 2009

Oh, jeez, I didn't realize how young the dog was. Who isn't a total goon at less than a year old?

I would, if I were you, focus on developing good habits by talking with a dog trainer, try to come up with developmentally-appropriate goals (that's a puppy), and focus first on the peeing part.

I understand your exhaustion and not having time (believe me!), but it's worth the investment, and as you learn some basics you can try them out and reinforce them through the normal course of your daily life, your morning walk, evening walk, dinner times, etc.

It takes a while. I said we didn't train our dog, but I think we did train--we just never called it training. We just had rituals that we stuck to and rewarded positive behaviors.

Anyway -- yeah -- that there's a puppy.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 3:42 PM on October 29, 2009

While I also fall in the camp of training being just as much for the people as the animal, many of my customers use this method of training. In Bothell the Academy of Canine Behavior has trained at least one of my customer's dogs with a two week "camp" and he was very positive in his praise of how well behaved the dog was. Keep in mind this was a golden retriever which is of course a very trainable dog so YMMV. As far as cost I didn't see if they had posted their rates but do some digging here. You'll see that linked page refers toa 5 week training session but if you scroll down they also talk about a 2 week session.
posted by vito90 at 4:09 PM on October 29, 2009

I agree with the advice that has been given. I would also suggest you read the book How to Teach a New Dog Old Tricks by Ian Dunbar. He addresses all of the issues you mention and outlines how to train your dog to stop doing those things by using praise and rewards.
posted by kitty teeth at 4:20 PM on October 29, 2009

At 1 year old, your dog is still a puppy, as A Terrible Llama said. You have 1.5 - 2 more years of adolescent behavior to look forward to. All of the behaviors you described are completely normal for a dog that hasn't got a clue what is expected of it, or where it's place is in the pack structure.

I agree with sentiments above that training is as much to help you as it is the dog. The dog whisperer, you will notice, operates on much the same premise.

Because of that, $850 for a 2 week training course away from your home does not seem like it would be the best use of your money and might not produce the results you want.

A better solution is to have a trainer come to your house to work with you, your family and the dog.

You also need to educate yourself. One of my favorite resources is "The Art of Raising a Puppy" by the Monks of New Skete. Your dog needs to be crate trained, to learn how to walk on the leash, to be taught that nothing in life is free, and basic commands like sit, down, stay and come.

You will have a better relationship with your dog if you engage in the training process. And that's what having a dog is all about, no?

Good luck!
posted by Seppaku at 4:25 PM on October 29, 2009

My ten-month-old mutt and I have been going to the training classes at Petsmart (Puppy, then Intermediate and now we're in Advanced). I concur with the others who have said that training classes are for the owners more than for the dog. I don't think $850 is a good investment if you don't get some training out of it too.

My dog is still a puppy spazmoid - she steals paper towels from the trash can and shreds them, she rings the bell to go out and then chews sticks in the driveway rather than bathrooming... you get the idea. We try to be consistent with her and drill her on the basics (sit, down, off, stay, wait, come, drop it) every day. I carry a dog treat pouch so I can reward her whenever she does something I want to see again. You should learn about crate training and start using it.

I think you simply need to make time for this. Your dog will only be an impressionable puppy once. Now's your chance to train in the behavior you want to see - after that it's just reinforcement.

Yes, I know you can teach an old dog new tricks, but I think it's better to start off on the right foot.
posted by workerant at 4:53 PM on October 29, 2009

You need training. You will have no idea of what happens to your dog at this "camp" (methods are not always benign, and can often cause problems down the road, especially since YOU are not doing the training). Spend that money on a few courses of positive dog obedience classes, learn how to train your dog yourself. Dog training is not something that's finite, it's a process, and it is one of the best ways to bond with your dog and is intrinsically rewarding. You need to learn how to train a dog, you need to learn how to understand your dog, you do not need someone else to train your dog.
posted by biscotti at 6:16 PM on October 29, 2009

My husband has owned pugs (as have other members of his family) and, in his opinion, they're a particularly stubborn, hard-to-train breed. Lovable as all-get-out, but a real handful, especially when they're puppies. Lessons will help, but some pugs have a stubborn streak a mile long and they will pee wherever they want, no matter how much training they've had. I hope he's proven wrong in your case.
posted by LuckySeven~ at 6:32 PM on October 29, 2009

Sorry; I neglected to answer your question directly. I do think that $850.00 is too much to pay, under those circumstances, and for all of the reasons mentioned above. Ideally a dog should be trained by someone from the household. And that goes double for pugs.
posted by LuckySeven~ at 6:43 PM on October 29, 2009

My future MIL has sent two dogs away to training camp (Labrador and Chesapeake Bay Retriever) and swears by it. In her case she arrived the last day and spent a few hours with the trainer and the dog, learning the commands the dog had been taught to respond to and how to administer them. Would you be doing this?
posted by garden hoe at 7:32 PM on October 29, 2009