In Your Experience: Success Rates

[JJNg]

I think you're interpreting the responses correctly, at least that's what I meant in mine. However, even dedicated owners may not have the knowledge to be successful without the help of a good trainer to provide them with the skills and tools necessary to teach the dog. But even without a good trainer, the dedicated owner will keep plugging away and looking for better options themselves, not matter how bad it gets, until they get on the right path. Finding a good trainer will facilitate the process and make success happen faster.

 

Teaching good training skills is important, but for it to be carried out and maintained, that's what requires a committed owner. I honestly don't know what an outsider could do to influence the bond between owner and dog. Most people I meet seem to have their mind set about what a dog is - ie. family member vs. 'plaything' for the kids vs property, etc. Always frustrating to deal with the people who will not to go any lengths to provide medical care because it's "just a dog."

[Batmom]

I do think, however, that creating beginning and end goals with clear objectives and criteria WITH owners is an effective tool, fostering better handler-dog communication and stronger relationships. I haven't ever seen this in actuality in basic obed. classes, and it'd be really interesting to see a trainer conduct a class in this manner.

 

I think I must live on a different planet? Most of the classes I've been involved in do exactly that. There's a set of techniques or actions to be taught and worked on in the class, and an expectation that most dog-handler pairs will master those. Some courses have a formal evaluation at the end, some don't.

 

I don't get what you're looking for beyond that?

 

[rschultz]

I agree 100 percent with batmom.

[Guest Giselle]

There may be some of that goal setting verbally, but I've never seen it written down in text or even through e-mail. In other words, I've never seen it done collectively as a group and written down/recorded in text. I'd be curious to see (but have never seen) a chalkboard or blackboard or some type of physical, tangible chart where people can refer to throughout class to gauge what they're learning. I've seen classes where the 1st hour is dedicated to teaching basics of theory via Powerpoint or demonstration, but I've never seen a trainer sit down with the group of owners and work with them to create a specific list of THEIR desired achievements + then formally write down the steps to achieve it. In my experience, it has always been: You signed up for 6 weeks of obedience. Week 1: You will train sit and down, Week 2: stay and heel. etc. etc. Never seen much flexibility in terms of goals-setting.

 

I've also seen end-of-class games to allow people to demonstrate what they've learned, but I also have never seen a formal written evaluation. That's very interesting that you've observed that! I've never heard nor seen that for dog class before... (I have seen it for seminars and conferences, but that's a different context). Formal course evals are such a critical factor of success, IMO. I'd love to see a trainer use them frequently and consistently!

[Guest Wasserbuffel]

For my own example, everyone else was training "shake.". I trained it as "paw" as in "give me your paw.". I just wasnt likely to use shake in that context, but I do say "give me your paw" and similar phrases in my normal speech.

 

This!

 

Words and hand signals that come naturally to the owner are more likely to be used. Instead of "watch me" I trained Jayne to give the same response to the word "Hey" because my DH wanted me to. He's infinitely more likely to say "Hey" to get her attention than "watch me". She responds to the typical "watch me" hand signal (hand to eye level) that people use no matter if they say "watch me" or "hey".