So you have a dog, or a new puppy that makes each and every day an adventure? We all know how fun and quirky these creatures can be. When you finally get one, you quickly realize that it is never boring with them around. They’re like your very own personal, constant source of fun and unconditional love. Who could possibly have something against these bundles of joy?

Well, you might when your dog is disobedient, since that can make things very difficult. Imagine yourself trying to walk your pet and constantly being dragged in the direction they prefer. And as you may know, they prefer to change directions constantly. You might think that this is a problem only with larger breeds, but smaller ones can be a nightmare as well.

Nothing Works, or Does It?

You’ve tried to teach them a few commands. You’ve tried to make them listen to you. You’ve tried every single trick in the book and nothing seems to work. Well, it seems that it’s high time you find professional help and enroll your pet into puppy training classes or dog training classes. If your animal is already an adult, don’t worry: adult dogs can also be trained successfully, if you have the right person by your side.

Most new owners aren’t familiar with these training programs, which make their decision to attend to them a bit difficult. Even experienced owners might have never had the need, or the opportunity to attend to these previously. However, just because you have been successful in teaching your dog some basic training in the past, it doesn’t mean that you will always be successful. Remember, this also depends on the breed of your animal, among other things.

In any case, attending a training course with your little four-legged companion is rather fun, in addition to being useful. Some of you may be worried about whether this will be a waste of your time and money. That’s why I will do my best to explain what you can expect from these classes, as well as how you should get properly prepared for them. Let’s start with the latter one.

How To Prepare

One of the first things you need to do is make sure that your canine is completely healthy. That means that the first person you need to visit before these courses is your vet. Even though you are sure that your pet is healthy, going for a checkup is really important. It gives you a peace of mind, while also assuring the instructors that they are dealing with a perfectly healthy animal that simply needs to learn some obedience. Useful content.

Now this depends on the place where you decide to take your dog for obedience training, but it might easily happen that the first class might be in the form of an orientation for humans. In that case, you will receive all the important information, including those about the equipment you need to bring along for your dog’s classes. Still, these pieces of information can sometimes be sent to you through an e-mail, or some other form of communication.

Of course, this is the right time to choose a specific course in accordance with yours and your dog’s needs. Consider your dog’s age, level of obedience, as well as the things that you most wish to teach them. Not everyone has the same priorities. Therefore, before enrolling for a class, do some research and figure out what would suit you and your little friend best.

What to Expect

First of all, you need to be aware of the fact that you will have regular classes, at least once a week, and sometimes more. The more, the better, right? Well, that’s certainly correct. However, that also means that you will have to clear your schedule and organize it with these trainings in mind. You don’t want to pay for something and end up not using the benefits of it. It would be like letting your gym membership go to waste.

Here’s some more useful info: https://news.orvis.com/dogs/expect-basic-dog-obedience-class

Secondly, you can expect your doggie to learn all the basic stuff, which makes your cohabitation more pleasant. I am talking about the simple commands, such as “sit,” “come,” and “stay.” However, if your dog already knows these, don’t worry. There are different levels of classes that you can sign up for to learn more complicated commands, which will teach your pet how to have better self-control, even in distracting settings.

Most importantly, you need to know that obedience trainings will definitely work, but only if you put in an effort as well. This means that you shouldn’t stop teaching your animal after the class is done. Instead, use all the methods that you learn in the classes and apply them in your everyday activities with your pup.