Privates or Groups?

It’s a question I get every week. Here are my thoughts.

What would you do?

I do privates and groups with my own dogs. Privates address specific challenges or improvements I want to make, and classes keep the overall skills up. Even as a trainer, any new puppy I get participates in group classes to ensure they get socialization (functioning around other dogs). Our most successful students accelerates their learning and success by taking both privates and groups.

What are group classes?

Group Classes are a set of classes with multiple individuals. The learning agenda and exercises are predefined, and there is a cadence to the class. This is fantastic to learn/improve skills or to proof distractions. However, each class has a pre-requisite set of skills and it is critical for your success to make sure you meet those. The instructor does not have time during class to provide extensive 1:1 coaching about fundamental skills you may be missing. For example, agility classes requires your dog to be able to work around other dogs - if your dog has never been around other dogs, you will not experience success in agility. Instead, lower distraction classes like rally would be ideal. If your dog has specific behavioural issues, privates are more beneficial. Privates are also perfect for rapid skill improvement.

What are private classes?

Private Classes are a single class with you, your dog, and your instructor (though you can book a series). The agenda is defined by you - biting, barking, leash walking, or even specific sport skills can be addressed, like creating better stopped contacts. We talk to you about the behaviours, when it started, when it happens,. We assess your dog, and provide specific exercises and management strategies to increase connection with you. In addition we work with you to identify the causes to prevent or limit the problem from occurring in the first place.