THE JOY OF TRAINING CLASSES

There aren’t a lot of us who “loved” school in general, but at some time in our lives we’ve taken a class or attended training that was really fun. We looked forward to going. If there was work outside of class, it wasn’t a chore. We wished the class would last longer or that it would occur more days per week. We felt a little excitement as we approached the building. This is what training is like for a Doberman Pinscher.

Dobermans are very smart and love to have an outlet for that. Whether the training is obedience, agility, rally, whatever – they LOVE it. They get an hour of their owner’s undivided attention, praise, treats and challenging exercises. It’s a slice of “Dober-nirvana” for them. They love the practice sessions between classes just as much.

Training is important for these dogs as well. They need to go to a public class so that they know that their owner can be around other dogs and still love them. It strengthens the bond between the owner and the dog. They need to learn to obey amid distraction. They need to know that they have to perform for their new owner as well as they did for their foster home.

Owners need training classes as well. Dobermans have breed traits, but they also have their own personality. Most trainers can give owners very good insights into the individual personality of their dog. Besides that, once an owner has attended a class, they have that trainer as a resource from then on. Any behavioral issues or specific training that might need to be addressed will be much easier with that resource available.

For all these reasons, Hand Me Down Dobes has made a basic, public obedience class a REQUIREMENT for all adoptions. The few dogs returned to our program are almost always ones that were not taken for training. Also, the very few dogs that end up with a bite history are those not taken for training. Failure to take the dog for training is one of the main reasons HMDD rescinds an adoption. We can and will take a dog back if it is not taken for training. A large, untrained dog is a liability for the owner and the group.

We realize there is a cost involved, so we’re flexible on where the owner takes the dog as long as the training is reward-based (ask us for suggestions). There are a lot of training centers that give discounts for rescue dogs. Ask about discounts, use whatever resource you find economically feasible, but make sure your dog goes for training and that you send evidence of that to HMDD. You can e-mail that to HMDDAdoptions@yahoo.com or send it to P.O. Box 12325, Columbus, OH 43212.