luka

Sorry I did not mean to cause such a fuss.

We are going to obedience primarily for socialisation. Our breeder suggested the club because you progress through levels and it is not a 10 week course etc. So each week we take our puppy until he matures. We were told that this way he will get the heaps of socialisation that he needs and we will learn from other handlers and trainers about strategies to help us rear our pup into a good family dog. It is affordable enough to go each week (which is just as well because we have to go for a year!) It is a rare breed (central asian) but the breeder said all breeds can learn, ours just will need more time than others. We don't mind if we stay in the level one longer than the others, we have been told its getting out there every week that's important. We were told that non-national dog trainers federation were not good for us because we had a rare breed and that where we were going weren't qualified and specialised in trialling and so pet owners had bad experiences there. Our breeder didn't know about this and said they can only speak from good experience and successful referrals about the club. Whether national dog trainers federation mattered or not was something only trainers could tell us about.

Does it matter that the obedience group/club where we would take our future pup is not a member of the national dog trainers federation. We were told that it was not a good idea for us to take our pup there as maybe they would not be the best place for us to go. That they probably would not be the best place for us to go with our breed as they may not be able to cater for us. Now we don't know anymore. The breeder thinks it is a good club but now we have been told otherwise. We thought we had everything in place and now we are worried!

Hello trainers Does it matter if a trainer or training group is not a member of the national dog trainers federation? Yet is still a recognised group? Thankyou

I told the breeder that our rottweiler was a furniture dog but the breeder told us that the new pup was not the same, and that if we wanted to have the best start (and also because of our young son) it was best to have clear rules that everyone could stick by. We have read the suggestions and spoke to the breeder again and think it will be okay Thankyou

Thankyou - although we are not to let the puppy on furniture even with an invite! The breeder has given us a list of house rules to help us with the puppy. We are all learning !

Yes thankyou. The whole family met one of their dogs out and that is why we decided to wait for a puppy. Although the breeder said that without the training and socialisation the dog temperament would not have impressed me at all. We would like our one to grow up like that, be well behaved and good outside meeting people.

We are in Victroria thankyou for the link, maybe there will be a similar puppy preschool program near us in Vic? We are going to go to Southern Obedience dog training.

Great help thankyou

No.What breed of puppy? A central asian shepherd dog we found him on Dogzonline. The puppy is not my first choice but the breeder said that even if the pup that I wanted was not sold they still would not offer him to our family as he would not be suitable. But if a puppy is how you raise it and we did everythig right, why would that be? Our last dog was a rottweiler and the breeder never mentioned anything about furniture . Thankyou

Hi My family and I will be picking up our new puppy in three weeks, and the breeder has given instructions for us not to let the puppy on the furniture, couch / bed etc as this will give the puppy the wrong idea of its place. (We have found an extended obedience school, but as we cannot take along our puppy until he will be a bit older, I thought we could ask here ) My question if we invite the puppy up on the couch etc, won't the puppy know the difference? ie: the puppy will know that we are 'letting' him share the couch - and not that the puppy is equal to or above us in the hierachy? THankyou