Boroondara Dog Training

[jaybeece]

Anyone go there or know anything about it? I'm thinking about taking the silly border collie there because my god she needs some training.

Also it looks like they're just a positive training club, how would they handle it if I brought along my dog aggressive maniac? He's trained with a check chain but I don't mind switching to a martingale and I'd be curious to see how they'd suggest handling him.

In the club photos there don't appear to be any larger or more "full on" (I don't know how else to describe it) dogs at all, mostly working breeds and medium dogs that look like they'd respond well to positive training while it hasn't even made a blip on boofhead's radar when I've tried in the past. Could be I'm completely wrong and the photos mean nothing, but I don't get the vibe from the website that he'd fit in well there.

Doesn't matter that much, just trying to figure out if I can take them both on alternating weeks or just one

[Staff'n'Toller]

Yes they are a positive club.

I'm sure your BC would be fine depending on her friendliness towards other dogs.

They certainly had a big mix of breeds for the 15 or so months that I worked there. We saw dogs of all personality types. They have moved clubrooms down a quieter area but it is still an offlead park, for that reason when I was there we found it hard to accommodate reactive dogs, if yours was well managed then maybe...but you would have to speak to them- I think Karen Damiani was going to run a reactive rover type class but again you would need to quiz them about it.

They are all qualified trainers or students currently studying so it was a good quality club with a lovely member base when I was there. We were small enough that we could (for the most part) manage new and existing dogs very well and educate handlers at the same time. :nahnah:

Just give them a call and pop down when it is convenient to have a chat to a few of the trainers. They have a range of time slots so it may be possible for you to drive home and swap dogs between classes.

Mel.

Edited April 6, 2009 by Staff'n'Toller

[jaybeece]

Awesome, thanks Mel :nahnah: The border collie is great with other dogs from what I've seen, old owner might have mentioned a little tension with some other female dogs, but I haven't seen it and I could be imagining that she said that. She just needs a lot of obedience work and I could do with some positive training skills, especially when dealing with her.

It's definitely close enough to home to drive back and swap dogs which would be pretty neat. I'll check them out after easter and see how it all goes.

[Staff'n'Toller]

They will have you come down and fill out an enrollment form and bring your girl with you before starting a class anyway so you can see how she goes and you will have a chance to talk to a trainer then. :nahnah:

[Guardienne]

Hi Jaybeece

We just started taking our 7yr old border collie and a very hyper over excitable, nuts around other dogs terrier cross, 2yr old girl to Boroondara Dog Training a couple of weeks ago.

We were a bit worried about the terrier because she is very unpredictable. We don't think she has had much socialization in the past, but the trainers have been great and she really has improved in just the couple of weeks we have been going.

If you are worried about anything, just talk to Ron the owner prior to going down there. I was worried that it may be a waste of time and money with the little terrier. I didn't think she would be able to calm down and stop barking enough to learn anything. Ron suggested bringing the dogs down and if we didn't think she could fit in, in the group environment, he was suggesting a trainer that has successfully assimilated some pretty difficult dogs into groups before. But we didn't have to worry with that.

What the trainers did with our little monkey was get us to keep some distance from the rest of the dogs and the trainers would stand between our dog and the other dogs to begin with. Progressively we have been getting closer and last week they did some intensive training with getting the dogs to walk amongst each other but getting them to leave each other alone with positive (high value) rewards and commands.

So far we are really impressed with them. A really nice group of people and we are seeing some very positive improvements.