Professional Trainers & Volunteer Instructors

[Guest Willow]

for anyone who trains, what are your average class sizes (puppy and adult)? Do you have a minimum & maximum number?

For those who train on behalf of clubs, is there a maximum size?

How did you come to your decision on how many dogs to admit? Does this work for you, or would you like to change it???

[Cosmolo]

Our Level One classes have a maximum of 10 per trainer and average 6-7.

Level Two classes have a maximum of 6.

Puppy classes have a maximum of 10 and average would be 8.

I like these numbers but it can vary. There are times where i may only have 6 dogs but they have issues which make it more difficult to run the class whereas other times 10 can be fabulous and not 'feel' like a big class if you know what i mean!

No plans to change numbers any time soon as for the most part things work really well

ETA Oops forgot to answer question properly! We came to that decision based on experience with varying class sizes as we have run classes for other orgs that have been massive and didn't feel they worked as well.

Edited September 10, 2009 by Cosmolo

[Kelpie-i]

We have:

3 puppy sub-levels each with about 10 puppies each

4 basic sub-levels each with about 10-15 dogs each

Intermediate with about 8 dogs

Advanced with about 8 dogs

These numbers vary weekly depending on how many people decide to come to class but these are average numbers.

I love taking large classes, I can have them doing various things and using the numbers to my advantage, some of my other instructors prefer smaller classes.

Like Cosmolo, no plans to change these numbers anytime soon, although the new year usually brings with it the Xmas puppy explosion and new year's "dog training' resolutions.

[alpha bet]

I dont really have a say about how many dogs are in the class..... depends on who rolls up..... but it is a bit different for me as I run solo at my dog school.

When I first started out I used to book people in for 6 week groups of about 5.... This was easier for me to concentrate on..... as I got more experienced and my teaching skills improved I started feeling more capable of handling more people. About 12 years ago I just opened up the classes and allowed people to just come when they could at times it could be a bit nerve wracking to have a dozen dogs but I learnt to move around more and keep bringing people back into the group. I was on a really steep learning curve but there was no other way....

At times i thought i would stop whenever I lost confidence with a dog or handler I couldnt help, but that became less and less. As my teaching skills improved I find I can handle more numbers. My classes may also have more than one person per dog and there have been nights when a class has had 25 people and a dozen dogs...... and I run two classes in the same evening.....

You learn to adapt to the numbers..... if its bad weather and only a few turn up we can concentrate on individuals techniques or any particular problems if a lot happen to turn up then I might adjust the class to playing some relay games or some agility grid work which can be loads of fun.....

In summer on a hot evening we might take the dogs down to the dam and have some free running and add some group recalls and swimming. Have even had some cold evenings when we meet in the village area and walk the dogs thru the street and concentrate on loose lead walking.

My opinion/experience - Instructors need to be aware of their own comfort level.... New instructors should be working with only a few and perhaps able to follow more structure... There is more to it, than understanding how to train a dog.... more about learning how to read the people and know when they need more help or to have something explained a different way. It is crucial that instructors learn to make the handlers feel supported and this also means never to make a handler feel stupid or a bother.

Learning to teach is the important part.... A good handler does not always make a good instructor.....

[Erny]

Ten dogs max (pups or adults). And if I can I have two instructors to the class but this isn't always necessary nor necessarily the case.

For my "Puppy Social Group" habituation outings which I'm about to launch, I'm capping numbers to 6 pup/owner combo's to one instructor.

Edited September 10, 2009 by Erny

[helen]

Our club has an ideal class size of 6 with a maximum of 8, never 8 in puppy class though

[petmezz]

depending on time of year i have instructed classes as few as 3 (their the best ) and as many as 16.........depends on the resorces the club has in terms of instructors, clients, avalable grounds and funding.

[leopuppy04]

We have a max of 4 dogs per class to provide individual attention, but also because of size constraints.

At my club I don't know how many dogs per class.... too many

[JulesP]

I have 14 pups at the moment. That is too many. They are around 4-6 months old. Some of them had done no prior training, ie puppy school. At this stage I feel that the people need a fair bit of individual attention to make sure that they have all their marking etc right and I am struggling to get around.

[Guest Willow]

Thanks for taking the time to reply everyone, you have been helpful!!!