Most dog owners get their first puppy and want to enroll in the first puppy class offered by the city or local pet store. While there are many pros to group training situations, there are often many downsides to training in a group situation with a young or inexperienced dog.

Let’s start with the bad news first….

• Group training classes are highly distracting situations. Having taught dozens of group classes, the biggest complaint about group class situations are that they have too many people. And if one was to cut down on the size of classes, the profit margin goes down considerably.

So, now enter several people with their respective dogs who are equally inexperienced. And there is one, possibly two instructors if you’re lucky.

• The time division between dogs tends to be minimal so there is very little tailoring of the commands to individual dogs. So if your dog isn’t learning down the same was as everyone else, don’t expect the class to stop on a dime so you get the individual attention your dog needs.

• The teaching structure is often fast paced with little time to practice in between. Unfortunately in large group settings, it’s important to train as many behaviors in the short amount of time you have. I often explained to my group class that the first few weeks would be rapid fire teaching of all the individual behaviors and the last week or so of class would be practicing. 

Since the class itself wasn’t a good time to teach the dog anything because of the abnormally high distractions, I had the class focus on hearing as much information as possible so they’d have plenty to work on if they did their work during the week. The consequence of this was that those who DIDN’T do their homework often didn’t make a whole lot of progress in the class itself. So if you do enroll in a weekly group class - plan to put in time practicing at home and hope that you have an instructor who makes themselves available for questions during the week.

• Depending on where you take it, the credentials of your instructor may not be very good. Beware of group classes being taught by the city or by large chain pet stores. These places make not have the best interest of the dog in mind, the best environment for training, or the most qualified personnel. Ask your trainer for their references. If they seem very one-tracked in how to teach behaviors, they probably do not have much experience. A good instructor should be able to demo with a dog, speak clearly, and offer up suggestions for those having trouble. In a single group class teaching a single command, I might have 6 students using 6 different methods to get the behavior.
  

• Finally, the environment of a group class is not only highly distracting; it can be downright stressful for some dogs which definitely inhibits learning. I had countless dogs come in who were unable to do much more than walk around the area and acclimate to the new surroundings. So basically, group classes are NOT the place for aggressive, fearful, or hyperactive dogs. Any dog outside the “norm” will not only fail to learn in a group class situation; many will become worse for being there.

Now that we’ve covered many of the negatives of group classes for teaching obedience, let’s talk about some of the positive aspects of group class training and its place in dog training as a whole.

• First off, for a trained dog or competition dog – a group class is a great place to work through distraction issues. Talk to the instructor and tell them what your there for and see if they don’t mind you using the class within your own program. Don’t be afraid to do things your way. Most instructors will oblige!

• Secondly, group classes can be a great place to take a fearful dog which needs some basic socialization. Often this is dependent on the individual dog but have a trainer who is experienced with fears evaluate your dog’s suitability for the class. Talk to the instructor and get a feel for their experience and how they feel about helping your dog in class.
  

I often had fearful and/or aggressive dogs in my classes and took extra time to help them in their individual needs. Whereas most of these dogs didn’t get to learn obedience commands, I took the time to educate the class as a whole in how to approach fearful dogs so that the dog ultimately benefited from the socialization. [Beware of classes that have “pass the puppy” training or that aren’t being taught by experienced trainers as it could make your problems much worse.]

• Thirdly, group classes are a great place to refresh training on an older dog or do socialization (puppy time) on young puppies. I always took time in my puppy classes to let the puppies socialize properly and educated the owners in how to handle their puppies in social situations (i.e. dog parks). It’s beneficial for owners who have a good idea of how to train their dog but need guidance along the way. So, if you’re getting into group classes…take the time to do some reading and research on various obedience training techniques. Don’t rely on the class as your sole source of information. Come prepared in case you miss some information or don’t understand right away.

For dogs that are unsuited for the group class situation, try private training sessions instead. One-on-one sessions with an accredited trainer are a great way to get your dog started and you’ll be amazed how much faster your training goes compared to the group class situation.