I'm not entirely happy with my dog club. The trainer is nice enough but she doesn't like me using treats, I get moaned at for it but I just ignore her and do it anyway

Don't wanna toot my own horn but when my pup first went there, he was further along the rest of them who had been going for a while. The trainer herself calls him her star pupil so I don't she how she can't see that treats work! Especially when he does exercises he knows well without them. I also don't get much one to one training as most because he can already do the basics.

I am basically just using her for her field, to train with distractions and to do the good citizen awards

I've now tried all the local dog training clubs in my area and I'm astonished at how utterly useless they are.
I 've stuck with the latest one for eight weeks just because it was better than the others and I was allowed to use food rewards but I haven't seen any of the dogs improve in the slightest.
There isn't any real training going on

A chap turned up with a small cross breed, we were told to tell our dogs to sit and after a few attempts he says "she doesn't know how to sit" The trainers answer was "SHE MUST KNOW HOW TO SIT"
He spent much of the next hour whenever we were instructed to put the dogs into a sit, saying; sit sit sit sit sit sit sit sit sit sit SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT, (you get the picture). never was he shown how to get the dog to perform this simple task.

If a dog doesn't stay when doing the sit/stay the owner is instructed to "tell him off and put him back" They don't reduce the time or distance, they just repeat and get the same problem

The number one solution from the trainer to a misbehaving dog seems to be to shout "NOW THEN" at the dog. If only I'd known this technique before

I've seen two different trainers at different clubs using force to get a dog to lay down. One of them was being physically held down to get him to stay down and the other was pulled down by the loose skin under the chin. The "down" has to be one of the simplest of commands to teach a dog and both of these dogs were puppies and one of the clubs is Kennel Club Registered.

I'm really frustrated at the standard of training at theses clubs. People attend with their new puppy thinking that they are doing the right thing and that they'll end up with a well trained dog, most would actually do better on there own.

These clubs have no other function than boosting the ego's of people who can get a dog to submit by force to his/her Will and are STUPID enough to think this makes them "DOG TRAINERS"

Hi I quite agree,took my very nervous puppy to one,she had been sick on her way in the car,I got her in the hall,and this really big brusque woman came over,as I was cleaning Faye I was talking to Faye,like a mum to a sick child,this woman came over and said are you signing up for training,no I said puppy socialisation,she is far too nervous,I just want her to gain confidence,this woman looked me up and down,well if you continue to treat your pup the way you are doing now you wont get anywhere,and off she went with all these people looking at me the way some people look at you when your child is having a tantrum in the supermarket.So we went back home.The second training class,had ring training as well on the same night,but this time though she had been sick,she was more interested in the going ons,but the lady said she is too old for our class,her canines are through. So at the moment I am trying to train her myself very slowly crystalgirl

Has the trainer given you any valid reasons why she disagrees with using treats? If someone offered me a treat to do something and someone else just expected me to do it.....I know who id be working for!