Group Class Training
- haidinyak
- Apr 3, 2020
- 18 min read
It’s been a week since we had our last private lesson and today was Zeus’ big day, he was allowed to join his first group class at the park. It was a day full of mixed emotions: excitement, happiness, fear, stress, relief. There was excitement, because it was the next step for us in what I hoped was a future full of fun outings. There was happiness, because we had made it this far and Zeus was showing us how good he could be. There was fear, because of all of the “what ifs” that could happen while we were in class. There was stress, because it was our first class and I didn’t know what to expect. There was relief when it was all over because once again Zeus did great and I was reminded not to over think things. Also, it was a relief knowing there are other people going through the same things with their dogs and none of the people there would be judging anyone else in class. We are all just trying to do the best for our dogs and help each other, which made the classes so much fun. But let’s start at the beginning.
We started the week by practicing everything we had been taught in private lessons so far and we've had a lot of successful repetitions so I felt good reserving our spot for the our first group class. To do this we had to watch for a post on the Facebook group of where the class would be held and then in the comments reply with our RSVP that we would be attending. So when I saw that the next class would be held at Willow Park (https://goo.gl/maps/yC86m2hr8MeFgCCSA), which is right beside my house, I was very excited and signed up right away. I ended up asking Jessica if we could borrow one of the cots that they sell through their company for our first lesson so we could try it out and see if Zeus would use it as his “place” when we did that command. She said that would be fine so I only had to worry about bringing his leash, collar, muzzle, and favourite treats along. All week I practiced with Zeus but as the big day approached I started to get nervous. Would he lash out at a dog and have an outburst? Would he suddenly forget his training with so many other dogs and people around or worse, would I? Would we get kicked out of class? Would the other people get upset? Of course, I knew in my heart we had to go through with this so I pushed the thoughts aside and at noon on Saturday we headed off to class. It was very cold that day (-25 with the wind chill to be exact, just our luck) so we were told by Jessica to come out for a bit and try the class out and if we noticed at any point Zeus was cold we could head out early. I was a little disappointed but I made sure Zeus had his jacket on so we could get a bit of training in around other dogs. We were the first to class and so I practiced walking in with Zeus at a heel while Jessica’s dogs were walking around the tennis court by us. She came over to greet us and I asked her to make sure Zeus was wearing his gear for training properly. She adjusted his muzzle but said otherwise everything looked good. I could tell that she could tell I was nervous but she kept us calm and made sure we stayed positive. Zeus however was mopey, he did not like wearing his muzzle. He’s good with letting us put it on and doesn’t fight or anything, but if he has to walk with it on he tries to hide behind me instead of walking in a good heel position and he keeps trying to rub it on us and bump into things to get it off, so I will have to work on getting him to feel more comfortable out of the house with the muzzle on in the next week. Soon after we started practicing our "come" command the other dogs started to show up and Jessica brought out our trial cot so we could see how Zeus would take to it. I gave Zeus his “place” command and with no hesitation he jumped onto the cot and sat. Excellent, I thought, he doesn’t mind it at all. But as I looked down at him sitting there like such a good boy I noticed he was shivering. I decided to keep Zeus moving until class started to make sure he didn’t get too cold sitting around. Finally, when there was a large group considering the weather, about 9 dogs all together, we started our first group class for reactive dogs. The first command we had to do was a place and sit-stay while all being in a circle facing Jessica. The dogs had to face us and give us their attention. Then we had Jessica walk and weave through us all with her dogs as a distraction while at all times making sure our dogs stayed in their sit and having them keep their attention on us. Once Jessica made a full circle around the group with not one dog having a reaction, she gave us the okay to give the break command to keep the dogs moving and warm. Once the dogs warmed up a bit we went back to our place and sit stays and tried the lesson again with some of the other dogs who had been coming to group class often. Zeus did very well listening to us while the dogs walked by and while we made corrections with him. It was really nice to see all the different dogs who all had similar issues coming together and the owners all helping each other. Some dogs had muzzles while others did not, but everyone was there to support each other. The next thing we tried was having the dogs on their place while we the owners took a step into the inner circle to put us a bit closer to the other dogs. Then we gave a command of “come” and our dogs had to come to our feet and get back into a sit while not going towards any other dogs. Zeus didn’t really get this exercise as it was our first time and he did try to walk towards a greyhound, so Jessica came over and helped us get back to our place. She said it wasn’t about doing the commands perfect the first time but making sure we could problem solve and stay calm. So she told us to try again once Zeus was calm and not as close. The second time he sat facing away from everything and Jessica called this a lazy sit, but said she would gave him some praise because he was doing well for his first time in group class. He didn’t try to go at any other dogs otherwise and that was a big deal. The next training lesson was all the owners and dogs had to line up one by one and the dog on the end of the line had to weave through or walk next to the us all and make their way to the front of the line with a “heel” command. For some reason this exercise made me very nervous, I thought for sure Zeus would have an outburst if he was the only one walking around or if one of the dogs walked by too close to where Zeus was sitting. While he was sitting in the line I was ready to correct Zeus if needed but he was doing what I asked each time a dog passed us. If he started to get wound up I noticed it was my nerves that were making him nervous so I kept taking a deep breath to calm us both down and he did fine. When it was my turn to go I was so nervous that I started to make mistakes and confuse Zeus so when we walked down the line he didn’t go at any dogs, but he didn’t heel very well either. This made me so frustrated that by the time we got to the front of the line and I got Zeus back into a sit, I wasn’t happy with how I did. We had a break after that and I went to Mike and had him take Zeus for a bit while I walked away for a moment to clear my head. This was a lot at once and I was starting to feel very overwhelmed with all my thoughts and emotions. After some moments away and some deep breaths I decided I wanted to end our first class on a good note together, so I took the leash back from Mike and we did another place and sit around the other dogs with Zeus doing perfect and with no outbursts while the other dogs walked around us. That’s when I noticed Zeus was starting to pick up his paws and shiver again. Jessica gave us another break and said at this point we could let the dogs have free time if we felt comfortable with that, but I decided this would be the best time to take Zeus home to warm up. Jessica said we did great, that for a first class it went better then she expected. We didn’t have one outburst, Zeus picked up on the new things well, and we just needed to practice more during the week for faster responses. I thanked her for everything and headed out with Mike back home. Once we got home I felt as tired as Zeus looked, that was a lot! I was very mad at myself for getting so stressed during class and confusing Zeus. I know better then that, but it was just so much that I excused myself to have a small meltdown upstairs and let all those emotions out. I knew that we had to carry on, we had to make this work, my confidence needs to get better so I decided to write an email to Jessica to see if there was anything specific we could work on before next class and to let her know that I would like to purchase a cot as well, but the large size that both the dogs could use in the future. Jessica got back to us shortly after saying I shouldn’t be worried, we did great. She also said that it was good if the instructor told you things in class because you can’t spot things yourself while training, that they spot for you. She also was proud of us and was happy and looking forward to seeing us at the next class. I felt better after I got that email, like I didn’t mess up too bad after all. So I asked Mike to please send money to Sit Means Sit for the cot, $79 in total, and we would have everything we needed for all the future classes we were going to attend. I was going to make this work and knew that with every class we would attend it would get easier and we would get better.
This video you will see Zeus staying in place with eyes on me while Ares walks around as a distraction. He can't get up and go to them and must keep eyes on me not look around me.
This video you will see Zeus come towards me and closer beside Ares and Mike. He must sit at my feet and keep eyes on me. Then he can return to his place and watch me.
This video you will see Ares walk past and go to the front of the line. Then Zeus will walk around him without going towards or looking at Ares and make his way to the front of the line for a sit and watch me. Then Zeus will go back to his place and watch me.
The following week we had our second group class that would be held at Carruthers Marsh Pavilion Park in Ajax (https://goo.gl/maps/w48s1zMEFTmvqccf7). This class would work on the dogs responding to commands after only giving the command once and working on faster response times to commands. I felt more prepared this time as I knew what to expect but earlier in the week we had booked in for a private lesson a half an hour before class started so we showed up to the location at 11:30am. I just wanted to make sure we were still getting the correction timing right and to get some tips for when Zeus isn’t listening as well because he has the muzzle on and he gets mopey. We went over some training specific to the muzzle with Zeus and she showed us how to make him sit with eye contact every time using both the leash and e-collar. Before we knew it people were showing up for class with their dogs, but it was so cold and windy on this day (it didn’t help that this location is by the lake) that at this point Zeus was starting to shiver. So Jessica told us to stay for the first activity but that we should leave after that if we feel that Zeus has had enough. This time we had about the same amount of dogs in class as the first one but Jessica didn’t want to wait too long with the cold temperatures so we jumped right into the lesson starting with working on our speed after getting a command. For this lesson the dogs were suppose to leave their place when we give a “come” command and come to us and promptly sit at our feet looking at us. Then we would give a “place” command and the dogs were suppose to just as quickly go back to their place and sit facing us. The faster they listen the better. Jessica came over to us after giving a demonstration of the exercise with her dog and said because we were still new to the class and this was for the dogs who were a little more advanced we could just work on eye contact for now and getting Zeus used to speeding up on his commands a little bit. We did some repetitions of this drill while we had other dogs doing it around us and walking by us. At one point I thought while Mike had the leash that Zeus was going to have an outburst while a German Shepherd walked by us, but he didn’t and Mike was able to regain his focus, so as always I was letting my nerves get the better of me. By this point we noticed that Zeus was getting colder, and I felt so bad for forgetting his jacket that I told Jessica we were going to head out. Before we left she had us demonstrate to her and the class how Zeus was doing with his commands and if he was listening any faster, which he was starting too. By now Zeus was very ready to head out so I sent him and Mike off to warm up in the truck while I ended up meeting with Ashton to pick up our cot we had paid for earlier in the week. I had my choice of colours so I went with one that was all black except for the legs that were a nice red, the colour I chose for Zeus’ walking gear, and then I headed back to the truck and loaded everything up so we could head home. Zeus worked so hard again that he fell asleep and stayed asleep all the way home. Once we got home we set up his new cot (aka his “Place”) and right away Zeus went over and sat on it and looked at us, as if to say “I know what this is for, where is my treat?” He’s such a brat but I love him.
Our third class was held at Brock Ridge Community Park in Pickering (https://goo.gl/maps/7hFMLuZZuJtjt11g6). We went into this class feeling much more confident and prepared for training so we didn’t feel the need to book any private sessions ahead of time. When we got to the park we saw a lot of dogs already settling into class so we put Zeus’ muzzle on and grabbed our new cot to use as a “place” and headed out to join them. This class we worked on speeding up with our place command and our come command and then at the end of the class we had everyone take part in something called a Place Race. I was a little nervous about the race because let’s be honest, Bulldogs are not the best breeds for racing, but I wanted him to try and see how he would do. The class started out with us having Zeus sit at a heel position and watch us from about three feet away from his place. Then he got one command of “place” and he had to get to his place as quick as possible, sit, and watch us. At first he did everything we asked but at his usual casual pace. Jessica noticed and came over and gave us advice on how to speed up his response time by making it more exciting. She said once he got into his place and into his sit-watch me position that we should give him his break command and make it a big deal for being so good. We started doing this and it worked! He started speeding up because now it was becoming a fun game. I was looking forward to his race, thinking he would at least put in a good effort. All this practice was around other dogs and people doing the same commands and they were also getting excited and racing back and forth with their dogs, but Zeus never once seemed to bother with them. As we were coming to the end of having Zeus practice getting faster with his commands, Jessica stopped everyone to listen to her so she could give us instructions for the next lesson, but first in front of everyone she told us she wanted to reward Zeus for being so good. She told us that she had not seen any bad behaviour from Zeus towards any of the other dogs and she had not seen any outbursts from him in classes so far, so she felt he could have his muzzle taken off for the last half of class to see how he would do. I was shocked at first and I am pretty sure that shocked look was written all over my face. This was a big step and only three classes in, so I was a bit nervous but also very proud of how far Zeus had come already. Jessica told us to move him back a tiny bit from his neighbour dogs and work more like that then we could slowly move in when we felt comfortable. She also said if we did any close work with the other dogs we could always put the muzzle back on to keep us calm and focused. With a deep breath Mike took the muzzle off Zeus and immediately Zeus gave us a big smile and stayed in his sit. For the rest of class we ended up keeping the muzzle off and without that as a distraction Zeus seemed to listen to his commands even faster. Finally it was time for us to do the Place Race. The first half of the class set up for the race first, whoever won that would move on to the second round with the winners from the second half of the class. What was suppose to happen was Zeus would be told to sit on one of the cots with a place command while I stood beside him. When ready Jessica would do a 1,2,3 count and Mike who was standing at another cot a few feet away would tell Zeus to come. Zeus would then have to go as fast as he could to Mike, get all four paws onto the cot beside Mike, and get into his sit and watch me position. Well, Jessica gave the count down and Mike gave him his command, and in true lazy Bulldog fashion Zeus slowly got up and he started coming over to Mike at a nice mosey pace, then he noticed Jessica standing close to him on the way to Mike so he wondered over to Jessica to say hello with a giant grin on his face, but Mike started to reel him in with the long leash we had him on so at that point he realized he needed to go sit over by Mike. Zeus once again was the class clown, it was like training at PetSmart all over again, everyone else’s dogs sitting and them watching and laughing at us. He had the whole class up in roaring laughter. Finally he got himself on the place and sitting then looked at us as if to say “I did it I did it, see.” Jessica was laughing too and decided we could have a second go. This time, however, Zeus would start out beside Mike and I would give him his come command. I was ready to show everyone that Zeus had in fact been practicing and knew his commands, so when she gave us the “go!” I sternly said “Zeus, Come!” in my mom means business voice and you better believe that time he came quickly and sat in front of me, almost as fast as everyone else. He didn’t win, but Jessica said he did really well that time and she was impressed. After that we just did some practicing on the sidelines while the races continued and made sure Zeus didn’t get distracted. Before we knew it class was over, but I was so happy we had a nice day and could stay for the whole class this time. We didn’t end up staying for the social afterwards as I didn’t feel quite up for that yet, but Jessica was happy with our progress so far.
This video you can see us working on his place command trying to speed him up. Same as we did before the race. The last one he goes a little too fast and slides the place out from under him.
Our fourth class took place at Mackenzie Park (https://goo.gl/maps/LEoA8kPbfcKpWT1WA) in Oshawa. This class was called Skills Distraction and I was really excited going to this one because I’ve been wanting to work on Zeus’ distraction training for a while. He has a high prey drive with cats, bunnies, squirrels, and people. He also gets so excited to meet people that he forgets he has to stay in a sit by us and tries to rush over and meet everyone so this class was exactly what I has been waiting for and it was nice not being nervous before class for a change. Once again as soon as everyone arrived class started with us setting up our place between two other dogs, another Bully mix and a Shepherd. I’m getting less worried about how much space is between Zeus and other dogs or what breeds are beside us, which is huge step for me. Once we were set up I had Zeus go to his cot with the “place” command and sit and watch me. From there we were told to try and get the dogs to leave their place without using a command, so distract them and if they moved the dogs would get a correction until they learned that they can only leave the place when we give the “break” command or “come” command. The first distraction we tried was an easy one, we just stepped away from the cot Zeus was sitting on to see if he would follow us. Zeus didn’t fall for that and he stayed in his place. Good. Next we tried crouching down into a position that would normally have Zeus coming to us for snuggles. He did think about getting off his place and moving for that one but with one quick correction he went back and stayed in his sit. Next we tried wiggling the leash around and pulling on it slightly to see if that would trick him. No luck, he continued being a good boy. After everything the instructor told us to try didn’t get Zeus to move he told us we could do anything we could think of to get him to move and be distracted from his sit. We tried running around him, getting excited, running up and petting him then quickly running away, having other dogs walk around us, throwing a stick over his head and by his feet. Let me tell you, Zeus is a wonderful sitting dog. It’s his forte. He mastered this class! I was one proud dog mom again and people were even watching us to see how it was done this time, yay! There was only one moment I was worried about during class and it was when two of the Shepherds went at each other while standing beside us. I thought right away that Zeus would hear it and get into his excited mode and try to react as well, but he didn’t. He stayed in his sit, he kept his eyes on us, and he didn’t once try to get involved. I was shocked and excited! This was a huge breakthrough! I was finally seeing all the progress we were making and that these lessons were paying off. Double yay! The last thing we practiced this lesson was a pocket heel command. Basically we have the dog sit beside us, we place our palm under their chin, and hold their head in our hand while we give the "come" command. Next we walk forward while holding their chin in our hands and they have to walk close with us like that until we stop and give the sit command again and have them look at us, the whole time with our hand under their chin. At first Zeus wasn't sure because this was brand new to him and us, but after a bit of practice and seeing the other dogs doing it we all understood what we wanted from each other and Zeus walked with us like that, trying to be a very good boy. We walked away from lessons that day feeling so proud and happy, and I know we made the right choice for Zeus’ future.
This video you will see us working on distraction training. If he moves out of his place he gets a correction.
This video you can see us working on our pocket heel. (Sidenote: love our audience in the background? Ares is a great (Dane) support)
I have had a few moments now where this training has really come in handy when we are walking around the neighbourhood and dogs will randomly come around a corner and start barking at us while we walk by. I know before I would have stressed out and gotten nervous, but now I find myself staying calm and focused and defaulting to our training and corrections which is keeping Zeus calm and focused too. We do give some distance at times depending on how bad the other dog is reacting to us, about a streets length, but Zeus has always maintained his focus and we are able to successfully walk on. We also have been working on his prey drive. While walking around he isn’t allowed to get into that mode, but at the park we give him his “break” command and he is able to run and chase squirrels a little bit until we recall him with his “come” command. I also can’t express enough how nice it is being around people who aren’t judging you because they are all going through the same thing as well and we find ways to help each other and offer advice. Everything slowly is coming together, all with that first command we re-learned of “come”. I’m so excited to keep finding ways to practice and getting Zeus closer to becoming a social dog who can continue joining us on every outing and journey with as little stress as possible so we can just have lots of fun.
This video shows us working on our fun tricks too. It's not all just work.
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