Dog Obedience Training

Join our 6 week course and learn how you can teach your dog basic obedience commands.

Designed to help you better understand your pet, this course will enable you to train your dog to be a welcome member of the family. Information will include how dogs learn and dogs as pack animals. The emotional issues involved in dealing with a dog will also be explained. This information will provide you with a better understanding of why your dog does what he does.

Dog obedience training is a continuous process. Plan on spending 15-20 minutes each day working with your pet to gain maximum benefit from these classes.

Who may attend?

Puppies entering the Puppy Kindergarten class must be between the ages of 8 weeks
and 4 months at the time the classes begins. Proof of first set of vaccinations must be submitted PRIOR to the first class

In all other classes, dogs must have completed all of their vaccinations including rabies, usually between the ages of 4-6 months. Older, adult dogs are welcome and encouraged to attend. All dogs are required to be current on all vaccinations. Proof of vaccinations must be submitted PRIOR to the first class.

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What will I learn?

Beginner’s Classes (Clicker-style) will introduce you to the use of Positive Reinforcement/Clicker Training to teach your dog in a happy, non-aversive manner. During the classes you and your dog will learn to work together as a team on the following commands: Watch Me, Yes, Ouch!, Heel, Sit, Down, Heel with Sit, Come, Sit/Stay, Down/Stay, Finish, Leave-it, Stand and Off.

"Clicker training is a science-based system for teaching behavior with positive reinforcement. You use a marker signal (the sound of a toy clicker) to tell the animal (or person) when it's doing the action that will pay off. The system was first widely used by dolphin trainers who needed a way to teach behavior without using physical force." Karen Pryor,  clickertraining.com.

Beginner's Classes (Traditional) teach basic commands which will enable you to gain control over your pet. Commands include: walking in a heel position, sit, come, down, and stay.

Intermediate Classes will help you refine behaviors learned in the Beginners Classes including heeling, sit, down, stay, and come with the addition of finish heel. The introduction to Rally Obedience (a new AKC event) will explore a variety of different heeling patterns, improved stays will be refined and a new course will be run every week. The introduction to Agility will help increase your dog's confidence by teaching them obstacles, such as the dog walk, see-saw, A-Frame, chute, tunnel and jumps using positive reinforcement and food rewards to help encourage you dog over and through the obstacles. The use of clickers and food rewards is recommended, but not mandatory. All students must have completed a 6-week Beginners course or have instructor's approval.

Advanced I Classes (Traditional) will cover the following:
Healing exercises, off-leash Recall command, off-leash Place command, off-leash Stand for exam, off-leash Introduction to exercises required for Obedience CD Competition. (Interested students must have completed an Intermediate Class with the LA/SPCA or attain Trainer's approval.)

Advanced II Classes (Traditional) will cover the following:
Advanced heeling patterns, fast response sits and downs, introduction to broad jumps, recalls over the bar jump and through the tire, introduction to the dumbbell (take it command), retrieve the dumbbell on the flat (Interested students must have completed an Advanced I Class with the LA/SPCA or attain Trainer's approval.)

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Who are the trainers?

Connie Back
Connie Back has shared her home with Boxers for 25 years. She’s an active member of the Boxer Club of Louisiana, American Boxer Club, Louisiana Kennel Club, Deep South All Breed Obedience Club, Visiting Pet Program of New Orleans, a Board Member of American Boxer Rescue and President and founder of Louisiana Boxer Rescue, a 501(c)(3) organization. She is a certified American Kennel Club “Canine Good Citizen” evaluator. Connie actively shows her Boxers in Obedience & Rally and has several Boxers with multiple obedience titles. One of her Boxers (Dottie) placed in the top 10 Front & Finish rankings for Boxers in the Novice category in 2004. That same Boxer received the Performance Award from the American Boxer Club having obtained both Conformation and Performance titles. Connie has rescued and rehabilitated Boxers for about 14 years and with the help of others has placed well over 500 homeless, abandoned or surrendered Boxers. She is enthusiastic and passionate about the human-canine bond and the importance of obedience training to synergize our relationship with our canine friends.

Gallivan Burwell
Gallivan Burwell received his “Certificate In Training & Counseling” at the San Francisco SPCA Academy for Dog Trainers, the foremost school in the country for Positive-Reinforcement trainers, where he studied with noted dog behaviorist Jean Donaldson, award-winning author of “The Culture Clash,” and “Fight!” “The revolution in dog training techniques during the last decade has been nothing short of amazing,” he says. “I first trained in the mid-1980’s when virtually every trainer used some version of jerking their dog-students around at the end of the leash, usually with some kind of choke collar. We trained that way because everybody else trained that way – there was no real scientific basis to it. These days, thanks to the work of people like Jean Donaldson, Ian Dunbar, and Karen Pryor, pet dog training has moved away from punishment and coercion and into force-free techniques rooted in scientific observation of how animals learn.

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Where are the classes held?

Jefferson Feed, Pet & Garden Center, 4421 Jefferson Hwy. Stop by Jefferson Feed and see the indoor obedience area they built solely for increasing the bond between animal and human. It's inside and air-conditioned! There is no excuse for putting off obedience training any longer! Jeff Feed has seen to that!

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When will the classes start?

For more information call (504) 368-5191, ext. 154,  or if you would like to sign up, complete the online Obedience Application. You will be asked which class date and time you are interested in, so please determine your preference before proceeding.

All animals are required to be current on their vaccinations. Proof of current inoculations must be received prior to the first class. (Vaccinations must be administered by a licensed veterinarian)

You may pay by cash, check, VISA or MasterCard.

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