Getting a dog is one of the rare occasions you actually choose a member of your family! So if things are going to work out, your choice must be a good one. So what happens when you find the right dog and bring it home? Will it behave itself in your home? Will it get on with your family or other dogs in your household and what will it be like when you take it out? These are just a few questions that a new dog owner will ask himself or herself when bringing a dog into the home. How do you learn to live with your new addition?

At Devon Dogs we offer obedience training for you and your dog at all levels. To ensure success we always suggest that you work with your dog in very small steps, to give them the best possible chance of getting the behaviour right, and therefore gaining a reward. If we set them too difficult a challenge, and they fail, and continue to fail, they will become de-motivated and lose all interest in us and our attempts to work with them. Because of this, we always suggest that you set yourself and your dog small and achievable tasks.

We always use an approach of positive reward based training.  This basically means that we reward the behaviour we want, and ignore the behaviour that we don’t want.  Try it for yourself, it really does work.

"I was soooo pleased with Maisie yesterday, although I have been putting the work in I think a big part of it is that she has quite a drive and willingness to work and learn which really helps. I am surprised how quickly she picks up things I don’t know if it is not normal or it's because she is a BC! Saying that she may be a little monster next week!

Just wanna say how much I am enjoying these classes they are completely different to any other obedience classes I have done with Rosie and so much more applicable to daily life. I think Rosie would enjoy these classes loads too."

Kelly, Maisie and Rosie

Here is some feedback from our beginners obedience class:

"It was lovely to have a dog free 10 minutes at the beginning to get an understanding of what we could expect (makes the whole thing far less stressful!)

It was also very reassuring to see that Lauren knew a little about each of the dogs attending and shared some of that knowledge with us right from the start to ensure that dogs such as Sheba were given space and that we were all given the option to pop outside with our dogs if we felt they needed a break - having more than one trainer there was a great help too.

On a personal note I was delighted that Sheba managed to 'stay with me' for the whole class. She has previously shut down within minutes of being in a training environment, refusing to take treats or make eye contact.

I would never have imagined 5 months ago when we picked up up this  lame, withdrawn and depressed greyhound from the RSPCA and who certainly had her fair share of demons to overcome, that we would actually be able to attend an obedience class and participate!

Looking forward to next Wednesday."

Viv, Miles and Sheba

The sessions will run as follows:

Puppies: 6.00-6.45 (Puppies from 12 weeks to 6 months)
Beginners: 6.45-7.30 (All dogs will enter into this class for assessment unless they currently train with us)
Improvers: 7.30 – 8.15 (Dogs will progress into this class to undertake a higher level of training)
Improvers: 8.15 – 9.00  

We will hold a gold/advanced level obedience class when dogs have progressed to a suitable level of training.

Wednesdays

We will requiret payment asap to guarantee your place on the next course.

To book for any of these sessions or for further info go to the courses and booking page and look under 'Obedience' to download the relevant form.