Personal or school training for Rottie pup?

by hazel

Hi,

I'm Hazel. I've a rottweiler 2 month, female, very naughty. I'm planning to bring her to training but I'm not sure rottweiler should go for personal or school training? As this is my first time having a puppy.

The personal trainer held the training at the park and many dogs are there, so that she can socialize with other dogs. What people told me is that, having a personal training, the dog will listen more to the trainer more than the owner. Is that true?

Hope you do give me some suggestion. Thanks







Hi Hazel
This question doesn't really have a 'one-size-fits-all' answer as a lot depends on the dog, the trainer, the owner and the individual situation.

However, in general I would personally recommend training your pup yourself, utilizing both a dog training class and home-schooling. The socialization aspects plus the hands-on help of a professional dog trainer, makes taking your pup (or dog) to an obedience school a must in my opinion.

But it's also very important to begin basic training at home, to practice daily once attending a class, and to continue the training on an on-going basis throughout the pups life. Rottweilers are very intelligent and I've found them to be one of the easiest breeds to train. Even as puppies they're generally focused and eager to please.

There are situations where using a personal dog trainer is valuable, perhaps if the owner doesn't have the physical ability to train the puppy, or there's a behavioral problem etc. But in general it's far preferable to do it yourself. Working with your pup will strengthen the love and trust between you and help her to continue to see you as the 'alpha' in the relationship even as she matures.

I'm not saying that a professional trainer doesn't work, or that it's 'bad', just that in my experience it's not the best way to do things. There is the fact that the dog may obey the trainer and not the owner, but depending on how the training is done this isn't necessarily the case as the owner would also practice with the dog once the groundwork had been done.

As your pup is so young (and her 'naughtiness' is most likely just normal puppy behavior) I think you're in the perfect position to start working with her now. Check out my Puppy Training Tips and Leash Training A Puppy pages for help and advice.

Best of luck with your new pup.