# You know class went badly



## Oonapup (Oct 16, 2020)

Ooh, that is rough. I’m happy the other poodle owner understands though. This is one of the reasons I like our classes where the training is more self directed and everyone works on what they choose. If my dog is having a hard time focusing I can meet them where they are - the first few classes, or any time something changes (new space, new trainer, new exciting friends in the room!) we can spend more time on focus and calmness instead of feeling pressured to keep up with whatever skill the class would be working on if it was that kind of class. Some days we worked on down stay (with food reinforcements) for like half the class. Hopefully even if it is a class where everyone is invited to follow along, your trainers understand that we are all works in progress!


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## Liz (Oct 2, 2010)

This does sound rough, and I really wish I could give you a shoulder to lean on...

... but this is also objectively hysterical:


Thomazine said:


> and _hawooing _loudly at the other dogs


My new favorite word 🤣

I don't want to be perceived as minimizing your frustration and embarrassment. Adolescent poodles are tough, and Oona gives good advice above.

I am off to greet my neighbor's pandemic-acquired beagle with a hearty _hawoooo_.


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## cowpony (Dec 30, 2009)

Oh dear. I feel your pain. I made Pogo repeat his introductory training class too. 

The only way I got Galen through his teen puppy class was by taking him off to a corner and quietly distracting him with exercises the instructor wasn't working on. While everybody else was practicing sit, Galen and I were rapid cycling through sit, down, touch, shake, and spin. (Thankfully I'd taught him hand signals for everything, so it was a bit less obvious we were on our own agenda.) He needed the constant distraction of changing commands. I was a bit envious of the Aussie puppy's owner, as the Aussie lay there worshipfully gazing at her owner's face while Galen spun like a radar dish scanning for planes.

Honestly, I think our early struggles made him more obedient. Since his drive needed to be managed constantly, I put a lot more effort into training him and proofing him in a variety of situations. This work is paying off now that he is an adult. 

Yesterday he went on a multi hour hike and was led around by several grade school boys he had never met before. He trotted along contentedly with the various boys without dragging anyone over a cliff. Anyone seeing the difference between 6 month and 18 month Galen would have thought I'd put him on sedatives.


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## PowersPup (Aug 28, 2020)

I'm glad at least one person at the class could reassure you that training regression is normal! I volunteer at the training school in my local humane society, and can assure you that your dog's behavior isn't unusual, especially as he goes through adolescence. It may help to focus on and reward the positive things - for example, reward any more relaxed or focused behavior. That helped us, before we decided to take a break from formal obedience training during adolescence and instead focus on having fun with hikes, lure coursing and nose work. I practice our obedience skills in all of these activities and my pup responds beautifully. It's like he sees the purpose of needing to sit, or down, in a real-life situation. Maybe it's a poodle thing!


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## Misteline (Mar 10, 2019)

I took a break with Evelyn after his second level group classes because he could not and would not focus around other puppies. He was highly distractible and the other owners weren't giving us the space we needed. The trainer reassured me this wasn't uncommon with poodles, and was going to do a poodle meet up. Then the pandemic hit...womp womp. 😖

We're going to try again soon at the beginning.


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## Thomazine (Aug 9, 2020)

We started out needing screens in his puppy class so he could reach a manageable level of arousal (so training could actually occur.) At least we don’t need screens any more?! 😂


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## Phaz23 (May 31, 2020)

Oof that’s a lot of negativity coming your way and your groomer should mind their own business (his haircut) - what they said isn’t true and isn’t even logical. All breeders live with intact males and many, especially show dogs are highly trained and excellent for grooming. It has nothing to do with neutering and everything to do with training and age. Though I would probably just find another groomer since I know they’re negativity probably affects for they treat my dog; here’s a veterinary study you can show them that shows that it is best to wait until after 23 months to neuter a standard for their health:









Assisting Decision-Making on Age of Neutering for 35 Breeds of Dogs: Associated Joint Disorders, Cancers, and Urinary Incontinence


Neutering (including spaying) of male and female dogs in the first year after birth has become routine in the U.S. and much of Europe, but recent research reveals that for some dog breeds, neutering may be associated with increased risks of debilitating joint disorders and some cancers...




www.frontiersin.org





Anywho though, I highly recommend the Control Unleashed series and also marine taking a break from formal training and going all in on relationship building, fun and focus until your puppy’s brain returns. Sarah Stremmings has an awesome podcast about this relationship building and dogs living holistic loves.









Clean Run Control Unleashed® 3-Book Set


Learn how to turn stress to confidence and distraction to focus using methods that are 110% positive. Leslie McDevitt's versatile Control Unleashed® program is designed to help




www.cleanrun.com










Let’s Talk Reactivity | Sarah Stremming, Cog Dog Coach







thecognitivecanine.com


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## cowpony (Dec 30, 2009)

Taking a break from formal training might be an option depending on where he is in adolescence. Galen went through a 2-3 month period at roughly 6-9 months where he really wasn't interested in training. Peak teenager! Rather than rehearsing disobedience I simply called a hiatus on everything but the most important lessons. Instead we just went on fun sniffy walks. He still needed to sit before going out the door and when coming to a cross street, but I didn't nag him to sit at other times. He didn't need to practice heeling, but I still didn't tolerate pulling on the leash. After several weeks I noticed he was showing more interest in engagement and problem solving. At that point we returned to a combination of manners and trick training. After his vacation he loved the attention and worked very hard to get it.


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## myfirstpoodle (May 25, 2021)

I FEEL YOUR TRAINING CLASS PAIN!

Theo was the infamous barking-box of his puppy school class for the last few months. We're starting another program soon with a different school and I had to email the owner ahead of time to give them a heads up about his behaviour. I think I cried after/during each of my classes -- it was THAT bad!

What helped me was to set my expectations floor-level: Theo would have a successful class if he could be quiet for 20% of the time, then 30%, then 40%, then 50% (we never got any better than that). These goals made me feel better. What also helped a LOT was low-fat Cheese Whiz on a spoon. It kept his mouth busy long enough for the instructor to speak.

I don't know if it will get better, or when it will get better, but I am right there with you trying to keep my poo quiet in the back of the class. <3


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Ahhhh adolescence, when we would have the BEST class ever followed by the WORST class ever followed by the BEST class ever.... And on it went.

This is so hilariously relatable:


cowpony said:


> Galen spun like a radar dish scanning for planes.


And I can absolutely relate to needing screens, although it was when we started giving Peggy the freedom to just _watch_ sometimes that things started getting more consistently better.

Even still, adolescence is hard. Peggy still embarrasses us sometimes, but our standards also keep getting higher. It really is important to focus on the good stuff most days.


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## Thomazine (Aug 9, 2020)

I won’t lie, that line about Galen spinning made me groan with recognition and then burst out laughing. Whhhhhy, poodle, why?


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Lol. One thing that really helped was the interest our trainer took in Peggy’s poodle-ness. She didn’t try to cram her into the same box as the two herding breeds that shared our last class with us. She helped us to recognize Peggy’s unique strengths.


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## myfirstpoodle (May 25, 2021)

PeggyTheParti said:


> She helped us to recognize Peggy’s unique strengths.


That is a gem of a trainer -- lucky Peggy to have someone so understanding.


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## Liz (Oct 2, 2010)

Has someone already linked the Adolescent Poodle Support Group thread? Here it is. Probably good to have around.


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## The Popster (Feb 23, 2021)

Oh... thought we were getting somewhere with the Popster... light at the end of the tunnel, we thought.
Now I keep hearing about adolecence , ho hum.


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## Liz (Oct 2, 2010)

The Popster said:


> Oh... thought we were getting somewhere with the Popster... light at the end of the tunnel, we thought.
> Now I keep hearing about adolecence , ho hum.


You _are_! You _really_ are getting to a good spot with him! You just have to be consistent, but flexible, as people have said above. I think that's why I laughed - because what you're going through is _so_ relatable. My current dog is 11 years old, and I can now laugh at her adolescent antics, but it was bewildering, frustrating, and embarrassing at the time. You are light years ahead of me because you know what is going on, you know that it will pass quickly, and you know how to keep moving forward.


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

Noelle, AKA Gave Great Light CD RM RAE CGC TKI, is an accomplished, actively trialing obedience and rally dog. She also failed not one, not two, but three CGC classes. She was a super ball, bouncing off the walls in classes. She didn't sit, down, stay, walk on a loose leash, or do any of the things the other dogs were doing. She was embarrassing! I felt like the world's worst dog trainer. Week by week it seemed like she got worse.

Everyone else's dog walked on a loose leash around the ring. Noelle thought it was time to drag me forward, run left, zigzag right, wander here and there. She wasn't able to pay attention for longer than half a second. I left classes in tears. But, I kept going.

Maturity fixed a lot of this. I also lowered my expectations and just worked on attention and focus exercises during class. Speak to your trainer about attention games and ask if you can just hang out in a corner working on those. I wish you were in my class because that's what I'd do to help you. Once your dog understands how to pay attention everything else flows out of that. But, it takes time for some dogs to mature enough to have the physical capacity to stop being distracted by everything. 

Your dog is trying to pay attention to everything at the same time. That's where the crazy spinning barking wild behavior is coming from. And your poor dog doesn't know how to filter extraneous stuff out, yet. So, everything is over stimulating. Imagine being surrounded by 40 different TV's all playing different shows at full volume. You need to pay attention to only one show. It's too much information. That's what your dog is feeling. Your job is to let your dog learn what to pay attention to, and how to turn the volume down on everything else. 

To practice this skill... Grab your treats, your leash, and a folding chair. Head outside and sit in the shade. Hold on to your dog's leash and just wait. Your dog will spin, sniff, wander, bark, yank, and be nutty. Ignore it all. Do not speak. Just stay still. The moment your dog checks in with you, reward and praise like your dog won a Tony and an Oscar. It could be five minutes. It could be half an hour. Let the dog choose to check in and let the dog know checking in was worth it. Spend 15 seconds praising and treating, then freeze into a statue. Wait again. Repeat this exercise. Let the dog practice choosing you out of all the other options. The time between checkins will get shorter. The length of time between checkouts will get longer. 

This is the hardest exercise to do because you feel like you should be calling your dog's name, or stopping something nutty, or fixing something. Just be still and wait. Your patience will be rewarded.


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## GoldieMom20 (Dec 9, 2020)

Oh I came here looking for reassurance on our a5*hole 7 month old puppy/brooding teen. Almost overnight he went from not-getting-into-trouble to almost like a new puppy again. Very frustrating! I was fortunate in our most recent training class that the trainers were familiar with the poodle personality. It was hilarious/reassuring to see when they used him as the example for a new lesson that he was a jumping, spinning, whirring goofball who just so happens to be tall enough to jump over your head. They regularly had to “park” him by stepping on his leash to get enough focus from him. I actually think it made me look like I was super in control of my dog because he didn’t do that with me after our first class.  We were the only flunkies in our class (we didn’t actually flunk lol). One thing they really stressed which I found super helpful was getting your pup below threshold as soon as you showed up. That meant lying on a mat and basically throwing them treats just for being calm and looking at you. When we weren’t doing that and I was listening to the trainer give a new instruction I had to do lots of high, low, behind-the-back touches, spins, downs, etc., to keep him engaged but calm. The second he saw another person or dog we were off to the races again. They used a screen on our dividers and put us in the corner next to the laziest pup in the class. Ha! I also had to take fresh cooked chicken breast to class. Regular treats for home use didn’t cut it!


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

This is all making me feel sooooo much better!! Love this thread, @Thomazine. Thank you.


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## For Want of Poodle (Feb 25, 2019)

The first formal class I took Annie to, I was told that if dogs had issues with over excitement we could walk to the far side of the arena. If they still had issues, we could walk out the door of the arena. Still issues? Around the corner, then to the field way over there... Thankfully, I didn't ever have to do the field way over there (apparently it's been done, and results in the assistant trainer running back and forth the whole class, as they work to get the dogs slowly able to go closer). I admit I walked Annie out the door a time or two!!! I thought the permission to go outside was brilliant. 

Picture a delighted poodle doing laps of the arena, ball she retrieved from flyball in mouth, slowing only to chase the toads that hung out in the corners of the arena and me trying to call her back. The trainer suggested I should bring a higher value food treat to catch her attention. I suspect I could have been waving 8 oz raw steaks and had no more success at calling her back. Cooked pork and string cheese sure didn't do it!

My one suggestion is to limit repetitions. I had to learn to stop after two-three repetitions, even if the trainer was suggesting we continue, even if we hadn't managed the skill. Frustrated poodle and/or bored poodle is a dangerously inventive creature!


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Don’t feel bad … stick with it and you will have a well mannered poodle.

It’s not unusual for dogs to have to repeat a class. My puppy Theo is in two level 1 basic classes (there was a big gap in classes at one school so I enrolled him in another to keep him used to going to classes). Both classes have dog’s repeating. It’s not embarrassing, it’s not like failing a course because you didn’t do the homework. It’s just some dogs need more time to mature or more exposure to working around the distractions of other dogs etc. 

I can’t remember how many level 1 agility classes I took with Babykins because she was afraid of the teeter (it was a club record) ….. but I worked on lots of other skills, especially focusing on me with all those distraction.

It sounds like your teachers are helping you work through it, putting him behind screens and working him through until you don’t need them so you definitely are seeing progress.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

We did two puppy socialization sessions with Peggy. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It wasn’t until she started knocking all the baby puppies down like bowling pins that we decided it was time for her to move up to a teen class.


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## Meganf1027 (Oct 22, 2018)

Oh gosh, I can relate to this post so much and am glad I’m not the only one! Rosie is just about 8 months, and on her third training class (this one is manners and self control .. exactly what she needs). The first week went so badly that I had to stay after for a private chat with the trainer. She would not even sit either! I cried and was sweating by the end of that week haha. We are working hard and she is doing better, but I still need to constantly distract her so that she is not crying and trying to pull out of her collar the entire class. The joys of teenage puppyhood!


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## Moni (May 8, 2018)

yep been there done that! I would recommend a private class with the trainer - who could bring a non reactive dog. You would be training two things: being in the training place with all the exciting smell next to 1 dog. Once that goes well the trainer could introduce a second dog etc. I liked the analogy Peggy gave of 40 TVs blaring at the dog at once and the dog being unable to filter all this info out. This made a world of difference for my Dalmatian. Still miss my little Ollie who was such a hard worker and also easily over stimulated.


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## Moni (May 8, 2018)

Moni said:


> yep been there done that! I would recommend a private class with the trainer - who could bring a non reactive dog. You would be training two things: being in the training place with all the exciting smell next to 1 dog. Once that goes well the trainer could introduce a second dog etc. I liked the analogy Peggy gave of 40 TVs blaring at the dog at once and the dog being unable to filter all this info out. This made a world of difference for my Dalmatian. Still miss my little Ollie who was such a hard worker and also easily over stimulated.


Sorry it was ClicknTreat with the analogy. And I also liked all her suggestions about focus on you!


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## Bailey_Whiskey (Jan 18, 2021)

And here I am feeling like a failure for thinking of enrolling 10 month old Whiskey in his second training class. He seems to have forgotten everything we learned in the first class and now just looks at me quizzically when I give a simple command like “sit”. I guess poodle adolescence is just a whole other level….
Luckily for me he hasn’t forgotten “quiet” when he is up whining at 3am…


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## For Want of Poodle (Feb 25, 2019)

For Want of Poodle said:


> Picture a delighted poodle doing laps of the arena, ball she retrieved from flyball in mouth, slowing only to chase the toads that hung out in the corners of the arena and me trying to call her back. The trainer suggested I should bring a higher value food treat to catch her attention. I suspect I could have been waving 8 oz raw steaks and had no more success at calling her back. Cooked pork and string cheese sure didn't do it!


As an update/bit of hope for you, yesterday, Annie was in a ring heeling with me offleash and practicing jumps, recall, stay, etc, with another pair also heeling and doing offleash work. Didn't even pay any attention to the other dog, even when we were about 3' from them accidentally.

Hard to believe considering where we started, with her yodelling, wanting to play, me walking out the door with her in a bid to get her attention back, spending most of the class working on "look at me, look at me, settle, settle, settle" while the herding breeds stared worshipfully at their owners who ignored them... And don't forget her ignoring me to run laps of the arena (multiple times).

What high value reward am I using now? Dog kibble. Kibble with me is now more rewarding than that fun looking German Shepherd over there. Of two german shepherds and a poodle in the class yesterday, the poodle was the dog who was the most focused/least distracted. Who'uld'a thunk THAT was possible. Annie is about 2.5 years old now - I make no guarantees she will be this perfect next week.

So - like that other poodle owner in your class said... Your dog is still young  Give it time and patience, and some work, and you'll have the model dog!


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## Thomazine (Aug 9, 2020)

I just want to thank everybody for their replies. You don’t even know how much reading these helped me, I just kept nodding my head and cry/laughing in recognition. TEENAGERS.


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## Starla (Nov 5, 2020)

Phoebe’s second puppy class starts Sunday and I’m nervous! She could use a setup like FWOP’s Annie, but we will be in close quarters instead. Plus Phoebe’s newest trick is turning into a crazy whirligig if she doesn’t feel like doing what we ask. It’s hilarious and hard to ignore. Our last classmate was a sweet, calm, submissive Labrador. Phoebe looked like a wild animal next to her!


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