# Referals for obedience class (Hamilton, Ontario area)



## mudEpawz (Jan 20, 2011)

Does anyone have any recommendations or referrals for an obedience/training class within the Hamilton/Burlington (Ontario, Canada) area?​ ​ I previously attended puppy obedience and advanced puppy with Chloe in the fall and winter of this past year at Hamilton Dog Obedience Club. I really liked the instructors and the Club and had positive results. However, I recently changed jobs and consequently my working hours have changed, which means I am unable to make the times the classes are scheduled on.​ ​ So far I’ve researched Schollars in Collars (they seem to drive their focus on smaller dogs from their website) and McCans, which seemed promising.​ ​ Any ideas?​ ​ Thanks!!! :wavey:​


----------



## Our first puppy (Apr 15, 2011)

Sorry, I don't have any suggestions, but I'm also interested in this as we're moving to Hamilton at the end of this month. We're looking for a positive reinforcement class, is that what you're looking for too?


----------



## mudEpawz (Jan 20, 2011)

Yes! 

Without sounding like a salesperson for the club but I found the Hamilton Dog Obedience Club was really great! My dog was the troublemaker of the group and the instructors were great me, my dog and the group. The club is made up of volunteers. The course is 8 weeks and was $150 including hst. 
It's a shame that my new work schedule would conflict with the classes.

PS Welcome to Hamilton! :wave:


----------



## zephyr (Sep 29, 2009)

Krys! said:


> Yes!
> 
> Without sounding like a salesperson for the club but I found the Hamilton Dog Obedience Club was really great! My dog was the troublemaker of the group and the instructors were great me, my dog and the group. The club is made up of volunteers. The course is 8 weeks and was $150 including hst.
> It's a shame that my new work schedule would conflict with the classes.
> ...


Oh, seconded! The HDOC crew is really great. We did Pre-Novice and Basic Novice over the past year, and managed to graduate despite a high level of spazzness (for both my dog and myself, LOL) Everyone was always very happy to give lots of individual advice and even took us aside for training away from the group when we needed it (um, which was a LOT!!) The only downside for us (personally) was that they do hold like 5 or 6 classes at once and of course that means a LOT of people/dogs under one roof... that is a lot going on for a dog with attention/arousal issues. So, a really awesome place for practicing getting your dog's attention in a high distraction setting, but bad for me being able to also watch what the rest of the class & the instructors are saying :doh:

Now we've switched to agility which is more our style, but I'm really happy we had that obedience foundation (we're not doing that at HDOC though, as I also had trouble working with their course times and my schedule... also they don't have summer classes, I think?)

I haven't heard of Scholars in Collars. I've heard very nice things about McCanns -- but it is quite expensive. Like, several hundred a session, when I looked into it last year. I am a student so I really need to make my dog training budget for the year last 

I'm interested to see any other suggestions!


----------



## mudEpawz (Jan 20, 2011)

Yes they were great! 
The several classes running at the same time was an issue for us as well. I found she was distracted by the other dogs and it was a challenge getting her to the far side of the ring where the puppy classes were held. She would get all excited about the other dogs, start barking and pulling to get to them. My instructor nicknamed my dog the “wild thing” lol! I tried my best to tire her out before classes but nothing seemed to help. Oh Chloe... 
I would love to do agility with Chloe – I just don’t know if she would be too distracted off lead and with other dogs to get her to do what I want. 
I had a feeling that McCann would be expensive – I was looking on their website and didn’t see any pricing lists. 
I asked somebody today at the park (who seemed to have a well trained pup) and they suggested the Hamilton/Burlington SPCA. The guy said that he tried a couple of different places but found the technique at the SPCA stuck the most with his dog. I’m gonna look into it. Hopefully others can make some suggestions too.


----------

