Dog Training Made Simple: How to Choose the Right Approach For You

Training your dog is one of the best investments you can make for your life together. But with so many options, how do you decide which type of training is right for you and your dog? Let’s break down the pros and cons of the most common training methods so you can choose the one that fits you both best!

Online Training

Best For Owners who: prefer to learn independently or who prefer working solo without someone watching over their shoulder. 
Best For Dogs who: need to learn tricks or skills that doesn't require behaviour modification (though in some instances the early stages of behaviour modification can be learned online).  

Online training is amazing for teaching basic manners, recall (coming when called), and step-by-step skills at your own pace. If you're dealing with trickier challenges like leash walking, reactivity, or anxiety, look for online programs that offer Zoom calls and an active user community. This gives you support and troubleshooting help when things don't go as planned – and let’s face it, every dog is unique!

Pros:

• Flexible and convenient to fit your schedule.
• Perfect for those who’ve had dogs before and are comfortable following a program.

Cons:

• Not ideal if you’re unmotivated to work through the content.
• Some online programs don’t provide enough support, which can leave you stuck.
• Remember: reading a book on swimming doesn’t make you a swimmer – you have to put in the effort!

What we love about Online Learning: If the program is good the trainer will show a variety of different dogs learning the lessons and explain how to adjust the training for each dog. You'll also get more information to help you be successful because the trainer needs to cover a variety of different dogs' learning styles not just your dog!

In-Person Training

Best For Owners who: value direct feedback and guidance. It's also really good to help keep you focused and on track with your training.
Best For Dogs who: need help with behaviour modification.  

In-person training is a fantastic choice, especially for first-time dog owners. It’s crucial for tackling big challenges like aggression, reactivity, leash walking, and anxiety, but it’s also great for basics like manners and recall. Bonus: some trainers have trained dogs they can use to help teach your dog through safe interactions and demonstrations. Dogs often learn wonderfully from other dogs!

Pros:

• Personalised feedback and hands-on help.
• Fast progress, especially with a skilled trainer who provides extra support outside of class hours.

Cons:

• Can be more expensive than other options.
• Requires scheduling and traveling, which may not suit everyone.

What we love about In Person Learning: We can get straight to working on the challenges you're having with your dog. When combined with online learning you can get the best value out of your lessons because your trainer doesn't need to spend time on the stuff that's easy to learn on line, you can spend time focusing on problem areas!

Group Classes

Best For Owners who: know what to do but are wanting to practice around more distractions.
Best For Dogs who: who already know the basics but need practice working around distractions like other dogs.

Group classes are a fun way to socialise your dog while reinforcing their skills in a busy environment. However, they’re not ideal for dogs or owners who are new to training.

Pros:

• Great for dogs who need to generalise their skills around other dogs.
• Social and interactive for both dogs and owners.

Cons:

• High risk of chaos if inexperienced dogs and owners are present.
• Overwhelming for dogs who struggle in distracting environments.
• Owners can feel unsupported if their dog’s challenges aren’t addressed.

Tip: Group classes work best after private or online training.

What we love about Group Classes: This is a great way to inject some real world learning into your dog's lessons. These go best hand-in-hand with private lessons as well as online lessons. Group classes are the most beneficial when used to set up "real world" scenarios rather than trying to teach everyone the same thing. It's also most effective when owners and dogs have a bit of an idea what to do as 10 new dogs and new handlers together can be a bit like herding cats!

Sending Your Dog to a Trainer (Board and Train)

Best For: Owners looking for convenience and willing to send their dog away for training.

With board and train programs, your dog can learn new skills quickly while staying with the trainer. However, unless you’re part of the learning process, the training might not stick. Bad habits can sneak back in fast if you don’t reinforce the work at home.

Pros:

• Quick results while your dog learns from an expert.

Cons:

• Expensive and not ideal for building a partnership with your dog.
• Without ongoing practice at home, the training will fade.
• Programs with harsher methods may create temporary results but damage confidence.

What we love about Board and Trains: For trainers this is a quick way to make good money. We do not love Board and Trains because it does nothing for the dog and owner relationship. The dog forms a relationship with the trainer, but the owner doesn't learn what to do and how to help their dog. And because 99.9% of the time the dog's issues come from what we and you're doing you're going to end up with the same problems and throwing thousands more at the trainer to "fix" it for you again. If you think a dog can't remember what it did 3 weeks ago, then you don't know how clever dogs are. We would love this to work (it's way easier to train dogs than owners). But unfortunately, this is a great way to make your trainer rich and have a good dog for a month or so before your problems start all over again. 

Choosing the Right Fit

Every dog and owner is different, so choose the training style that works best for your learning style, goals, and your dog’s needs. The most important thing?

Commit to the process and enjoy building a stronger bond with your dog. Training is a journey – and one that’s so worth it for the happy life you’ll share together!

Our Personal Preference

We like, and offer, a mix of online resources, private lessons and group classes to give dogs the best overall education.

We do offer the option of us training your dog for you for a 2 hour session as this does give the dog an initial boost in your dog's learning but doesn't remove you from the process of learning how to help your dog. We generally film sessions and can provide video footage of the training so you can learn from what we do. But as we do not believe us boarding and training your dog provides the best value for money this is a service we do not provide.