5 reasons to join in the Reliability & Stability class

So, you have finished your Foundation course and wondering if you really need to attend more training.

Here are five reasons to join in the Reliability & Stability class.

1. Test skills

In the Foundation course, you and your dog learnt skills like sit, drop, stand, come, stay, and walking on lead. You covered how to deliver a consistent verbal cue and / or hand signal and your dog learnt how to respond to these signals. By the end of the course, your dog was likely performing all these skills reasonably well.

In the Reliability and Stability class, you have the opportunity to test your skills. You will ask your dog – “Do you really know how to…?” For example, “do you really know how to sit?”.

In this class, your trainers provide challenges to test your dog’s reliability. We might ask you and your dog to perform skills in different settings like with your back turned to your dog, with a reduced reward schedule or in a sequence with other “tricks”.

Regularly, testing your dog’s skills builds their understanding of your cues which in turns increases their confidence.

2. Distraction training

Does your dog lose interest in you around other dogs? The Reliability and Stability class gives handlers with easily distracted dogs, the opportunity to train for distractions. Compared with the Foundation course, this class has more dogs and you work closer together. The intensity of the distraction is also higher, as dogs in this class move more quickly and possibly erratically.

Additionally, as this is a casual class, the mix of dogs in class change week by week, so dogs are continually exposed to different dogs and people.
In this class, handlers have plenty of opportunities to work on rewarding their dog for calm, focussed behaviour in the presence of other dogs and people. These skills can be transferred to everyday situations like walking calmly past other dogs on your daily walk.

3. Learn new skills

The Reliability and Stability class introduces new skills and tricks including agility foundations, scenting games, and body awareness tricks. There are several benefits to continuing to teach your dog new behaviours.

Firstly, learning new skills is enriching for you and your dog. A dog that is mentally stimulated is a dog that is unlikely to exhibit “problem” behaviours at home.

Secondly, a dog with a long history of successfully responding to your cues / signals is a confident dog. Confident dogs are typically “safer” dogs in the community because they have a broad range of skills upon which they can draw and therefore perform appropriately in real life scenarios.

Lastly, learning new skills is fun. It is something that builds your relationship with the dog.

4. Socialise safely

The Reliability and Stability class gives you and your dog a forum to socialise with likeminded people and friendly dogs. While the dogs remain on lead in class, there are many dogs who have made life long doggy friends in the Reliability and Stability class. Some even socialise outside of class.

For people with dogs who are reactive or anxious, the Reliability and Stability class provides a safe environment for you both to enjoy the company of other people and dogs.

5. Problem solving

Participants in the Reliability and Stability class can ask questions of the Teamwork trainers and other class participants. From time to time, we are all stumped by a situation in which we find ourselves and dogs. In this class, you can ask for assistance with training a specific behaviour or dealing with a “problem” behaviour.

If you were working on a “problem” during the Foundation course, then the same trainers work with you in the Reliability and Stability class, so we can offer ongoing and consistent advice.

The Reliability and Stability class is offered every Saturday at Taigum 7:30am – 8:30am and the first Sunday of the month at Caboolture 8am – 9am. For more information please contact us.

Happy training!