[Ashley V]

Chip was about 10 months when we took him to puppy classes. He had a lot of medical problems before then, so I waited until he was 9 months to neuter him and 10 months to take him to puppy classes. He knew 95% of the material by the time we got him there, but I think the best part for him was the socialization. He got to be around other dogs and some children. He learned to start trusting people a bit more after his classes. I think it really helped shape him into a better dog.

Just because you aren't in a training class now, doesn't mean you should forgo training at home. You can still teach your dog a lot of valuable things. Chip knew how to sit, down, go from down to sit without standing first, up, shake, dance, crawl, and was too perfect at recall exercises because we worked with him at home. The training facility we went to, their main focus is agility, so at the end of every class they would bring out some very basic agility equipment and let the dogs play on that, which was definitely something Chippy loved and gained some more obedience skills with that.