Obedience Class Descriptions

This class focuses on basic obedience, manners, and early socialization for your puppy. Attending this class will expose your puppy to new dogs, new people and new positive experiences. This is vital to their social development. Your puppy will be introduced to basic obedience exercises such as controlled walking on a leash, coming when called, sit, and down. Your instructor will also help you with common behavior problems such as barking, mouthing and jumping. This is not only fun for you and your puppy, but essential to establishing teamwork, respect, and confidence.

Positive reinforcement techniques are used to teach your puppy basic obedience skills. You will learn how to teach your dog "attention", which requires your dog to focus on you. This skill is a prerequisite to every other behavior in obedience training such as controlled walking, sit, down, recall, stand, and stay. Leadership is very important. You will learn training skills to establish yourself as the leader while motivating your puppy and ensuring your dog's respect.

Trainers will demonstrate how to redirect undesirable behaviors such as jumping and food or toy aggression. Exercises such as wait, handling your dog, and leave it create a well-mannered companion. Positive interactions with other teams will prevent your dog from developing fear or dominance issues.

This class is for dogs and/or owners that have had no formal obedience training in an environment with other teams and distractions.

The focus of this class is to teach your dog to become a well-behaved, polite companion. Attention, controlled walking on a leash, sit, down, stay, stand, and recall (come) are taught in a fun manner using positive reinforcement techniques. Interacting with unfamiliar people and dogs in a safe environment creates a well-socialized companion. We teach you how to train your dog to sit politely next to you while strangers approach.

Leadership philosophy for owners promote a healthy, balanced relationship with your dog encouraging a well-mannered and obedient pet.

This class is for dogs and owners that have mastered the training techniques and obedience skills in Puppy Obedience II and/or Beginner Obedience I.

In Beginner Obedience II, we further develop and hone the basic skills you learned in previous classes. Attention amongst distractions, more formal heeling, straight sits & downs, and longer stays are practiced. We teach you how to become a better handler and trainer. By keeping your dog motivated while asking more from them, you develop a sense of teamwork and assert your leadership role.

This class continues where Beginner II graduates left off. Formal heeling and competitive obedience exercises are introduced. This class is for those desiring an exceptionally well-trained dog and/or entering the show ring to obtain titles.
Rally offers both dogs and handlers an experience that is fun and energizing. Rally was designed with the traditional pet owner in mind, but it can still be very challenging for those who enjoy higher levels of competition. Obedience skills must be established prior to training Rally exercises.

A rally course includes 10 to 20 obedience-based stations, depending on the level. Scoring is not as rigorous as competitive obedience. Communication between handler and dog is encouraged and perfect heel position is not required, but there should be a sense of teamwork between the dog and handler. The main objective of rally is to produce dogs that have been trained to behave in the home, in public places, and in the presence of other dogs, in a manner that will reflect positively on the sport of rally at all times and under all conditions.

The Canine Good Citizen is a program developed by the American Kennel Club in 1989. CGC stresses responsible ownership and the importance of a well-mannered dog. Dogs that successfully complete the test will earn a frameable certificate of accomplishment. The Manitowoc County Kennel Club provides testing for dogs that have completed our Beginners class. If you are interested in earning a CGC certificate, please speak to your instructor at your Beginner's Class.

This class teaches tricks and skills that will build your bond with your pet, as well as set your future rally, obedience, or agility dog up for success. We will introduce shaping with a clicker for several tricks listed.  This class is suitable for dogs who have successfully completed obedience through Adult Obedience II, or by instructor's approval.  Your dog should be food motivated and be able to work in a group setting without bothering other dogs. 

Topics to be covered: Pivot in a disc (circus dog!), back up, going around a cone, jumping, beginning scent discrimination, sending to a target, beginning retrieve (oops! I dropped my sock, can you get that?), front and finish, and additional tricks as they arise.

Some simple props will be needed: 

  1.  A “place” board- wide/long enough for your dog to sit on it (This can be the colored kid foam squares cut to fit or any homemade object with wood/carpet.  Samples can be sent to those who sign up for class.)
  2. Phone book/upside down non slip bowl  (The black rubber feed bowls from fleet farm work excellent!)
  3. Cones/jumps (These will be supplied to use IN CLASS ONLY at MCKC, but you will want to buy or make something to use at home.  Jumps can be two laundry baskets with a pole between.  You can purchase cones at amazon or even use something like a clean/new toilet plunger!)

Class Schedule

Training Rules & Regulations