| Well....having competed at some pretty high levels of competition; I can say that even us SchH competitors are only "one-of" in a club. There are plenty of other dogs and handlers there.....at any given training session.
As was stated earlier....your dog doesn't "learn" anything at class (be it group OR private) they learn OFF THE FIELD; at home...and you're merely transferring what you condition them to do at home; to the field (or group).
You can easily pick out the dogs that haven't been subjected to and worked their obedience around a whole bunch of other dogs at any trial where the BH is happening.
Those dogs are very "concerned" about the other dogs.....whereas the dogs that train and are expected to execute any command; given by their handler at any time; regardless of what is going on around them........carry more of an "another day at training" attitude.
Classes are for teaching the HANDLER how to train their dog and correct errors in technique...and then apply it appropriately. They are a very necessary part of a well-rounded dogs "been there; done that.....not a big deal".
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A pedigree indicates what your dog should be. Conformation indicates what your dog appears to be. Performance, personality and character indicates what your dog actually *IS*. |