Oh Dear

Tonight was the first meeting of Azza's obedience class. We had to show up without the dogs. I can certainly understand the value of the instructor giving the group some basic instructions without the distraction of the dogs, but almost two and a half hours of it? She nattered on about the most irrelevant and annoying nonsense and only got to the real meat of the entire affair AFTER we were supposed to have already finished (specifically, what we were supposed to prepare at home for next week's class).

Having taught such classes to dog owners who lack the faintest clue about dog training, I can tell you that rushing through the instructions for how to train the name game, collar touch game, and a sit-stand-down combo is a waste of everybody's time as she'll just have to repeat it all next week.

On top of that, not one of those green handlers got an opportunity to practice any of these new activities under a guiding eye. They didn't get to practice the timing of their marker word, they didn't get to practice the placement of the treat for luring a sit or get any advice on how to get their dog to sit by their side (many untrained dogs have problems with this since they are used to facing their owners for their treats).

The instructor showed no understanding of or respect for different learning modes (how people learn), spoke disparagingly of vets, and spoke continuously with hardly a pause for breath. For two and a half hours. The environment was not one that encouraged inquiry or exploration.

To add insult to injury, the instructor had two of her own dogs and the assistant instructor had one of her dogs running around unleashed. It seems that the assistant's dog is there "to be trained." They used these dogs to model the homework behaviors for a total of about two minutes (they didn't even offer to let one of the participants give it a try with the dogs). The rest of the time there was a lot of pointless showing off, solipsistic rambling, and a couple of times even some factually wrong statements.

When I was teaching the obedience classes in Dhahran, I fretted a bit about taking Mimi to class (I think I even wrote a blog post about this). I was worried that it seemed self serving. But I never used her to demonstrate a skill when I could use a class dog instead. I never taught her new behaviors during class. I never let her off lead.

I am not paying these clowns to train their own fucking dogs. I am not paying them to talk over questions from the handlers. I am not paying them to operate doggy day care during an obedience class.

I am not sure that I will return next week. I need to think how or even if I can make this a positive experience for Azza. It won't be a positive one for me.