Local Dog Training Schools in Colorado Springs

The most important thing for a dog owner is to take care of them, and part of that is training them. Training your dog can be very time consuming if you are doing this alone. Some choose to pay a trainer to come in and train their dog. Is it always worth the money, or should you save money and read books and try it yourself?

Well, luckily I have experience in this matter as I just added a Great Dane puppy to my family, and I knew I would have to invest in training since my life is too busy to read a book and try it on my own. I am a visual learner and when I took my puppy, Chopper, to group puppy class for the first time I was a bit overwhelmed with the 6 week program that we all would hopefully finish, how would I make my new puppy learn all these tricks? To start with the research I will start with my personal experience at Petco.

Just to give you a bit of history, I have been looking for a dog to add to our family for over 3 years and I wanted to pick the right one, so one day I went to the local Petco on S. Circle Drive and I-25 to look at dogs that they had up for adoption, I was stopped by an employee of Petco who asked what had brought me in the store today. But my eyes were fixated on this massive black Great Dane, named Max who could just about look me in the eyes and I am 5'2". I asked about her dog and she had been raising and showing them for many years. With all that she said in so little time, I knew this was going to be the breed I was going to get. it took me 3 years to find my puppy, Chopper, but when I did I remember going back to Petco where I first met her and I spoke to her about training the new puppy, and she said I am the trainer and it starts in 4 weeks, I took no time to sign up.

Each class was better than the last and it was amazing how fast chopper learned his new tricks. She always had her dane, Max or Spencer, in the classes with all the new puppies. it was almost motivation for us all to keep up with the classes since her own were so well behaved. Overall my experience with Petco and this particular trainer, on a scale of 1-5 I give this 4 "barks". Overall the training was easy to follow and she gave homework assignments that we had to prove in the next weeks class. She was very strict on us following her exact direction but in the meantime allowing us to find our own way to come up with what works with our dog.

The second training company is fairly similar to Petco. PetsMart has trainers that come into their store and they hold different types of classes for puppies. I used to work for PetsMart years ago and became very interested in learning to train dogs. The trainer who worked there at the time gave me some great techniques to train and made sure I knew that the most important part of training a dog is to have control and trust with the dog. As a pack leader, I should never let down my guard and the dog should always follow my lead, not the other way around. Based on customer feedback when I worked at the store and from what I hear now I would give this company 4 "barks" as well.

The last and final company on my list would be Lucky Dog resort and Training facility. This facility is located on the north and south side of Colorado Springs. Based on the website, www.bealuckydog.com, they seem to have all that you coud ever need under one roof. Training, boarding and groomig, what else could you possibly need in one place? The website lets you meet the trainers and look at their experience and even watch video's of training. For those who are looking into training their dogs in agility, this is also a great place to go. Agility seems to be a growing activity for dog owners, it is fun for both the dog and the owner. This facility has all the agility equipment you see in a competition and there is plenty of room for the dogs to roam around, play and train. I give this facility 3 "barks. I was only able to rate them based on their website, but overall it looks like a great and safe place for any dog to be.

Overall, my great dane Chopper has learned alot since puppy school and I feel any dog owner needs to train or invest in a trainer to achieve the overall happiness in your animal. If you do not have a happy dog you will not have a happy owner! His training paid off so well I was able to have him pose for his picture we took for this article.

Happy reading! And look for future "Chopper" updates.

References:

www.petco.com

www.petsmart.com

www.bealuckydog.com