[nagdu] puppy!

[Julie J.]

Ben,

I'll talk to the trainer and see if she's okay with going public. *smile*

Depending on the dog, I'm on my third, some things they got right away and 
some things they didn't.  Dog 1 was a rock star at overhangs, Dogs 2 and 3, 
not so much.  Dog 2 was good at locating people we know in a crowd or large 
place.  Dog 3 has been the best overall.  Most things he figured out with 
minimum to moderate instruction from me. He's super good at remembering 
places we've been and problem solving new situations.  He gets bored with 
too much of the same thing and  walks super pokey. Dog 1 was content to do 
the same things over and over.  All three needed months and months of daily 
training.  Even the areas that each dog excelled at still required guidance 
and fine tuning.

I prefer the term owner training to self training.  It is me, the owner, 
doing the training.  The term self training sounds to me like it’s the dog 
training himself.  I wish that were the case, but so far I haven't figured 
out how that works! *smile*

When I trained my own dogs the cost is pretty reasonable.  There's the 
initial cost of the dog or puppy, which can vary from free to several 
thousand dollars.  My previous three dogs came from shelters and were around 
$100.  Dog 4 is of course from a breeder and is $700.  You need some basic 
equipment, crate, collars, leashes, carpet cleaner, bowls, food, toys, 
grooming supplies, vet care including some nonroutine checks on hips, elbows 
and eyes.  In addition there will be incidental expenses during the training 
of the dog.  You'll need to expose the puppy to all sorts of transportation, 
for example, so you might find yourself taking a train you wouldn't normally 
take for the exclusive purpose of training.  I'm taking a guess that $1000 
could cover all of this.   Less depending on where you live, your particular 
vet and how lucky you are at scoring good deals at garage sales.

Of course hiring a trainer costs more.  I want to talk to the trainer before 
I talk about the costs.  I want to make sure she's okay with that.

Julie