Group Lessons
Pack walk, nosework, obedience, and ball work. Check the schedule for what we're doing that day.
How group classes work
Classes run in parts. Teams with a safe dog start with a pack walk. It burns energy and lets dogs socialize, but your dog needs to be ready for it. Then we meet at a field for training: usually nosework, then obedience, then ball work. How much we cover depends on class size.
The order is deliberate. Each activity makes the less enjoyable one before it worth doing, for dogs and handlers alike. This is the Premack principle, aka Granny’s Rule.
The Premack principle
Premack’s principle is a cousin of classical conditioning: instead of linking two stimuli, we link two behaviors. Each activity raises the drive for the one before it.
The whole class is one big positive reinforcement session. The pack walk may be stressful for some dogs, but they have something to look forward to. That releases feel-good hormones like dopamine to counter the cortisol, helping your dog move from desensitization to habituation.
Nosework comes next. Once dogs learn the game, it becomes a secondary reinforcer and rewards itself. Then obedience, which can always improve. Corrections and negative reinforcement feel less aversive here, because a big reward is coming next. We finish by building skills with the ball or disc as the reward. I also have games you can play with just your dog, or we can keep score and compete.
A typical class
- 0830: Meet at Palmer Park for a pack walk
- 0930: Nosework. Detection, tracking, trailing, or article indication.
- 1030: Competitive obedience, based on IGP obedience (Schutzhund), with a focus on the BH test for most members
- 1230: Ball and disc work