Frequently asked questions about dog and puppy training 

Why choose Cotswold Hound

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Cotswold Hound has helped hundreds of owners to train their dogs, building engagement, happiness and the interaction between them. We promise to have your dog’s wellbeing at the heart of what we do and treat you and the dog with empathy and respect. We  will work with you to provide the knowledge and confidence to achieve your training and behaviour aims. Plus will will give you the knowledge to improve the life with your dog, both now and in the future.

 

What training methods do Cotswold Hound use

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All our methods are force free ethical and effective, using games and interactivity to build a great bond and progress your training goals. We don’t use aversive techniques as these have been proven to damage dog’s trust towards their handler in the long run.

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Do you have reviews I can read

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We are proud of our reputation and enjoy helping people progress their dog's behaviour. We have a number of reviews on this website which can be found below. Alternatively if you go to our Facebook page here or our Google page you can find ones left by our previous customers

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Where do we train

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Our group classes are usually held at a secure dog field just outside Leckhampton, Cheltenham.

 

Our workshops will vary depending on what we are training or the time of year.

 

Our 121s can be in your home, garden or elsewhere – it depends on the areas we are working on as we like to use real life situations to help aid training success where possible.

 

What training issues do you cover?

 

We offer the following for puppy, adolescent and adult dogs:

• Loose lead walking – Including pulling

• Recall training – using verbal, non-verbal and whistle based commands.

• Socialisation – both puppy and remedial for older dogs

• Body language – learn how to understand your dog and how it’s feeling

• Inappropriate greetings – jumping up, over-excitement

• Attention behaviours – jumping up, barking, mouthing etc.

• General Obedience - Helping them to learn to be well behaved

• Resource Guarding – Remove the confrontation when getting them to leave or drop something

• Focus and engagement – especially around distractions

• Separation Anxiety – being able to left alone

• Over-excitement - dogs that just love life too much

• Reactivity issues – dog to dog, dog to people, dog to something else

• Play and interactive skills – learn how to use play to develop your dog's training

• Gundog skills – we’re passionate about gundog skills, and generally providing dogs with suitable outlets for their breed needs.

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If what you are thinking about isn’t here, please contact us to see if this is something we cover.

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How do I book?

 

To book please contact us and we can send out links to our registration page and diary. If you’d like to discuss before booking please contact us and we’d happily have a free consultation with you.

 

What happens after we book

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Once we have the registration form completed, we will issue out an invoice for payment in advance and this confirms your booking. If attending a workshop or group training, details for the venue, what to bring etc will be sent out before the class starts.

 

121 Training FAQs

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What to expect from a training session with Cotswold Hound

 

We provide you with the training to train your dog in a way that encourages good behaviour, sets boundaries and avoids unwanted behaviours. We don’t use any aversive methods and encourage your understanding of the dog so all parties build their confidence and happiness.

 

During an initial session we will assess your dog and learn more about how they behave. Understanding your objectives and priorities is very important to us. We will then go through a number of relevant exercises to start the progress towards your training aims. These will form your homework to do between sessions. After the session notes and support will be provided. 

 

In subsequent sessions we will recap on previous session exercises, plus introduce and/or develop the training exercises to ensure progress. This could involve taking previously learnt exercises into more distracting situations or adding in something more complex.

 

How long will it take?

 

We get asked this a lot and this depends on a number of factors, including your dog, how complex the issue is, the effort you put in, how well the dog responds and other factors. As such it is difficult to give an accurate answer as some issues can take a long time to resolve due to the factors at play. We will do our best to advise where we can.

 

What happens if this is something you can’t help with

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There are some cases where due to the nature of the issues we may suggest we bring in other specialists (e.g. Canine Physio, Vets, Clinical Canine Behaviourist, Vet Behaviourist) to help progress any programme we are working on.

 

Group Training

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What should I expect

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Our group classes are quite informal and fun, we aim to make everyone feel welcome and included. Helping people to progress is our aim. We typically will have one trainer taking the class with 1 or two assistants supporting. The class will begin with some warm up exercises, followed by finding out how everyone is doing before we do a number of exercises, including recaps from previous weeks.

 

Within the beginner group each week we have some managed socialisation to help the dogs learn to interact well and the handlers to learn what is good interaction and how to handle different situations.

 

Is my dog suitable for classes?

 

If you are not sure if your dog is suitable please contact us and we’d be happy to discuss. We like to accommodate all dogs where possible and can make allowances

 

When does your next class start?

 

Please contact us to find out. For puppies, we typically have a class start every 4 weeks so there is usually one close by. For our Improvers class if we have the space people can start when they are ready

 

How many dogs in a class?

 

Typically, and this depends on how many dogs book on, but for Tuesday's sessions we aim for between 6 and 8 dogs. ON Saturdays as we have two trainers we can have up to 10 dogs but aim for 8 dogs typically.

 

What if my dog is 'naughty' during class

 

Don’t worry, we expect dog’s to do things we don’t expect. This is part of the learning process and helps us to address anything you want to work on.

 

Can more than one person attend training classes?

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Yes, we encourage the household to attend where possible, but ask that any young children are supervised and under control

 

What if the weather is bad?

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We do train in most weathers, but should the forecast be for heavy rain/thunder/snow or excessive heat we will postpone. All attendees will be contacted and the session will be rolled on so no one misses out.

 

I can’t make one of the group sessions

 

If given at least 48hrs notice we are happy to move one of the 8 sessions booked with no charge.

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