Too old for puppy classes?

[FryFry]

Leo starts his puppy classes this Saturday. He'll be 5months old on January 13th. I'm a little concerned he may be too old compared to the other puppies. Is that a disadvantage? I'm taking him to petco for the classes.

[kay6688]

Remi just turned 1 on Dec. 30 & she starts Puppy Kind. this Wed. Per my kennel's owner, this is perfectly fine for her especially since she is only 1lb 9 oz. I will let you know how the little bossy thing does after Wed. Night Class..LOL

[Verbena]

Galen was 9 months when I took him to classes. They put him in the puppy class because they wanted to make sure he was safe. In a regular beginner class there is a lot of dogs that might think he is prey. Galen is only 3.5 lbs. Even he was going to make sure there was no extra large puppies in the class. The puppy and beginner class is the same.

[FryFry]

Your dogs are so small! lol The last time Leo was weighed, he was 6.12lbs. So, I'd say he's around 7lbs right now. He's very big for his age. He seems to have a dominance tendency, especially over Zoey. The problem is, I can't tell if he's just trying to play, or if he's actually not playing..Zoey will whimper when she's had enough, but Leo will keep going..so I'm hoping these puppy classes will teach him not to do that. Another thing that recently started is whenever he's around a large dog he'll start to whine and look at it. When he was at the vet a few weeks ago, a guy with a white german shepherd sat behind me, and Leo barked at the dog a few times, and started to whine..however his tail was waging. A few days ago, while I had Leo outside, my neighbor came over and jokingly said "you need boots for his little feet" and Leo started to bark...it was something he's never done before. I was kind of taken back by this. Will these puppy classes correct these issues before they turn into a big problem?!

[Verbena]

Yes. Classes can help with behavior issues. I went to petsmart. Go talk to the trainer. Tell them your issues. find out if they have free class.

[ShowGirlLola]

Lola just finished the first puppy class at petsmart a few weeks ago. She graduated at 9 months, so did another dog, the third was 5 months.

I think being a bit older is an advantage, the younger pup stuggled the most and failed the graduation test. He had a lot of trouble focusing.

[FryFry]

Originally Posted by Verbena

Yes. Classes can help with behavior issues. I went to petsmart. Go talk to the trainer. Tell them your issues. find out if they have free class.

I wrote down the issues on the information form...soo hopefully the trainer will address it. It's strange, because when I got Leo, I socialized him with people and other dogs. I always had him outside. I would allow people to pet him, and he was allowed to sniff other dogs..Thing is, I might as well say he's my grandma's dog,because I work 9hrs a day, and by the time I come home I'm too exhausted to do anything. She's here all through the day with him (I live with my Grandparents) However, he doesn't seem to favor one person, he likes everyone equally in the house. I dunno, I really want to re-bond with him like I did when I first got him, but with my hectic work schedule it's very hard.