{"id":1632,"date":"2019-07-10T07:40:48","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T15:40:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sitmeanssit.com\/dog-training-mu\/dog-training-pittsburgh\/?p=1632"},"modified":"2025-02-15T17:25:08","modified_gmt":"2025-02-16T01:25:08","slug":"private-lessons-vs-immersion-programs-for-adult-dogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sitmeanssit.com\/dog-training-mu\/dog-training-pittsburgh\/uncategorized\/private-lessons-vs-immersion-programs-for-adult-dogs\/","title":{"rendered":"Private lessons vs. “Immersion Programs” for Adult dogs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our team gets lots of phone calls<\/a> asking for in-home lessons. In theory these are great. It’s private instruction at your home, tailored to your needs, your dog’s behaviors and in your normal environment. So, why aren’t private lessons a good place to start for many people?<\/strong><\/p>\n

First, if I shadowed you at your job for an hour, I would not be as good as you at your job. I don’t expect that you will be as good as us at ours after a one hour lesson.<\/p>\n

Second, if I shadowed you at your job for an hour, I won’t remember all of what you told me, so I don’t expect that you will remember everything a trainer tells you.<\/p>\n

Third, life will happen. You won’t practice as much as you should.<\/p>\n

Fourth, you will encounter situations on which you haven’t been coached. We can’t teach you everything you need to know in an hour (because of all of the above).<\/p>\n

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When are private lessons a good fit?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Private lessons are appropriate for people who have only have two of three specific training goals to start with. Private lessons are also perfect follow-ups once you and your dog have some foundation training done by a trainer.<\/p>\n

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Why our Day Train and Jump Start programs are so darn successful:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let us do what we are really good at – train your dog. We will do the hard work, teach the dog the expectation, do the trouble-shooting, the tweaking and fine-tuning. Then you get to do the homework and reinforce a command or situation once your dog is familiar with the expectations. And guess what – you get private lessons so that we can teach you<\/em> how to reinforce what we have taught the dog. But if we have to teach you first, we often can’t do the trouble-shooting, tweaking and fine-tuning for the dog, leaving you wanting.<\/p>\n

Dogs, just like people, learn and respond to situations differently. If we can only show you one or two angles at a private lesson but your dog responds to the fourth angle in our “toolbox” – that leaves you stuck with unresolved training goals for a week or two, until we see you again.<\/p>\n

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What about guarantees?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That’s tough. A teacher cannot guarantee that 20 students in a classroom will receive the same passing grade on a test. The students sit in the same environment, hear the same information and get the same homework assignments. So, why can’t they all get the same grade?<\/p>\n