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Are you thinking about dog obedience school? Do you know what to expect out of it? Do you know what it costs or where to find a good school?

If not, let me help take out some of the mystery of finding one to make sure you and your dog get the best experience you can.

If you have searched the web in this topic, you probably found some sites that are basically search engines within search engines, no real information about dog obedience schools. Or you might have found some obedience schools that were on the other side of the country. Needless to say, neither one was of much use.

Chances are you have a dog obedience school of some sort in your town, unless you've got a population of less than 20,000. In that event, you might need to opt for dog training videos or books, and I will go over some good resources for that later.

The first thing I want you to do is look for someone with proven experience. You can start in the yellow pages and look under "Dog Training" as opposed to "dog obedience school."

Ask a LOT of questions. These people are going to be molding the mind of your impressionable pup and you want to know that it's a good fit.

Ask things like:

What will the dog be taught? What is the success rate? What happens if you're not satisfied Will you be taught how to continue with your dogs new training? What are their methods of correction when the dog disobeys? Visit the facility too. Check it out. Meet the trainers and see how they act with people and dogs.

Ask if you can watch a training session or a video of a session so you get an idea of what your dog will be subjected to.

Don't make a final decision on a dog obedience school until your dog has met the trainers. Dogs are extremely good judges of character.

For the most part, someone in this line of work is going to be a good person and a dog lover. Some, however, will be doing it just to get a paycheck and may not have your pal's best interest in mind.

If your dog doesn't like them... take another route.

You might want to consider the local 4-H club. 4-H is where I learned how to train my own dog as a child. It isn't a dog obedience school in the traditional sense. It teaches kids how to train their dogs, or a friend's dog. It's a youth education program and it provides many facets of education, one of which is often dog training.

Read more about dog training videos, if you would like an alternative to dog obedience school.