I am thinking of taking my dog through obedience and am looking at a few different classes. What are the behaviors a class should offer?
Beginners classes will most likely use positive reinforcement techniques (treat/reward based) which is all you need for basic commands.
The things we are covering in my puppy class are: getting the dogs attention, sit, lie down, stay, take it, leave, drop it, come when called (these three are life saving for dogs to know), stay, shake a paw (it’s nice to have the dog do a cute trick or two), combining commands, loose leash walking (not heel, that is taught after loose leash is mastered) …. I’m probably missing some (we’re only part way through the course).
We are also learning how to reduce the use of the treat as a reward and use more verbal reward when the dog gets close to 100% reliable with each cue.
We also went over basic potty training techniques and learning how to correct and deter unwanted behaviour (like chewing, biting, etc) which we talk about at the beginning of each class with our trainer.