Decatur Obedience Training Club

We encourage people to start training their dogs at a young age in order to properly socialize their puppies and develop good manners. During our six week class we will be happy to discuss problems you may be having such as jumping, chewing, housetraining, etc. Whether you choose to train your dog as a pet or to further the training in some other discipline, these classes will get your puppy started in the right direction.We offer puppy training classes for socialization, home companion and for competition. These dogs may be purebred or mixed breed ages 8 weeks to 5 months.

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**Dogs in our Puppy Class may not be old enough to be fully vaccinated yet. We understand this and just ask that you bring the vaccination form filled out with the vaccinations they currently have. **

This class follows AKC's S.T.A.R. puppy program and is for dogs 5 months to 1 year. If your dog is under 5 months they should complete puppy class prior to this class.

At the American Kennel Club®, we’re not just champion dogs. We’re the dogs’ champion—all dogs. We believe that all dogs deserve training and a responsible owner and our goal is to reward responsible dog ownership. The AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy is an exciting new program designed to get dog owners and their puppies off to a good start. The AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy Program is an incentive program for loving dog owners who have taken the time to take their puppies through a basic training class. This is a pre-CGC class and participants must attend all 6 classes to pass this class.

This program is ideal as a first stop for training a dog who is 1 year or has completed Star Puppy. This class follows AKC's Canine Good Citizen Program. One of the main purposes of the CGC program is to help you have a dog that is welcome in public. The CGC program helps you bond with your dog and also can form a good foundation for other activities such as obedience, agility, tracking, or other performance events. The CGC classes at DOTC consists of 6 weeks of instruction and the CGC test on the 7th week. During the 6 weeks of instruction, AKC certified evaluators will help you and your dog learn the skills necessary to be successful in the CGC test. Handler/Dog teams that can correctly perform the 10 behaviors of the CGC test will have their names registered in the AKC CGC archives and can order a certificate to commemorate the achievement. It is never to late to "teach an old dog new tricks". Our goal is to help you train your partner so that you will both feel comfortable walking and interacting in day to day activities. If your dog has had basic obedience training and you believe that he/she does not need the class in order to pass the test for certification, you may register for the test only.  Check out AKC's Website for more information.

Pre Novice is for dogs that have taken and successfully completed K-9 Manners and are wanting to continue training. 

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This class will continue to build on the skills you have already learned and start preparing you for the skills required for the Novice class.

Novice class is for those who have taken both K-9 Manners and Advanced Beginner. Dogs will continue to work on skills learned in previous classes as well as gain handling skills. An excellent class for both those looking to compete with their dog or who just want a well trained companion.