In order to more quickly accommodate people who desire training, KerrKlickers announces a new class scheduling  for Dog Manners I Classes. 

The Introductory Lesson for Dog Manners I will, in general, be presented twice monthly:  one Introductory Lesson on  the first Monday of each month and another Introductory Lesson on the Wednesday following the third Monday of each month (see the schedule below for offerings of the Introductory Lesson).  The Introductory Lesson will be approximately 75 minutes long and will include an introduction to clicker training, the sit behavior, the ‘attention’ behavior, and the ‘touch’ behavior.  Students must sign up for this Introductory Lesson; there will be a maximum of 4 students in each session. 

The cost for the Dog Manners I class will be $45.  This fee must be paid before you come to the Introductory Lesson. Each student will be given coupons for the Introductory Lesson and for four (4) additional  sessions  (currently offered on Tuesday evenings).   

There will be two additional structured Lessons for Dog Manners I offered on Tuesday evenings from 7:00 pm to approximately 7:30 pm. and two self-directed Lessons.  Students and their dogs may attend Lessons 2 and 3 (structured) and Lesson 4 (self-directed) in any order although they will gain more from Lesson 4 if they do Lessons 2 and 3 first.  Lesson 2 will cover the following behaviors: walking, leave it,  recall.  Lesson 3 will cover the following behaviors:  down and wait.  Theses lessons will be offered on alternate weeks (see schedule for specifics of when they are offered).  For Lesson 4 (a self-directed lesson with help from the KerrKlickers instructor) students may come anytime after 6:30 pm (however, the instructor will not be available to help them during the 7:00 pm to 7:30 pm timeframe).  During this lesson, students will be given information on conditioning (trick) exercises they can do with their dogs to keep the dogs in great physical shape; their progress on the behaviors they have already worked on with their dog will also be reviewed by the instructor and suggestions made for additional practice.  The final lesson (Lesson 5)  will be an end-of-class self-assessment; again, students may come any time after 6:30 pm but the KerrKlickers instructor will be tied up from 7:00 pm to approximately 7:30 pm on weeks when a structured lesson (Lesson 2 or 3) is scheduled.

The KerrKlickers Training Center will be open from 6:30 pm until 8:30 pm each Tuesday so that students can come and practice before and after the Tuesday lessons.  Students are encouraged to come and work on behaviors their dogs are learning before the presentation of new behaviors and to work on both old and new behaviors after the presentation (check the schedule to ensure that the training center will be open!).  The KerrKlickers Instructor will be present when the Training Center is open for individualized help with students.  Students can also come and practice without attending a lesson — it is recommended that students attend at least two additional Tuesdays for Lessons 4 and 5 (in addition to the weeks when they attend the two structured lessons - Lessons 2 and 3) to perfect the behaviors their dogs have learned. 

Any student who has attended a Dog Manners I class with one dog may repeat the program or bring a new dog for a charge of $30.  Such students will be given coupons for the Introductory Lesson and for four (4) additional Tuesday sessions.

The tentative schedule for the next several months will be:

Students will be notified of any closures of the KerrKlickers Training Center.  Occasionally, the KerrKlickers trainer is away at competitions and will need to close the center. 

As an example of how the new scheduling will  work: 

Student would pay the class fee and receive coupons for the introductory lesson and for four (4) additional sessions at the KerrKlickers Training Center.   

Student elects to come to an Introductory Lesson on Monday January 4 and checks with KerrKlickers to ensure there is space to attend that lesson.  Student attends the Introductory Lesson and then spends the first week practicing the behaviors introduced in the Introductory Lesson.  Student then comes to the Tuesday lesson the next week (January 12)— practices the behaviors introduced in the Introductory Lesson from 6:30 to 7:00 (KerrKlickers instructor will be available to help students during this time period), attends Lesson 2 for Dog Manners from 7:00 to 7:30 and then practices both behaviors from the Introductory Lesson and Lesson 2 from 7:15 until the center closes (again, the KerrKlickers instructor will be available to help students during that time period).  The following week, the student again comes on Tuesday (January 19) — practices from 6:30 to 7:00pm, attends Lesson 3 from 7:00 to 7:30, and practices until 8:30 pm.  The fourth week (January 26) the student  comes to the training center on Tuesday evening and practices and works on Lesson 4 (self-directed); on the fifth week (February 2), the student comes to the training center and practices and does an end-of-class self-assessment (Lesson 5). 

Another students does the same with the Introductory Lesson (January 4)  and Lesson 2 (January 12).  However, this student finds he cannot come for Lesson 3 on January 19.  The student has the option of coming the following week (January 26) and just practicing or working on Lesson 4 (or attending Lesson 2 again) and then picking up Lesson 3 the following week (February 2), followed by an additional week of practice and Lesson 4 (February 9)  and end-of-class self assessment (February 16 ).  Or the student could practice at home the following week (January 26), come for Lesson 3 (February 2) when it is offered again , and then have two additional practice sessions (with the end-of-class self-assessment at the end) (February 9 and February 16). 

If a student feels, after the end-of-class self-assessment, that he needs more practice with his dog, he can purchase additional coupons to continue to come to the training center until he is confident his dog executes the behaviors consistently and to the level the student desires.  Additional coupons are $7.50 each.

The student can also choose to begin the Dog Manners II program with help from the KerrKlickers Instructor after finishing Dog Manners I.  The charge for Dog Manners II is $30 — the student will receive 4 coupons to attend training on Tuesday evenings at the KerrKlickers Training Center.