What would you want from a training class? MORE QUESTIONS!!!

Nic · Last edited by Nic on Fri Jun 20, 2008 7:59 am; edited 1 time in total

Hi everyone,

I'm in the process of setting up some training classes and wondered if I could pick your brains to get an idea of what potential clients would want!

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Venue - would you prefer indoors or outdoors, or the possibility of both?

Price - how much would you be prepared to pay for an hour?

Location - would you prefer a more central location you could walk to or one with parking that you could drive to?

Number - how many would you like in a class?

Duration - would you prefer a set course, say 6 weeks, or an ongoing one until you 'graduate'

Scale - would you be interested in beginners, intermediate and then ongoing advanced?

Time - evenings or weekends? and what time would be best?

Those are the main things but obviously any other ideas would be much appreciated, and sharing past experiences would help too.

Thanks! Nic x

Basil · Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 10:18 am Post subject:

Hi, my view below Very Happy

Venue - indoors
Price - depends on class size and calibre of trainer

Location - one with parking as pups are often on restricted exercise and too heavy to carry!

Number - no more than 6 ideally but certsinly no more than 8

Duration - set course personally

Scale - depends on the basis (is it gundog, obedience etc?). It's nice to have the option to progress to other classes if you enjoy it.

Time - either, but if evenings late enough to include people who don;t finish work at 5.30 - so after 7.30pm for us so my OH can come along.

One thing i really liked about our puppy class was that our trainer did a house visit to us all first (free) once we'd signed up. She gave us any puppy advice we needed and spent a little time with us 1-2-1 so we could see the methods and start a few things before class. She also gave us a pack with the course outline of what we'd cover and a few things like recipes for liver cake, sound socialisation cd she'd made, do's and don't s for class and then each week we got our homework on a printed sheet.

Alot of this is covered in week 1 of class but it was nice to have it beforehand to refer to and we didn't 'waste' session 1. Our trainer was a star Very Happy

Good luck.

EmmaandAndy · Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 10:23 am Post subject:

Hi Nic

Venue - prefer outdoors but if it rains i think you need to have the option of moving in doors

Price - we pay around £30 for 6-7 weeks

Location - Somewhere we could drive and park as we live in the middle of nowhere

Number - no more than 8 in a class

Duration - i think for the puppy classes it should be a set of lessons say 6 or 7 then you graduate then once you move on to the other awards maybe still price it as 6 or 7 lessons to start with and then continue after if you havent graduated on that course yet

Scale - if we were going with a puppy we would be looking at somewhere that offered all the courses from puppy upwards

time - for us weekday evenings are best at a time of around 6.30 - 7pm with a class lasting for an hour

Hope this helps, we're not that experienced on this but its just what we prefer from our classes. Where are you setting your classes up? bet its really exciting i'd love to do it

Em
x

PamR

Venue - Both. I've just chosen a training class and this was a definite plus point.

Price - Our local place lets you buy so many at a time - the more you buy, the less it is. The most expensive is about £5 an hour. It's flexible too. So you don't loose a class/money if you can't go one week. And you can use them for puppy or dog training.

Location - I like the fact we drive there as it's giving Holly a positive experience in the car as she looks forward to going. So location to me doesn't matter. Parking is important though.

Number - The less the better. We have about 10 puppies at our class and I think that's enough. It may be different when the dogs are more well behaved though Wink

Duration - See above. Classes are flexible so you can buy as many as you want and use them for puppy and dog classes - so if the dog graduates the classes that have been bought can be used for the next level up.

Scale - Yes

Time - Evenings or weekends. Evenings are good as the weekends can be filled up with family stuff and nice long doggy walks Very Happy

Can be a nuisance in the winter though if outside. Our's is 6-7pm which is a good time. A little later might be more suitable though.

Hope that helps Very Happy

I not that experienced in this though but all thoughts are probably helpful Wink

Nic · Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 8:13 am Post subject:

Thanks everyone, I've made a decision on my venue!!! Very Happy

And I really like the idea of a free pre-class home visit so will definitely be offering that.

Its at an equestrian centre with a choice of indoor classroom, covered arena and outdoor exercise area. There is ample parking and a bus service for those without a car. Its near Glossop which is sort of East Manchester/North Derbyshire.

I'll charge £5 per class which will be an hour and ask people to pay in blocks of 6 classes. There will be a maximum of 8 per class.

I will award certificates when pups 'graduate' and they will then move on from beginners to improvers class. Eventually I'd like an advanced class too. It will mainly be obedience and fun training but with different things mixed in to keep it interesting!

On graduating you will get a free voucher for your next class.

My last decision is on times. My choices are;

Friday night from 5 pm onwards.

Saturday night from 5 pm onwards.

Sunday 5 til 7 pm.

Classes don't necessarily need to be on the same night (so one could be Fri and one Sun night), and also there is a puppy class on a Sunday from 7 til 8, and the puppies will graduate to my improver class.

So I need to find a balance between it fitting around teatimes and not being too late for children to go to.

What do you think? Smile

_Sam_ · Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 8:58 am Post subject:

sounds good.
the reason i choose my class is they do day time classes too. I work shifts and a fews others i've meet at these classes do too. Also some of the mums that come along say they like the fact they don't have to bring the Kids. Mine is a 9.30 am so they can get the kids to school and then come along.

i also like the fact that i can pay week by week and i can mix and match the classes. the assessor for the kennel club scheme comes at regular intervals so if your dog is up to the test standards they can do it and move up, if not then you just keep going to classes until the next test. hope that made sense Confused

good luck in your venture

Sandyback · Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 9:56 am Post subject:

You might consider a 2 tier system say 6.30 to 730 to 8.30 it would enable classes of fewer numbers or different ability