DOG SCHOOL | Offline vs. Online Dog School - Pros & Cons
OFFLINE VS. ONLINE DOG SCHOOL | THE COMPARISON AT A GLANCE
The dog school takes place both online and on-site, offline, for your dog of all ages. The online dog school and the offline dog school have their advantages and disadvantages, which we will list for you.
Generally speaking, any form of dog training with your dog makes sense. No matter whether you decide on a puppy school, want to accompany your young dog through puberty or want to consolidate and refine the basics with your adult dog.
Dogs who do not learn boundaries or learn the most important basics of dog training experience insecurities and feel responsible for all everyday tasks. Without dog school, it can quickly happen that your dog barks at everything, develops peer aggression or generally walks poorly on a leash, does not respond to the recall or demands resources.
BUILDING AN ONLINE DOG SCHOOL
The online dog school, as the name suggests, takes place online. At the online dog school you will receive access to the personal course you have chosen. With the online dog school you will receive a predetermined dog training plan, the content of which is broken down into days or weeks.
You can access a lesson from the online dog school at any time, complete it in one go or divide it over several days. Dog training is tailored to your needs and does not create stress or pressure to perform for you or your dog.
You can mark completed lessons as “completed” in the online dog school. This allows you to visualize the success of you and your dog. This increases your motivation and shows you what you have achieved with your dog.
If there are difficulties or individual problems in dog training, a group or forum at the online dog school offers help from dog trainers. The shared exchange with other course participants provides assistance with dog training in everyday life or supports you in motivation.
There are groups and forums for each topic where you can exchange ideas with us and other dog people who are also completing the course.
In your member area you have the opportunity to network with other dog people and plan walks together.
ADVANTAGES OF ONLINE DOG SCHOOL
The online dog school has advantages over offline dog training. Some of the advantages of online dog school may be decisive for you to complete dog training with your dog exclusively online.
Transparency of an online dog school
In an online dog school, you know from the start what course content will accompany you and your dog. The course content is disclosed in advance at the online dog school. You decide whether this course content in the online dog school is relevant for you and your dog.
Dog trainers who offer online dog training show their presence online. Free content on social networks or YouTube gives you an insight into the work and training methods. The transparency allows you to assess the online dog school in advance to see whether it is right for you as a dog-human team.
flexibility
Every person lives a different lifestyle and not every job follows the “9 to 5” model. Flexible working time models offer the opportunity to work from anywhere in the world or there are different shift models. In addition to the professional world, the focus is on leisure time. In contrast to an offline dog school, the online dog school adapts to your lifestyle. Do you want to train your dog early on a Monday or late at night on the weekend? No problem! All you need for online dog training is a device such as a laptop, smartphone or tablet and your dog.
In addition to the flexibility in terms of time, your dog's learning speed offers you maximum freedom in the online dog school. You can expand the course content and training as you and your dog need it. There is no high pressure for you and your dog to perform by comparing yourself with other dog-human teams, as happens in an offline dog school. Every person learns quickly and our dogs do the same.
Location independent
In principle, dog training should go hand in hand with your values. You can't find offline dog schools everywhere that design dog training according to your own wishes and at the same time teach in your area.
The location independence of your online dog school allows you to bring your values and training methods of dog training into your home. We now know that dogs learn strongly from location. This means that normal dog training at the dog park brings success on site, but it is of little help to you in everyday life. If you implement the course content of the online dog school in your area, your dog will not only learn in different situations, but at the same time in its own environment. This is a relief for territorially insecure dogs.
For every dog
Breed discrimination does not only take place in legislation, but also in normal dog schools. Not every breed is welcome at dog school. It can happen that dog owners of certain breeds are left in the lurch. In addition to breeds that are on so-called breed lists (list dogs), dog owners of small dog breeds also have difficulty finding a suitable offline dog school. The online dog school does not discriminate against any dog breed and offers dog training options for small, medium or large dogs.
Knowledge available at any time
Do you know that? You have an exciting conversation and you learn something interesting. At the same moment you can no longer summarize the content or forget it. This often happens to dog owners in offline dog schools.
Dog trainers explain a lot of theory while their own dog is distracting or the theory part in the offline dog school includes too much. In the online dog school you get access to content, you can watch the dog training courses repeatedly and read the theory. It doesn't matter whether you look at the content of the online dog school several times within a week or want to access it after several years. The context of dog training is easier for you to understand and the reasons for your actions are logically explained to you.
Video material, training plans and workbooks
The online dog school offers the right form of learning for every type of learner. You will receive videos with training units and exercises, additional texts to read the theory and training plans with the structure of an exercise. Checklists for your workbook complement your training. The variety of materials that are provided to you in the online dog school are the perfect companion in dog training.
Grosse Community
An online dog school supports many more dog-human teams than an offline dog school. The size of the community allows you to get in touch with many other dog people. Exchange experiences with the same breeds, or your general experiences with your dog. Because there is no pressure to perform, the exchange with other course participants helps you and your dog to respond individually to your needs.
You can organize social walks, i.e. controlled walks together, meet up and much more.
Price
The price of an online dog school course seems steep at first glance, but when scaled down it is low. At the Vitomalia online dog school, the “basic obedience” course costs €249.00. The course is divided into 8 weeks with weekly focuses and new content every day. The online dog school course “Basic Obedience” corresponds to 56 hours at an offline dog school. For 56 hours of online dog training, this corresponds to a price of €4.45 per hour. Goodies such as vouchers and free bonuses have not yet been taken into account.
ADVANTAGES OF OFFLINE DOG SCHOOL
An offline dog school is a stationary dog school that either takes place on a dog park or conducts lessons in the area.
The lessons usually take place weekly on a fixed day and at a fixed hour.
individuality
The individuality cannot be completely assigned to either online or normal dog training. Depending on the course structure and provider, the online dog school is extremely individual with advice for questions or concerns. An offline dog school works either in group courses or in individual lessons. Individual lessons allow a lot of room for individuality because questions are answered directly by the dog trainer.
contact person
The biggest advantage of a normal dog school is the direct contact person. The dog trainer addresses behavior during the course and advises people with their dog. In group lessons, individual care is hardly possible in normal dog schools. Behavior can be analyzed with the help of individual lessons and 1:1 training between trainer and dog-human team. The dog trainer acts as a direct contact person and can answer questions directly because he or she knows the dog.
behavioral problems
Many dogs exhibit individual behavioral problems. These can be treated well in a normal dog school. Problem behavior in dogs has different causes. The dog trainer from an offline dog school can identify the causes and define the goals of the dog training.
Learning in a group
For some dogs, companions are a great joy, other dogs don't care about companions and still other dogs don't like companions. An offline dog school with group courses offers learning and training in the presence of other dogs in a structured setting.
The presence of other dogs represents an external stimulus for your dog. If you practice with your dog while other dogs are present, you will automatically generalize your training. A generalization is a transfer of the training situation into everyday life. For dogs with joyful emotions or negative emotions towards other dogs, learning in the presence of other dogs is helpful.
ONLINE DOG SCHOOL AND OFFLINE DOG SCHOOL IN COMPARISON
| Online dog school | Offline dog school | |
| transparency | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️ |
| flexibility | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️ |
| Location independent | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️ |
| For every dog | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️ |
| Knowledge available at any time | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️ |
| Video material, training plans and workbooks | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️ |
| Grosse Community | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️ |
| Price | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️ |
| individuality | ⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| contact person | ⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| behavioral problems | ⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Learning in a group | ⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
