DOG SCHOOL | Offline vs. online dog school - pros & cons
OFFLINE VS. ONLINE DOG SCHOOL | THE COMPARISON AT A GLANCE
The dog school for your dog of any age takes place both online and on site, offline. 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 school with your dog makes sense, whether you opt for a puppy school, want to accompany your young dog through puberty or want to consolidate and refine the basics with your adult dog.
Dogs that do not learn about boundaries or the most important basics of dog training experience insecurities and feel responsible for all everyday tasks themselves. Without dog training, it can quickly happen that your dog barks at everything, develops aggression towards other dogs or generally walks badly on the Leash, does not respond to the recall or claims resources.
SETTING UP AN ONLINE DOG SCHOOL
As the name suggests, the online dog school takes place online. At the online dog school, you will receive access to your personalised course that you have chosen. In terms of content, you will receive a predetermined dog training plan at the online dog school, the content of which is broken down into days or weeks.
You can access an online dog training lesson at any time, complete it in one go or split it up over several days. The 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 visualise the success of you and your dog. This increases your motivation and shows you what you have achieved with your dog.
In case of difficulties or individual problems in dog training, a group or forum of the online dog school offers help from dog trainers. The exchange with other course participants provides assistance in dog training in everyday life or supports you in motivation.
There are groups and forums for each main 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 the offline dog school. Some advantages of the online dog school may be decisive for you to do online dog training with your dog exclusively.
Transparency of an online dog school
In an online dog school, you know right from the start which 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 is relevant for you and your dog in the online dog school.
Dog trainers who offer an online dog school have an online presence. Free content in social networks or on YouTube gives you an insight into their work and training methods. This transparency allows you to assess the online dog school in advance to see whether it suits you as a dog-human team.
Flexibility
Everyone lives a different lifestyle and not every job follows the "9 to 5" model. Flexible working time models offer the opportunity to work from all over 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. Would you like to train with your dog early on a Monday or late in the evening at the weekend? No problem! All you need for the online dog school is a device such as a laptop, smartphone or tablet and your dog.
In addition to the time flexibility, the learning speed of your dog offers you maximum freedom in the online dog school. You can extend the course content and training in the way you and your dog need it. For you and your dog, there is no high pressure to perform by comparing yourself with other dog-human teams, as you do in an offline dog school. Every person learns individually quickly and so do our dogs.
Location-independent
In principle, dog training should go hand in hand with your values. It's not always possible to find offline dog schools that organise dog training according to your wishes and teach in your area at the same time.
The location-independence of your online dog school allows you to bring your dog training values and training methods to your home. We now know that dogs learn in a very localised way. This means that normal dog training on site at the dog park brings success, but is of little help to you in everyday life. If you implement the course content of the online dog school in your environment, your dog not only learns in different situations, but also in its own environment. This is a relief for territorially insecure dogs.
For every dog
Breed discrimination does not take place exclusively and in legislation, but also in normal dog schools. Not every breed is welcome in the dog school. It can happen that dog owners of certain breeds are let down. 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-sized or large dogs.
Knowledge available at any time
You have an interesting conversation and you learn something interesting. At the same time, you can no longer summarise the content or forget it. This often happens to dog owners in offline dog training.
Dog trainers explain a lot of theory while your own dog distracts you or the theory part in the offline dog school is too much. In the online dog school you get access to content, can watch the dog training sessions repeatedly and read up on the theory. It doesn't matter whether you want to look up the content of the online dog school several times within a week or access it after several years. Dog training contexts are easier for you to understand and the reasons for your actions are explained logically for 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 sessions and exercises, supplementary texts to read up on the theory and training plans with the structure of an exercise. Checklists for your workbook complement your training. The variety of materials provided in the online dog school is the perfect companion in dog training.
Grosse Community
An online dog school accompanies 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 organise social walks, i.e. controlled walks together, meet up and much more.
Price
The price of an online dog school course may seem steep at first glance, but scaled down it is low. At Vitomalia online dog school, the "Basic Obedience" course costs €249.00. The course is divided into 8 weeks with a weekly focus and new content every day. The online dog school course "Basic Obedience" corresponds to 56 hours at an offline dog school. With 56 hours of online dog school, 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 at a dog training centre or conducts lessons in the surrounding 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 the online or the normal dog school. Depending on the course structure and provider, the online dog school is super individual with advice on 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 deals with behaviour during the lesson and advises the person with their dog. In group lessons, individual support is hardly possible in a normal dog school. With the help of individual lessons and 1:1 training between the trainer and the dog-human team, the behaviour can be analysed. The dog trainer acts as a direct contact person and, because he or she knows the dog, can respond directly to questions.
Behavioural abnormalities
Many dogs display individual behavioural problems. These can be treated well in a normal dog school. Problem behaviour in dogs has different causes. The dog trainer from an offline dog school can differentiate the causes and define the goals of the dog training.
Learning in a group
For some dogs, conspecifics are a great joy, other dogs don't care about conspecifics and still other dogs don't like conspecifics. An offline dog school with a group course offers learning and training in a structured setting in the presence of other dogs.
The presence of other dogs is an external stimulus for your dog. If you train with your dog while other dogs are present, you automatically generalise your training. Generalisation is a transfer of the training situation into everyday life. For dogs with joyful, pronounced emotions or negative emotions in relation to 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 | ⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Behavioural abnormalities | ⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Learning in a group | ⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
