Outrageous prices!

Al28

I just wanted to ask everyone that's living in Ireland what you think is reasonable to pay for puppy classes and/or obedience training lessons. I have just been looking around on internet and I am shocked to see what some of the trainers charge, especially the prices some dogtrainers are charging for the 1-2-1 classes. €100-200!!! Even the group classes are too expensive.
Welcome to rip off Ireland! Can anyone recommend a dogtrainer, in the Dublin area, that does not charge theses outrageous prices?
What do you all think?

Al

Arcadian

What would you consider appropriate charges for one on one consultations?

andrawolf

I live in derry and we can not even get ant classes here. I have to show huskies and a boxer. I had to learn myself how to teach them. I do think the price is a rip off.:eek: :eek:
What type of puppy do you have and what do you want to do with it?

Garth

We're not anywhere near Dublin and we paid 70e last year for a one on one session, and it was worth every penny. She stayed quite a while and we certainly didn't feel overcharged.

Sigma Force

100 to 200 is outrageous if it's for one session.

Well ok if a dog has a behavioural problem that really needs to be solved then esp. if it's something serious like an aggression issue it is important that it's dealt with but charging so much money will put many people off and not everyone is willing to fork out that much when it would be cheaper to pts and start again with a new dog (I know that sounds horrid but it does happen).

I'm all for paying up for services for animal care be it training/boarding/vet care and do realise prices in Ireland are rising for everything but I do think it's unreasonable to pay huge prices. Very few people are going to want to get help for their dog if people are asking for such large amounts.

70 euro for one session is reasonable if the trainer is good but unless they come recommended or the owner has done their research some trainers might not be all they're cracked up to be.

We need more puppy and dog training classes one in every county at least with reasonable rates so that owners can learn to become more resonsible.

I would prefer to go out and buy a good training book than pay 200 euro for one session. SOme might say sure what's money when it's a dogs life at stake eg if they are aggressive but the bottom line is not everyone can afford that kind of money and not everyone is that dedicated.

I guess shopping around is what's needed just like everything else. I nearly fell over when charged 40 euro for a vet visit and some ear drops recently it's a bit much tbh I understand that they have bills to pay too but for a regular customer and for something so minor it was ott. 25 euro for a vet check should be enough not incl. meds but the charges just keep going up and up it's crazy.

Al28

I would not like to pay more than €50/per lesson, considering that one lesson would probably be about one hour, that to me is a lot of money for 1 hours work. I obviously understand that the 'dogtrainers' need to make a living, but to charge €100-200/per lesson is not reasonable. It's the same with the group classes, some people charge around €155 for 4 classes, and that's not even 1-2-1 classes! Would you pay that kind of money?
I have a labrador, he is 4 months old and I am looking to do just basic obedience work with him. I am not interested in showing or breeding.

Al

Al28

By the way, Guineapigrescue, I agree with you 100%.
Al

Garth

Al28 wrote:

I would not like to pay more than €50/per lesson, considering that one lesson would probably be about one hour, that to me is a lot of money for 1 hours work. I obviously understand that the 'dogtrainers' need to make a living, but to charge €100-200/per lesson is not reasonable. It's the same with the group classes, some people charge around €155 for 4 classes, and that's not even 1-2-1 classes! Would you pay that kind of money?
I have a labrador, he is 4 months old and I am looking to do just basic obedience work with him. I am not interested in showing or breeding.

Al

Our lesson was over two hours and worth every penny. Remember the trainer is mostly educating you, so you can train the dog properly. And a well trained dog is worth it.

That was a year ago and now that our dog is more settled, we're having someone out again.

I really never thought it was that expensive, now 200e I'd be a bit shocked by but in Dublin I would certainly expect 100e just because everything is more expensive there.

Al28

Garth, Yes I understand how it works I still don't think it's ok to charge anything over €50 for the 1-2-1 classes, after all it is only 1 hours work. I wouldn't pay more than €15 per lesson for the group classes. Can anyone recommend a dogtrainer or a puppyclass?
Al

lightening

I take my dogs to the IKC on summer nights when they are pups. I think its about €3 for a couple of hours. It's not one to one, (well it is if you are training the dog yourself under pretty good guidence) It's great for socialisation too.

Al28

How are those classes in Swords run? How many puppies are there in each class?
I was talking to a freind of mine, he had brought his dog there, and he thougt it was badly organised and basically all you did was to practise heel.
I'd be interested to hear your opinion.
Al

Tabitharose

Annika was out with my 2 hooligans today & I would highly recommend her - she doesn't charge outrageous prices & is in the Dublin area (if you want to contact her - see her thread)

Al28

Tabitharose, funny you should say that, I was actually in contact with her yesterday and she is coming out to me in 2 weeks time.
Thanks!
Al

Jane McGarr

Hi Al28,

We attended one of Dog Training Ireland's obedience level 1 courses and the service was superb. From reading up on the internet and in books we understood the importance of socialising our puppy to other dogs and people. The service was amazing, despite it being cold in the evenings they had the heating turned on in their training centre and the amount of space allocated to the dogs was excellent. Our puppy (yorkie) was pretty nervous at the start but by the end of the course he was happy to investigate other dogs and people on the course. He now knows sit, look, stay, leave it and take it, he understands not to pull on the lead, we understand how to teach recall and he knows it for the most part, but there are times he still gets distracted, but then he's only 10 months....

Anyway, the money we spent was worth every penny and even one person on the course said to us, that one single piece of advice that one of the trainers gave to her in the first week has made her life so much easier she would have paid for that alone despite the course!!!

I firmly believe that you pay for what you get. I for one feel like we got more than our monies worth from the course we attended, Tara and Lisa were so nice and always willing to help with any problems we had, I would certainly recommend them to anyone with a dog whether they feel they need training or not!!!

lightening

Al28 wrote:

How are those classes in Swords run? How many puppies are there in each class?
I was talking to a freind of mine, he had brought his dog there, and he thougt it was badly organised and basically all you did was to practise heel.
I'd be interested to hear your opinion.
Al

They were a bit messy all right Al. A lot of it was training owners who didn't have a clue, but had the sense to go. I train my own dogs, this helped with socialisation and new environments. I guess its what you make of it, and for the price no one can complain.

Al28

Jane McGarr, I looked at their website, Dog Training Ireland, and I would not pay that kind of prices. I had a girl out with me today from K9 Training, Annika is her name and she is giong to help me out with the training. She only charged €30 for almost 2 hours work compare that to the €150-200 that Dog Training Ireland charge for a 1-2-1 lesson. She was extremely knowledgeable and helpful and as Tabitharose said I would highly recommend her!

lightening, thanks for your reply, it sounds like that class is good if you want to socialise you dog but I am going to stick with Annika for a few more lessons.
Al

lightening

Al28 wrote:

it sounds like that class is good if you want to socialise you dog but I am going to stick with Annika for a few more lessons.
Al

Yeah, you hit the nail on the head there.

Jane McGarr

Before we attended the course one of our problems was that our little yorkie would do everything in the house but stop listening to us when outside or when he saw another dog. One of the trainers explained that we needed to train in the presence of distractions to increase the reliability of our commands and response from him. Which makes sense to me now. After the course he responds to us when we are in the vicinity of other dogs now. A few other people on the course I chatted to afterwards had had the same problems and just assumed that because their dogs knew it in the house they should respond outside.

I don't understand how a home visit can achieve that. I for one really enjoyed the course and the atmosphere was lovely and relaxing. We now have a dog that is far more responsive to us and in my book 155euro was more than well spent to achieve that. There was also only 4 dogs per trainer, so there was plenty of individual attention throughout the course. I'd imagine as well that dog training irelands costs are pretty high considering that building they have, those heaters and that rubber flooring they put in, plus they are also VAT registered so 21% of that 155euro goes back to the government! I run my own business so I understand all of the overheads that a business incurs and believe me it does add up. I think 155euro is more than reasonable for the top quality service we received. In fact I am going to book onto the level 2 course because I enjoyed it so much as did Ben my yorkie.

LisaW

Dear Al28,

For the record, we have never quoted or charged anybody 200euro for a home visit. Our standard in home consultation fee for an adult dog is 150euro. This includes:

Visit to persons home
Solution to problem(s)
Detailed report for person to refer to afterwards
Full back up support via phone or email

For the most part home visits are for dogs with behavioural issues that require expert help or a behavioural modification programme. For dogs that need basic training we encourage our clients to attend training classes because this reduces the cost and in our experience our classes are more effective in getting reliable results.

Our rates are standard throughout the industry and comparable to any other established, qualified, certified dog trainer/behaviourist in the Dublin area. In our experience people will pay for quality. Small class sizes and an indoor heated 5000square foot building with creche rubber flooring does not come cheap. In addition we are VAT registered.

Once someone becomes a client of ours we are always available to help them and do not charge for every iota of information after a course. In fact we will help via email/phone to keep costs low for people. As an example I received an email from a client of ours today expressing her gratitude for advice I furnished to her via email and phone (Free of charge) that has helped her and her dog.

I just wanted to let you know that things have improved tremendously with *****. She has been much better since we started teaching her the give command, even stealing less, and when she does, she will give it up.

Thanks so much, it has made life so much better to have this worked out!

You are of course entitled to your opinion, but the feedback from our clients speaks for itself.

LisaW

Dear Al28,

For the record, we have never quoted or charged anybody 200euro for a home visit. Our standard in home consultation fee for an adult dog is 150euro. This includes:

Visit to persons home
Solution to problem(s)
Detailed report for person to refer to afterwards
Full back up support via phone or email

For the most part home visits are for dogs with behavioural issues that require expert help or a behavioural modification programme. For dogs that need basic training we encourage our clients to attend training classes because this reduces the cost and in our experience our classes are more effective in getting reliable results.

Our rates are standard throughout the industry and comparable to any other established, qualified, certified dog trainer/behaviourist in the Dublin area. In our experience people will pay for quality. Small class sizes and an indoor heated 5000square foot building with creche rubber flooring does not come cheap. In addition we are VAT registered.

Once someone becomes a client of ours we are always available to help them and do not charge for every iota of information after a course. In fact we will help via email/phone to keep costs low for people. As an example I received an email from a client of ours today expressing her gratitude for advice I furnished to her via email and phone (Free of charge) that has helped her and her dog.

I just wanted to let you know that things have improved tremendously with *****. She has been much better since we started teaching her the give command, even stealing less, and when she does, she will give it up.

Thanks so much, it has made life so much better to have this worked out!

You are of course entitled to your opinion, but the feedback from our clients speaks for itself.

Kind Regards,
Lisa Whelan MAPDT 00853, CAP1&2 HNC
Dog Training Ireland Ltd.

LisaW

Dear Al28,

For the record, we have never quoted or charged anybody 200euro for a home visit. Our standard in home consultation fee for an adult dog is 150euro. This includes:

Visit to persons home
Solution to problem(s)
Detailed report for person to refer to afterwards
Full back up support via phone or email

For the most part home visits are for dogs with behavioural issues that require expert help or a behavioural modification programme. For dogs that need basic training we encourage our clients to attend training classes because this reduces the cost and in our experience our classes are more effective in getting reliable results.

Our rates are standard throughout the industry and comparable to any other established, qualified, certified dog trainer/behaviourist in the Dublin area. In our experience people will pay for quality. Small class sizes and an indoor heated 5000square foot building with creche rubber flooring does not come cheap. In addition we are VAT registered.

Once someone becomes a client of ours we are always available to help them and do not charge for every iota of information after a course. In fact we will help via email/phone to keep costs low for people. As an example I received an email from a client of ours today expressing her gratitude for advice I furnished to her via email and phone (Free of charge) that has helped her and her dog.

I just wanted to let you know that things have improved tremendously with *****. She has been much better since we started teaching her the give command, even stealing less, and when she does, she will give it up.

Thanks so much, it has made life so much better to have this worked out!

You are of course entitled to your opinion, but the feedback from our clients speaks for itself.

Al28

LisaW, Thanks for your all of your 3 replies:) On your website it says €150 for a home visit and €50 for a written report, or am I wrong? That's the price I'm going on. As I said in my reply €150-200. Even for the training classes I still feel that €155 for 4 hours is way too much.

Jane McGarr, of course it's important to train in the presence of distractions, but I don't think you need to attend training classes to do that. But that wasn't my point, as I said earlier I do feel that the price you paid for the dog training is outrageous.
Home visits doesn't mean that you have to stay inside all the time, when I did the training with Annika we were both inside and outside:)
I hope the level 2 class goes well for you.
Al

LisaW

Thank you Annika for bringing that to our attention, that is in fact a typo, the report is included in the 150euro. Our webmaster will be updating shortly.

Al28

You might do better updating your prices.;)
Al

Hellrazer

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