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Dogs need to be taught obedience, but do they learn better along with their owners, or as separate students?

My next-door neighbour Khun J is happy. Her "puppy" Mee is recovering from her skin problem, and now, J wants to put the part chow, part Alsatian in school.

Mee isn't huge, but her parents have given her a powerful body. This doggie is uncontrollable even on a leash. When she jumps up to greet me and kiss my face, I nearly fall down. Thank goodness J has raised her with kindness. Mee doesn't know how to obey commands, but she is a friendly, loving dog.

Now J is planning to send her doggie to school. "Aren't you going with her?" I ask.

"No," says J. "This trainer doesn't want the owners to accompany their dogs. He says the dogs will pay too much attention to the owners and not learn anything."

J can choose whatever form of training she wishes, of course. Mee belongs to her, and she wants a trainer that will fit in with her lifestyle.

I do wonder how J will follow up the training, though. You cannot expect the dog to remember forever what it learned at doggie school, and it is the owner's responsibility to reinforce the commands. If J doesn't know how Mee was trained, how can she continue Mee's training at home?

In last week's column, you met Noppadon "Tu" Chittiwan who opted for another kind of training. In his case, he chose a trainer who only trains owners. Then the owners go home and train their dogs themselves.

"I had to learn how to do it," he says. "This way, I had full control."

For people too busy (and perhaps too impatient) to train their dogs themselves, but willing to do the follow-up work, some schools offer courses that train the dogs a few times. The owners then attend a few times as well.