From 2nd December 2020 when Lockdown 2 ends, Essex and Suffolk will be in Tier 2 restrictions. These are mostly similar to the previous Tier 2 but have changed a little.
The most relevant areas regarding dog training classes is that for work, and education purposes, we can use the Rule of Six for both indoor and outdoor spaces, meaning people from different households are able to be in the same location up to 6 people, and still observing the social distancing and other safety measures.
So our classes will continue as they are when outside, with the trainer included we can have up to 5 dogs with a handler each (message us if you have multiple handlers for your dog). When inside we are technically allowed the same; rule of 6 so 5 handlers and dogs plus trainer, but we have been capping new classes at around 4 dogs and handlers to provide more then 2 metres of space between people when indoors. So our evening classes and other daytime classes will be able to resume as hoped from 2nd December onwards!! I will be contacting people over the next couple of days to confirm when current courses are resuming and also for people waiting to start a new course I’ll confirm when the new courses will be starting, as where some current courses had to pause for November they need to finish before new courses can begin.
It does mean that where we used to have 7-8 dogs and handlers comfortably in a class all year round, now we are restricted to up to 5 dogs and handlers we are needing to try and find classes for puppies moving up to the intermediate level of training as we don’t have the usual availability to move into. We are currently looking at when we could create extra classes to provide options for everyone wishing to continue their dogs training skills!
We also will be continuing our Online Training Services as before, so have 121 sessions, weekly obedience classes, 5-6 week courses and Masterclasses all running via Teachable, Zoom and other online platforms. This means if anyone is concerned about being out with other households, isn’t able to travel, are live further away then Essex & Suffolk you can all still continue to enjoy some training time with your dogs on a variety of topics and types of training. Contact us for details on the different online options we have currently and in the near future.
If you have any questions or concerns please do let us know – we want to try and make the training experience as comfortable and safe for everyone as we can and are always open to feedback, suggestions and observations. You are welcome to comment on this post on the Facebook Page, PM us on the Facebook page, email, text, what’s app …. drop us a message and we will help in every way we can!
Take care and stay safe,
Joe and Team x
