We embarked on what will hopefully be a long career in doggie school yesterday.
Fenris and Freyja went to school together, along with my husband and my step son and myself. The make up of the class was a real kicker:

a rescued beagle
a rescued jack russel terrier mix
an Australian shepherd
a sheltie
an Irish Wolfhound that is afraid of other dogs
and a Pappillon that is afraid of people

The Irish wolfhound and the Papillion sat next to one another--and it just looked so funny! Most dogs were under one year, but of course our Fenris was the one who couldn't control himself--he just wanted to go around and make friends with everyone. The instructor chalked it up to him being part lab--easily distracted. However, she used him as an example to demonstrate how to do many of the exercises (go Fenris!!!), as many of the dogs couldn't sit, or down.

We expected Freyja to be the one to lose control (because she's younger and really wants to see other dogs when we are out on walks (pulls, walks on her hind legs). But Ben was very good with her and she was quite well behaved. I was also surprised to hear that many arctic breeds are not treat-motivated...which explained a lot with Freyja. (This was a generalization I had not heard before.) We just need something extra stinky for her (that is, finding the right treat). We found a soft treat: Wellness chicken and lamb recipe, that motivates her. I have yet to muster the courage to make the boiled beef heart and cut it up

We did walk them before the class-- I can't imagine them being completely full of energy--that would have been nuts!

Freyja did very well (handled by my husband), but has also been showing some dominance / stubbornness with some commands (such as 'off'). I think we managed to adopt the alpha of the litter! ha ha! She'll do fine--we have a lot of patience and love her tons. But maybe we're just comparing her to Fenris--and they are certainly completely different dogs (which is also neat).

We did exercises on walking your dog properly, encouraging your dog to look to you for commands and rewards, sit, down from sit, and down from stand. Fenris and Freyja both did very well.

My step-son, Chayce, also worked with Fenris. He seemed to be a little more distracted with Chayce, so I think maybe he needs to work with Fen more. Plus, he's only 11 and needs to learn a lot too.

So, I'll write more as the classes go on... we intend to move forward with their training and take this as far as they want to go. They are so much fun!

Sounds like you had a great time! Go doggies!

With some dogs who are more sensitive to dominance and other dogs it can be a challenge to let them lay down in a group.
Try to get a bit more away from the group to see how he acts. Some of my wolfdogs wouldn't lay down when there are too any dogs nearby. Trained them away from the group with that and came a bit closer every week. All the other exercises gave no problem.
The only thing Heyoka still wont do near other dogs is "flat" but she will do it when we go out of the group.

great suggestion, thank you!

Sounds like you have had a great start! Tala loves going to training too, keep us updated with your progress