Speaking honestly here, it depends on your ability to learn theory and application from videos and books. At least where it concerns teaching the dogs whatever is important for you.
If your only specs for a dog is to sleep in a crate at night, walk nicely on a loose lead, sit on command, lie down on command, give paw as a trick....
These are things you can teach at home within the first 1-3 weeks of your pup coming home.
If your primary specs are teaching "leave it", staying off counters, being able to be loose in a room while people are eating without lunging up and grabbing food off plates, etc.
These are things which are difficult to teach in a class setting. An instructor may touch on them in class, however beyond teaching leave it and "watch" commands, the majority is left to you to teach in full at home.
But if you know what you are doing, your pup should know these things well before he's 4 months old.
If your primary specs are being able to take your dog to work with you, take your dog into stores or other public places where there are people and other dogs around in close proximity.... and not having to worry about your dog either going into a full panic attack, lifting his leg on everything, barking or lunging at people or dogs....
These are things you will ABSOLUTELY address in classes - presuming you do classes regularly between 4 months and 24 months.
By the time your dog is 2 years old, a lot of behaviors become set. If he has anxiety or fear aggression around other dogs by then, that's pretty much set for life. You can work a dog through problems with the help of a trainer beyond 2 (especially if the dog already has a good foundation as far as obeying you), but you should always be aware and wary of your dogs reactions around situations which may set him off. <= This is a huge reason to work on both ends (obedience training and positive socialization) through all the different fear stages as puppies grow up.
I'll also add very candidly that my youngest pup (18 weeks old) has not been in any obedience classes yet.
This does not mean he's never been trained in a class environment or his training has been allowed to slide.
Currently speaking, he has already been in his first obedience fun match. I was debating on entering his second one this week - depends on whether there are still openings through tomorrow night (I'm trying to let people who are entered in a trial at this location sign up first).
I've had him for 10 weeks.
In those 10 weeks -
He learned his name <= which seems silly, but for a puppy learning is name is the first part of teaching all the other exercises, especially recalls.
He is fully crate trained.
He is fully potty trained.
He is fully border trained (no fence).
He is learning to heel off leash. He's very good at being glued to my side, but we are working on keeping all feet on the ground vs boxing his feet in the air every step. He knows to automatically sit straight up and down in heel position every time I stop walking.
He knows sit on verbal command.
He is learning sit on hand signal.
He knows down on verbal command and hand signal. My next step is teaching him down on hand signal alone.
As he learns both sit and down on hand signal, we will begin teaching position changes from a distance - this includes drop on recall, it includes a called sit when sent to a mark, it also includes signals from a distance.
He knows "Come" and is solid with recalls.
He is learning his sit and down stays - very early beginnings, but he's been solid so far with him clearly understanding what I'm asking of him.
He will be learning stand stays soonish. I held off while teaching him to free stack (for conformation). As he now knows to set all his feet correctly on his own when told to stand on command (I have a verbal command and hand signal), we can now begin teaching a stay.
He will also begin learning a hand signal (distance) for stand - and the long term goal is to be able to be 15 or 30 feet away and have an excellent stand from a sit or down position.
He is learning a basic front after recall - which is automatically sitting in front after a recall.
He is learning the silly things like sitting up on his haunches, spinning both ways, giving paw, nose touches to hands, back, army crawl, etc. Most of these things are taught as a "release" or building play/excitement while training.
He is learning how to search by scent - (me touching a treat on the ground and building a track for him to follow to an eventual self-reward)
He is learning "mark" - with me training him to look a certain direction as I'm indicating with my hand and going there when I've sent him. <= this is in foundation stages. As he progresses, I will gradually work with him being sent to fetch a target on command. Then I will give him multiple targets as distractions while he's sent to a specific target to fetch.
He is learning retrieves correctly from the very foundation (take, hold, give). He does get to retrieve dumbbells, but primary focus is building the foundation. There's some allowance with a teething puppy and no rush.
As he hits 20 weeks, I'll start introducing the very beginnings of jumps. He's a long way from being asked to jump like he would for obedience. But there is a time to teach foundation skills for jumping.
And I can go on and on and on about everything that my 18 week old pup is working on right now.... without ever being in a class.
Does that mean he will never be in classes???? NOT likely! LOL.
My point in describing everything we are working on is to emphasize that I still value what we can get out of private lessons and group classes - regardless of what I already know how to train on my own.
My handling skills from one dog to the next - needs somebody else telling me what I'm doing wrong. The more advanced that my dogs and I are as a team, the more we are open to critiquing and suggestions from the people I train with.
As well, all of the ten million things which a puppy learns in the first 6 months of his life even before he's in regular classes.... I know to teach these things to this puppy, because I've raised several puppies from puppy hood while attending classes almost nonstop. What I know is what I learned in actual classes from very accomplished trainers. I've learned some things while watching youtube, but majority of what I've learned - I learned hands-on in a class environment.
If you've had the same experience, then you likewise do not need to be attending as many puppy classes, basic obedience classes, CGC classes, etc, unlike somebody who is very green and new to dog ownership, dog raising, dog handling, and overall everything dog training.
Requiring that people sign up for classes at least for puppy classes, basic obedience, CGC - the first year. And then maybe agility for fun, beginner rally, and scent foundation the second year... <= This seems ridiculous for somebody who just wants a dog for company. But all those sessions of classes are a guarantee that you will train your dog at least 18 times the first year and 18 times the next year - assuming you are taking 3 sessions of 6 weeks each year. Some people only train their dogs at classes. :nerd:
This is obviously over and beyond what somebody with a pet golden is willing to do or has need for. And there's a pretty huge mental block that a lot of people have when it comes to training dogs in obedience classes - some of which comes from many of the vet recommended classes being so GODAWFUL. >.<
All I can say is search for the best location to train that you can. The benefits you can get out of it is learning maybe 1-5 things which you didn't know before hand. And having a dog who is reliable in a variety of situations thanks to training. And doors get opened the better trained your dog is. Ages ago when I was training my first golden through classes, we got to dip our paws into field and agility. As of today, there are a ton of different venues that people can go into with their dogs.
I recently watched a nosework test (at a show) and I got HOOKED after watching each dog go through the two courses. It's something I want to try out with my dogs next summer - we just need to take a few classes to learn how to do it! I *think* it should be easy based on them already knowing how to hunt by scent, but we'll see!
Pet classes can be very much like an assembly line and you might not get too much help from an instructor who lacks training experience or is primarily checking off boxes and selling equipment. And some places overcharge...
Again, please look around for good places to train. And very least aim for Star Puppy and CGC programs.
Good Luck<: