Mayume and Wes,Wes wrote:Mayume, just keep reading and researching and question everything. Most of what I learned, I learned on this very forum and applied it to my classes. There's a sticky list of good books to pick up as well I believe in the training section.
Diane, I can bring it up with my DM, but we're quite far away from NM. There should have been a representative from the district (likely the mentor) at Summit this year, so hopefully things have been squared away by now. He would not get away with it in my district, that's for sure.
One thing that Mayume stated in the guidelines were not to admit dogs with behavioral problems. So, in reality, the trainer should have discouraged us from signing up in the first place. We had just gotten Sandy, a deer chihuahua mix from the shelter at age one year, and he had some very strong fear aggression problems. Just being in the store caused him stress and when with the class, he was not allowed to enter the ring and so we were isolated from all the other dogs, he was so stressed from the classes,that finally, we just had to keep him in the car and try to get whatever information we could.
We tried one on one, but every time another dog entered the store, Sandy was too stressed out to learn anything.
So besides, the trainer's methods not being good for a chihuahua with fear reactions, the whole environment was not conducive for Sandy to learn anything. For example when he was on the extra long leash and had to find me, Sandy was in a panic looking for me. That definitely didn't do much for recall training.
So, really observe each dog that comes in for training to see if the dog is a fit for the class as well as the environment.
We have learned that Sandy cannot be within 50 ft. Of another dog without reacting out of fear. So, his fear of other dogs should have told the trainer that Sandy was not a fit for PetCo,
Obviously the classes are geared more for socialized dogs who do not react around other dogs. Even when we go to the vet, we get first appointment, and they know he has to be taken immediately back to an exam room. They always have a dvd of a dog show and sandy even reacts to that.
Good luck to both of you. And make sure that each dog you check out before admitting to a class is a good fit. We lost a couple of hundred dollars that we were told we could not get returned. So, don't do that to any other dog owners, please.
Diane