Please allow me to rant for a moment. Kai and I were at training tonight. He had just done a couple of recalls. He seems to like doing them and the instructor had just told me to go further out, about 20′ away. No problem, he still came running. She was talking about throwing the food between my legs to mix it up a little or something, when something caught his eye towards the front entrance, which is a fair distance away. A dog close to his size had come in. He suddenly started barking pretty loudly.. He only occasionally even barks there and can usually be distracted without too much effort. The director of the club came out of nowhere and started loudly proclaiming to the instructor who was with me and still holding Kai with that clothesline lead that that is not a confident dog, keep him on a very short lead, only 5 or 6′, that he was fixating on this little papillon in our class that was laying there in the ring and not to let him go or he’d be on that little dog in a second. That we needed to realize when a dog was fixating on another. The papillon may have been in his line of sight, but was NOT the object of his interest. I said he’s not looking at that little dog, but she wasn’t even listening or hardly looking at this point. It was like she just swooped in, barked out all this **** as she walked in an arc in and out of the ring. It made me so mad!! I wish I’d thought to grab Kai on that clothes line lead and let him lead me to where he wanted to go because I guarantee it wasn’t to that little dog. I said to the instructor he’s not looking at that little dog. She said she knew, it was the big dog that came in. I said he hasn’t barked at the little dog the whole 7 weeks we’ve been here. This is the same woman who told Michael the very first time we went there for puppy kindergarten, honey sweetie don’t drag that dog. Kai had walked past a covered crate and the dog inside suddenly barked and it startled both of them and Kai kind of threw himself to the ground or something, hahaha and she just looks up and sees him on the ground and thinks Michael is dragging him?! She rubbed Michael wrong the very first night with that one! He said I’m not dragging him. She is a shoot first, figure it out later kind, apparently. Or don’t figure it out, just shoot and keep moving. I think I will be researching other training facilities…in a place the size of Orlando, there must be other games in town. Sorry there is no humor to be found in this post, maybe Carole can supply some if she shares about class 7 of 8. She can probably already taste that wine.
Here is my take on what happened, but first a little background:
We are training inside a very large building at the fairgrounds. There are at least 4-5 rings set up, with noisy activity going on in each ring. Last night it seemed that most classes were very low in attendance. Our class, which started out with at least 15 dogs is now down to four. Our ring is set up at the very far end of the building.
As Scarlett said, a dog walked in the entrance and for whatever reason, Kai noticed him and barked. Not crazy barking, but a bark. ALL activity in that building stopped and turned and looked at Kai. You could have heard a pin drop as Kai did his big-boy bark. No kidding. At the distance, I could see Nasty stretching her neck and The Director just glaring and making a bee line toward Kai. The “incident” was over and done with long before The Director made it to our side of the building. However, Scarlett & the trainer were going to get a spanking whether it was necessary or not.
At no time did Kai ever focus his attention on the little Papillon. For gosh’s sake, they had been heeling side-by-side 5 minutes earlier. Kai is very sweet and well behaved. The only one he tries to goof off with in class is the Big Z.
1. The Director is all-knowing.
2. The Director over reacted and nothing was going to change her mind about what she saw.
3. See #1.
4. O-Town crowd is not necessarily keen on GSDs.
5-500. See #1.
HOWEVER, there is an Aussie in our class. It shows up every few sessions. The dog came growling and still sometimes growls. Last night we were to sit our dogs while a “stranger” said hello to the handler and then petted the dog. One of the instructors asked Scarlett if Michael could be the “stranger” for the Aussie. Michael had been told that if the dog gets up, he is to turn his back until the handler has the dog under control again. As Michael approached the guy, I saw the dog give Michael a hard look. Before Michael could touch the dog the dog got up so Michael turned his back and was facing me. I told Michael to be careful that the dog didn’t bite him. And that’s OK?
….and now you all understand why we love to train with Gustavo! I think the training director has re-activeness issues and should be taking private lessons to get it under control. it is blatant that many of these instructors are not only lacking in dog skills, but most definitely lacking in people skills.
Most pet-dog training instructors do not know what to do with a dog with drive and they get nervous and insecure.
The fact that your class started with 15 dogs and is now down to 4 dogs says it all.
Reactiveness issues, yes. Haha. And now you know Carole and crew weren’t joking when they said they weren’t returning Gustavo last Christmas.
Amen to that, Sister!
I’m just surprised Carole didn’t ninja kick that sob!
OK, I just had to log-in and comment here! That just makes me so mad! You kept your cool though, and good for you for setting a good example. Kai is a SUPER pup!
Definitely look for another class. This is just unacceptable.
One of the places I took Libby to (when she was 3-5months old) had an unwritten rules that the GSD is:
1. always at fault
2. can never be trusted around other dogs
3. is always the dog that is doing the threatening barking
4. must be approached with caution
Other than for the socialization and experience for Libby-they had great equipment to play on- I would never have gone there.
Lisa, you hit the nail on the head. This is the attitude of most pet-dog or AKC type obedience club trainers. They do not know what to do with a thinking dog that has drive. This is why it is so important for GSD puppy owners to find a GSD person for training.
I’m glad that we are in good hands down here in Dallas, we are lucky to have found our trainer/club.
This problem exists with the Veterinarians as well. Some of them, despite their career choice, just don’t like big dogs-
We had that problem with a Vet here in TC after our regular Vet retired. Ekko is high drive and also very large and athletic. He’s not what you would call laid back.
The first time we went to the new Vet I could tell he wasn’t comfortable with Ekko soon as he came in. After three unsuccessful attempts to give him a injection, the Vet got very nervous and Ekko picked up on that. Ekko was not being aggressive, didn’t growl or fixate, he just yelped the last time he was stuck and wasn’t keen on being stuck again. He had me put a muzzle on him (Ekko not the Vet) , and “red carded” his file.
Walking out of his office afterwards, Michele & I looked at each other and said there was no way were were going back to him.
Other Vets and Vet assistants never had a problem with giving Ekko injections or other treatment, either before or after. It was pretty obvious that he wasn’t confident with big, high drive dogs, he was much better off treating more sedate dogs and cats.
Needless to say we changed Vets, and haven’t had any problems since.