Dog Community

Training Class Pet Peeves

Posted : 4/23/2007 6:46:13 AM

1. Families with 3 children under age 10 who think it's a great idea to get a Border Collie, then wonder why it nips the children.
2. People with little white fuzzy dogs (you pick the breed) who can't understand why the dog won't housetrain. (Could it be that it soiled its "den" for weeks at the pet store?)
3. People who keep asking, "How do I stop him from jumping up?" when the first thing they do when the dog jumps up is acknowledge him. (Off, down, shove, no, etc.)
4. People who tell me their dog won't come when called. How did they try to teach him? Ya, you guessed it - off leash, no food or toy upon return. Or, they punished him for not coming (I'd never want to come again either, if I got yelled at for doing it.)
5. People who want the dog to stop taking food from the counter (so, remind me, why was the meat left out on the counter in the first place?), but never listened to the lecture on how to prevent it - did they think their dog was the one dog that would never need to know?
6. Snobs who think their $1500 Somethingdoodle should be the smartest dog in class because they paid so much for it, or they imported it, etc. I love it when the little shelter dogs show them up :-)

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7. People who think I was kidding when I said each child in class needs to be supervised by one adult. Believe it or not, I had a woman with a hundred pound dog, and one child on the ground, one in her arms, who came without hubby and thought she was going to be able to do all the exercises. She had the kid in her arms the whole hour. WTH
8. The "but" owner who came to class, but each time you make a suggestion, it's "Muffy does it at home." or "Muffy doesn't like...", or "Muffy is very smart, I don't know why she doesn't like it here." (Could be that you never socialized Muffy off your lap, lady.)
9. The idiots who keep letting their adult dogs nose each other on leash in the lobby after you have told them "no contact" on leash. The famous "oh, she's friendly with other dogs" in yet another form.
10. There are more, but I'm sick of typing...

tashakota

Posted : 4/23/2007 7:23:24 AM

bad day? [

] It is tough to teach the average dog owner. I'm planning to try sticking with agility. And those are bad enough.

tzumommy

Posted : 4/23/2007 8:46:27 AM

[color="#000000"]OMG - we have SO many of 7, 8,and9 at the club where I train my dogs! Some of these peeves actually affect the entire class IMO.
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"7. People who think I was kidding when I said each child in class needs to be supervised by one adult. Believe it or not, I had a woman with a hundred pound dog, and one child on the ground, one in her arms, who came without hubby and thought she was going to be able to do all the exercises. She had the kid in her arms the whole hour. WTH
[color="#000000"]I wouldn't have a big issue with Mom's that bring the children, if they would sit quietly, but they stand at the barrier of the ring and giggle and chat, and the Mom is fussing at them from inside the ring, thus distracting the crap out of some of the dogs, making it even more difficult to keep your dogs attention while heeling, etc.
What's even worse, are the mothers that allow the 9 and 10 year old little girls to hold the leash of the 70-100lb dog while we're waiting for class to begin. The dog is pulling the kid to whichever dogs face he chooses to get into . Meanwhile, I'm body blocking them AND THE KIDS from my dogs.[/color]

8. (Could be that you never socialized Muffy off your lap, lady.)
[color="#000000"]ROFLMAO! We have several "Muffy's" as well. There are 2 small dogs that have been in the same classes as Willie (my insecure Tzu) since the first class. Even though our trainers have made generalized statements about this, they STILL carry their pocket pups in the door and hold them in their laps the whole time before class. I know how they feel, but it's not helping the dogs learn to cope on their own. I forced Willie to sit on the floor while ignoring his attempts to paw at me for the first 8 week class. He was shaking, hiding under my chair, and wouldn't even take treats in the begining. But guess what? He is MUCH better now. I just want to tell them, "Excuse me; you do realize that IS A DOG, right? Why not give him the respect he deserves and LET HIM BE A DOG!" (I'm still trying to teach my husband and my mother how this works[8|])
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9. The idiots who keep letting their adult dogs nose each other on leash in the lobby after you have told them "no contact" on leash. The famous "oh, she's friendly with other dogs" in yet another form."
[color="#000000"] Yeah, this is a big peeve of mine in our club too. Mason was reactive to other males on leash, Willie hates other dogs in his "space", and Sam "loves everyone" - but I learned from the other 2 that not all dogs feel that way, and I keep his leash short too.[/color][color="#000000"]

Oh and #2 - the potty thing; I had a lady sit next to me and proceed to tell me how this is her 3rd dog in a year because the other 2 were too stupid to train; "they couldn't even learn where to go to the bathroom!" [:@][:@] I did my best not to over-react, but what a freaking idiot! She doesn't deserve to have a dog. So, her previous 2 "white fuzzy dogs" were left at the pound because she wasn't smart enough to teach them house manners.[

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Anne, I really don't know how you deal with the ingnorance everyday[&:][/color]
[color="#000000"]Do you even bother to TRY with people like this? Sometimes I think it's just a waste of breath.[8|]
I'm glad there are people like you that do at least try to help these dogs that are stuck with these folks![

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spiritdogs

Posted : 4/23/2007 10:20:30 AM

[color="#000000"]

Anne, I really don't know how you deal with the ingnorance everyday[/color]

And, then, I get to the day job and someone comes up for advice. Guess what? Her puppy is now 14 weeks old and nipping and growling at her ten year old. So what was her excuse for not getting right in to puppy class? The money. What does she think will happen when it's time to spay/neuter, or have an unexpected vet bill. I work with this person, but I still told her if she couldn't afford the expense of a dog, she shouldn't have one - I did try to say that nicely. But, Jeez. [:'(]
At least, I think I convinced her to get to class - she has the phone number, and I suggested a class with our owner who loves kids and is very good with them (apparently the kid is frightened, and thinks the dog hates him because of the growls - mom admitted that the child overreacts to everything - but, then, she didn't take my advice about supervising all their interactions either...).

tzumommy

Posted : 4/23/2007 10:35:30 AM

[color="#000000"]Anne, I really don't know how you deal with the ingnorance everyday[/color]

[sm=blush.gif] of all typos, I had to do it on that one; I'm not usually such a bad speller![

]

[color="#000000"]

[/color]but I still told her if she couldn't afford the expense of a dog, she shouldn't have one - I did try to say that nicely. But, Jeez. [:'(]

It is hard to say nicely when they already HAVE the dog, but it is so true. I was able to convince a co-worker to not only hold off on getting a dog because of the time/training commitment and expense, but also helped him realize that he's not ready or prepared to deal with a baby. So instead of a puppy, he's now planning to get a 2-3 year old Beagle AFTER Christmas from a rescue or shelter. He's saving up for expenses and classes now. He's a young guy, so I was impressed that he really thought it out after our conversation [

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Edited to say: I cannot spell today[

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Xerxes

Posted : 4/23/2007 1:23:45 PM

Anne, don't forget about the owner of the aggressive, undersocialized dog who says "that's just the way dogs play" as his dog terrorizes every other dog within reach.

Or the guy making all those "Pffft" sounds at his dog while his dog merrily ignores him.

ron2

Posted : 4/23/2007 6:51:23 PM

You must have a gargantuan load of patience.

At work, I expect a client to not know the ideal transformer law. That's okay, I'm the technical expert they shouldn't have to know. But to deal with people who consistently ignore everything you say, sometimes in spite of examples right in front of their face would test anyone's patience.

The lady with the inability to housetrain a dog reminds me of the guy in town that would let his dogs run loose and his house faces Hwy. 5. A few of his dogs have been run over. He seems to be the type to keep getting dogs until he "finds one smart enough to not run into traffic." Nincompoop is the nicest thing I can think of to say. Too bad his dad didn't have a prophylactic. As comedian Ron White said, "You can't fix stupid." But we can try.

I would wonder, too, if the busy mom has kids to tend to, does she have time for a dog? Or, if she can't lead and train her kids, she is likely to make the same mistake with her dog.

Have some calming chocolate.

Xerxes

Posted : 4/23/2007 8:04:20 PM

The lady with the inability to housetrain a dog reminds me of the guy in town that would let his dogs run loose and his house faces Hwy. 5. A few of his dogs have been run over. He seems to be the type to keep getting dogs until he "finds one smart enough to not run into traffic

I seem to remember a poster who said basically the same thing. The jist of the post was "why do my dogs keep dying?" And come to find out the dogs were running off lead in an unfenced yard near a busy roadway. They were all being hit by cars. Yikes.

diane303

Posted : 4/24/2007 2:46:10 PM

As any teacher in any classroom knows, you do what you can with the less than receptive student and be thankful for even the little bit that they absorb and marvel at the students that do well.

Hey, All of these people pay good money to be there. If they don't get as much out of your class as you would want them to, it's their loss and your gain.

spiritdogs

Posted : 4/24/2007 3:58:04 PM

Thank goodness, someone finally gave me permission for my chocolate fix. [

]

Good thing, too, because another coworker came in today and said she "bought a Cockapoo". I didn't ask where. [8|] Anyway, she's just a kid, so I bought her a copy of "Little Dogs" for a "gotcha day gift" and called it a day. [

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