Finding a dog trainer woes

    • Gold Top Dog

    Finding a dog trainer woes

    So I am really really really REALLY upset that the dog trainer we scheduled to come to our house yesterday no -showed and no phone call or email as of yet with an explanation.  He came highly recommended by several people that work for or with my SO who have done nothing but rave about him.  However this is strike 2 with him b/c he took several weeks to return my initial phone call (I understand he pretty much is the only one running his business, but several weeks is a long time for a return call).  I had cancelled another training appt. with a trainer whose house we were going to - b/c he came so highly recommended, he was local (other trainer was not), would come to our house etc etc.  He offers SO much (basic obedience, intermediate, advanced, agility, CGC training and testing) but I won't even continue buying my dog food from him anymore!

    So it looks like I'm back to square one looking for a trainer - I've called just about all the local trainers I could find (I'm sure I'm missing the ones who don't advertise in the phone book or online) and none will do house visits or will accept Ari till she's fully vaccinated (which is only a couple of weeks away now thankfully).  

    Both my SO and I took off work early yesterday, which was difficult for me as my boss is away so that leaves me as the only manager running the show right now in our main office.  I was soooo looking forward to working with him and having him help us out with Ari. 

    If ANYONE here lives in the Lakes region NH with a good trainer recommendation that would be great Confused
     

    • Gold Top Dog

    Hi the_gopher....

    I'll bet you're talking about http://www.wmk9.com/ as to the one that was a no show? I've heard great things about him too from people in your area, sounds like he's in high demand and understaffed. 

    Check your pm's I'm sending you a link to a trainer that was a lifesaver for our family... bit of a drive for you but we drove from even farther north and it was worth it.

    Karen

    • Gold Top Dog

    outdoorschik

    Hi the_gopher....

    I'll bet you're talking about http://www.wmk9.com/ as to the one that was a no show? I've heard great things about him too from people in your area, sounds like he's in high demand and understaffed. 

    Check your pm's I'm sending you a link to a trainer that was a lifesaver for our family... bit of a drive for you but we drove from even farther north and it was worth it.

    Karen

     

    Yep that's the one.  I mean I can understand if your understaffed and in demand, but I would have appreciated a 2 minute phone call!  That's all, let me know you double booked, ran late, or something...that's all.  I'm actually a pretty reasonable person and understanding - but I do get irked by things like not calling to let me know what's up. 

    Thank you for that link!  I will go over the site tonight with my SO.  Any recommendations are appreciated since I rather not go blindly into this without something more to go on other than pulled your name out of a hat and let's cross my fingers and see what happens.  (yes I'm picky!)
     

    • Gold Top Dog

    I checked the APDT site and found *two* Certified Pet Dog Trainers in your area plus several other APDT members.  I used the zip for the trainer in the link since you said he was local.

    http://www.apdt.com/po/ts/us/results.aspx?zip=03264&dist=50&cert=0

    CPDTs' sites:

    www.understandingdogs.net (Canaan, NH)

    http://www.deesdogs.com/ (East Andover, NH)

     

     

    • Gold Top Dog

    Dees dogs is the person I canceled.  I also contacted the one in Canaan but never got a reply back (used the "contact me" form) but I will try them again. 

    I went to APDT before trying anyone else - probably should have mentioned that! 
     

    • Gold Top Dog

    By all means reschedule with Dee - she is very highly respected for some of her work and I'd trust her more than the other guy you were going to have come honestly - his site never actually says what methods he uses but from what I know of Dee she is most definitely positive reinforcement based.