Survey - What Level Owner Are You?

 I would say level 2 (maybe 2 +, since I am a pet care professional? not sure), and yes, I've been very poorly matched. I returned a dog to her breeder, because she was not even remotely happy with me. Emma is also a very poor match, for me, and if the shelter had been honest, I wouldn't have adopted her. I'm kind of glad that didn't happen, because I adore her, and I'm a better handler, for it. We butt heads, a lot, but we really have taught each other a LOT.

 Level 3, but I generally don't look for dogs that require a Level 3 type handler. 

Maggie was my second dog (when I was a Level 1.5 lol) and she was a TOUGH dog to have at that level, but she taught me so much and continues to - she made me the Level 3 handler I am today.  I was a shelter volunteer when I adopted her, so no matching was done by the shelter; I picked her out myself and because she was on the euth list no one objected.

Ziva is my current middle dog and I picked her out from work (humane society) - we are a great match; see our agility thread lol.  She would likely be a Level 2 dog due to her energy level.

Kes is my current pup and I picked him as well - he's a Level 2.5 due to his energy level and typical ACD behavior traits.

I would like to say I am a level 3 owner but I guess I better say a level 2.Dudley came from a shelter Breeder,and not a nice place at all.Very unclean and its what we call a puppy mill puppy.His parents should never of been bred at all and we really should of contacted the State to close her down.Many reasons we didn't,but I regret it now.

Dudley and I too butt heads some what,but nothing I can't handle.He isn't the dog I would of wanted for myself,but after we got him he became our responsibility and even though we could of taken him back we just couldn't put him back there where he would of died.

Don't know about the levels here,but I do know I am a responsible dog owner does that count?

I guess a 2.5 maybe pushing a 2.75?  I've rehabbed an awful lot of fosters for the gsd rescue....

The only time I've rehomed a dog is when I was young and foolishy adopted two brothers.  The one boy was gentle as a lamb, even with my kittens, but heck bent on killing his brother.  Nueturing didn't help and when he came close to tearing Dukes jugular out, we found him a new home.  That was my own fault though.  I didn't have the skills then that I do today.

When I place a dog, I do my darnedest to make a good match.  However, the potential families do have to be honest in order for me to do that job.

Bailey is my first dog, so i guess i dont qualify for level 2, but i dont think im a level one. I was a level one when i first got Bailey, i really didnt have a clue about having or training a dog. The shelter wasnt honest with us about him at all. They said he was generally well behaved except for he jumped up alot. They didnt seem to mention anything about his food aggression (i found that out the hard way, and have the scars to prove it) or that he was uncontrolable on leash , aggressive with other male dogs, and also that he was heartworm positive. But im very glad that the shelter didnt tell us, cause if not we wouldnt have adopted him. He was at the shelter for 6 months before we went to see him( that probably should have been a warning that he had some behavior prolems) and they were only giving him 1 more week. I would call myself a level 2 because me and Bailey have taught eachother so much, he has come such a far way with his food agression which i'd say is 99.9 % better now, he walks calmly on leash and doesnt go berserk whenever he sees another animal, and he is fine with other male dogs now. I trust him off leash almost everywhere, we do backyard agility and obedience. The only reason we dont do any for real is money and transportation, no money to enter or go to training clases, and no way to get there if i did. Im no proffesional trainer or anything (i hope i will be someday...) but i have helped people train their dogs. I helped my sisters friend and his wife with their 3 dogs. Just teaching them the basics, recall, sit, down, stay, and not jumping up on people. Ive also been volunteering at a dog boarding/daycare/rescure/training place for over 3 years now. I think there should be more than 3 levels. No way am i a trainer or behaviorist, but i feel like ive done more than just "train through some challenges".

 Right. I'm not a trainer or behaviorist, but I'm a pet groomer. I've trained a behavior issue, biting dog, to competing on a national level in AKC Rally. Emma also has her CGC, and is on model behavior, most days. It's not a trainer or behaviorist, but it's a little more than "trained through some challenges". I handle strangers' dogs, daily. I volunteer for the shelter, and handle their dogs 4-5 times a month. There's an in between-er level

I guess I'd have to put myself at  1.5 since I've never had a dog with serious issues.  Max is from the local shelter, but he was only in there for 10 days.  Actually, we're kind of alike in some ways.  We're both pretty laid back, go-with-the-flow.

Joyce

I'm between a 1 and a 2.  I think with a new breed I'd be back to a 1 again.  Chows are so different in so many ways than other types of dogs.  But, I think I'd be considered an experienced chow owner at this point. 

As a training owner,probably about 1.5. I've worked through what I've needed to and have a happy relationship with my dogs. There are some things I do better than others.

Recently, I had custody of a stray Brittany who was about a year old. He had a rabies tag but wasn't chipped so I kept him over the weekend. He was a busy boy and I'm glad I didn't have to foster Rusty.

I'd give myself a much higher rating for nutrition and ability to rehab a dog post surgery. I never say never, but I'd prefer future dogs to be active seniors.

Floyd had some issues when he was adopted, but he also had really nice house manners, so I wasn't constantly dealing with the dog. I got to pick and choose.

I've never taken a dog that didn't need us/me.   I've taken on some pretty big challenges ... mostly deliberately.  I've taken on the ones "who came back" to straighten things out and get them to the *right* home.  I tend not to think of myself as a 'behaviorist' -- I tend, rather, to simply climb inside their head and think like the dog.  We've unravelled some dogs who badly needed to BE understood.  It's not something I want to do ALL the time, because my energy focus is better on health issues because of my own physical problems -- but I do love to take on a damaged dog and help them be all they can be. 

The only one who was ever a real surprise was ... believe it or not ... BILLY.  He had been severely abused in foster care (this woman had EIGHTEEN foster children all with emotional handicaps and a couple of them had apparently been horrifically cruel to him).  It was a hidden 'flaw' -- where he only triggered on little 2-6 year old blonde girls or in HUGE overwhelming "running, screaming, excitable" kid situations when he was cornered.

He was one of our biggest challenges because the "hurt" went so deep (and he does love children).  In that particular case I'm just going to chalk it up to an incredibly STUPID rescue group --  they almost didn't give him to us **because** we don't have children!!!  This group was completely unaware of what had happened in "secret" at this foster home.  We SAW him with a handicapped boy and he was MARVELOUS.  It wasn't until about 2 weeks later when we saw him react when approached by a family with two little blonde pre-school aged girls that we began to have a clue of this hidden reactivity/terror. 

I'm just SO GLAD it was David and I who got him.  Because had it been any other family and he had turned on some sweet cute little blond squealy girl -- he would have been put to sleep in a heartbeat.

 Some rescues just don't monitor their own foster care well enough.

How sad that there are peeps out there that abuse these animals,and to think Billy had to endure this kind of treatment just breaks my heart! I am so glad that these babies find parents like you to save them!

We think Dudley had been sold before we got him too,but can't prove it.He was so petrified of a leash or anything simialr like the garden hose.I would have to just lay out a lead and make him walk around it soutside for months before he got comfortable with it and new it was not there to harm him. Today if he could go on walks,he would be the perfect little trotter.he stays in the heel postion and just trots along,LOLThis makes us think that someone abused him  and thats what made him fearful.

I should add, even at the level I consider myself to be, I would NOT want a dog more challenging than a GSD.  They have taught me a great deal, but I sure am not up to one of the really tough breeds.

I've been to a few Sue Sternberg seminars and I always find what she has to say very interesting. We used her temperament testing "Assess-A-Pet" at my last shelter and had fairly good results with it. Our main problem was that we had very few Level 1 dogs, but far too many Level 1 owners, most of whom didn't realize that they were Level 1 owners (and didn't want to hear it either). We ended up using Meet Your Match for our adoption program because we found the color-coding system to be the best way to not only help people look at the dogs they SHOULD be looking at, but also open up the lines of communication based on what they told us they WANTED in a dog on their survey, rather than us telling them which dogs they could or could not have.