A Bit Power-Hungry Are We? Encountering Aggressive Owners

[tx_cowgirl]

We've all seen them. Their pups graduate from puppy kindergarten, and when the trainer had the talk about being assertive, the "but gentle and calm" part slipped into the dark recesses of their brains. Sadly, quite a few people who attend puppy kindergarten classes turn out this way. This is not at all a problem with the classes or the trainer--just happens to some people, and they tend to be...well, a bit power hungry. So what sparked this?

About a week ago I had a job interview at a nearby vet clinic. As I walked to the front desk with the supervisor, a slender, attractive brunette strolled in with her young Goldie. He was about a year old, not overly energetic but clearly a happy little gentleman. She gave an unusally loud command to sit, and when the young blonde took interest in the cute papillon a few feet away, what little patience she had went barrelling out the door into a taxi three blocks down. Out of this tiny twig of a woman came a booming, controlling, borderline furious voice, "GENERAL, SIT DOWN RIGHT NOW!" Forcing down my raised eyebrow and trying to look uninterested, the goofy mutt looked up at her, tail spinning like a boat propeller. He plopped his butt down in perfect position, dusting the floor. "Good boy," she said in a quieter tone, assuming a proud, queenly attitude as she explained to one of the receptionists that General was there for vaccinations. I was whisked away to meet some of the vets and tour the rest of the clinic, and returned to find Drill Sargent and the Goldie exiting an exam room.
"General," as he was called(clearly a name fitting of his owner) was just as chipper as before the vaccinations. She stood at the counter fiddling through her handbag with the pup trying to obediently stay near her. The tiny Bassett Hound puppy proved too tempting, and he strained at the end of his leash to check out his new buddy.
"GENERAL, NOOO!" Her voice echoed through the room and the Bassett flinched. General's ears flicked, but ah well--the pup and his laid-back owner smelled tantalizing. She started to blast out another scold but waited when the Bassett's human companion reached out to stroke her retriever's ear. The bookkeeper's son was there, and took interest in General as well, silencing the Drill Sargent for a while. When they took interest elsewhere, she raved, "GENERAL, COME!" The happy-go-lucky dog was still completely unaffected by her aggressive nature and happily lumbered back to her. "GENERAL, SIT!" Hmm, are those Science Diet treats?
"GENERAL, SIT!!!!! RIGHT NOW GENERAL, SIT! SIT DOWN! GENERAL!"
Hey that border collie smells kinda like Tubby at obedience class...
"DOWN, GENERAL!"
He glanced up at her and sat, shook his head as though he had to process the thought, and layed down. "Good boy, General, good boy."
A couple of the receptionists glanced at each other and rolled their eyes, then went back to their work. The Sargent and her cheery companion left as I was lead to another part of the clinic.
Honestly, the whole ordeal was rather amusing(mind you, the supervisor was speaking with a client while I was watching all this...I wasn't ignoring my interview). However, it is frustrating to see people who think this is a great way to train their dog. Lucky for General, he could care less what kind of tone she used with him. But not all dogs are this way. Too many times I've seen owners like the Sargent whose controlling nature made their dogs cower and even go into a nervous, frenzied urination.
For those of you who were wondering...no, I didn't get the job, but I have an interview at another clinic tomorrow, so wish me luck.

 

[cppugs]

Good luck with the interview!!

This reminded me of a totally opposite incident I saw at my vets one day. While I was waiting to check out, I saw a very slim, very attractive young woman, dressed to the nines come through the front door with two adult mastiffs. I kind of chuckled to myself and though, ohhhhh, this should be entertaining!

The woman approached the counter to check in, I remember one of the dogs name was Angel, do not remember the other ones name, let's say it was Brutus. There was quite line so she took up position at the end of the line. The dogs were in perfect heel, no pulling, no advance towards the other dogs, then in a voice so sweet and soft I could barely hear it, she said "Angel, down, Brutus, down". The dogs responded so swiftly for large dogs, I could not believe it. Each time she moved forward to the counter, she would again very softly and sweetly tell the dogs to either sit or down. I was quite impressed. Before I left, I had to go talk to her and tell her how wonderful she was with her dogs. She had trained them herself and was very proud of both dogs. She had every right to be, as well as of herself!
You do not see many people like her. She was a gem for sure!

Charleen

 

[tx_cowgirl]

How nice! It's always great to see responsible trainers, especially people with huge dogs who have raised them properly to be respectful. :dogsmile: I always happen to run into a woman at Petsmart who has a female Harlequin Great Dane(and usually large even for a dane!). I rarely run into trained dogs at Petsmart other than my own, and often find myself dodging dogs that are rushing mine. Not the case with these two. The harlequin owner is very sweet, and has told me that she adopted her and she's very shy, so she's trying to build up her confidence. She's a doll. The woman trained her herself, and she strolls through Petsmart at a perfect heel and lets anyone and everyone in the store pet her anywhere. When the kids run up to her the woman will have her sit or lie down so they can reach better, and the dog is so calm and gentle with them. I fell for her the first time I saw her, and I keep running into her. ^^ Her owner has done a fantastic job with her and she's quite the opposite of my interesting encounter at the vet's office.
And thank you! We'll see how the interview goes this afternoon... :doghappy:

 

[drivingtenacity]

I can't stand people like the one in the first post. Luckily, Zena's dog aggression saves me from them, mostly(when we go to the vet, we get 'VIP' treatment, as in, ushered into the closest available room immediately).
When I went to the vet with my mom, though, there was a woman with a similar demeanor. She was so loud and demanding of her poor dog I actually told her to stop it. She gave me a 'how dare you' look, and I added that she was upsetting my mother's dog, who was already upset enough- and she really was upsetting her, my mom's dog had issues with loud, harsh people and quick movements.

 

[tx_cowgirl]

How unfortunate. This woman didn't seem to be bothering anyone but the other people in the office. I hope Zena's aggression has improved; I know you've been working on that since I joined the site. =)

 

[josiebell]

Oh how I can relate as the trainer and the agressive dog owner!

I've taken a break from dog classes at the moment and I'm having one to one training with a professional dog trainer who lives near me.

As you may or may not know, I have an over excited, dog agressive GSD. I've been to dog training classes since January and still he insists on occassion to 'go' for a dog. He did not walk nicely, still pulled like a steam train. So at classes I was told so many different things, culminating in keeping him muzzled when out and always at classes. I was told to tell him off, with a severe voice, and a sharp lead check, if he was interested in another dog, pulled on the lead, or barked.

It did not help one bit. In fact it made matters so much worse. Partly because I did not like being aggresive myself to my lovely dog, who deserved so much better.

I have to say that after just less than an hour with the one to one trainer, I saw things much clearer for my dog. Now it is gentle patience with things I would like him to do. I'm calmer because I know I don't need to tell him off, he is calmer because I know he is not aggressive, just panicky at dogs and traffic etc.

If only calmness could be brought by the bucket full. I'm sure we would have some very happy, obedient dogs. I should say though that a lot of training has gone into making him calmer and we have a long long way to go. But I've lost the steam train that was pullling me down the paths and roads like an idiot. I've also lost the dog that has to charge round everywhere when his lead is produced. He has also played very happily with another dog when he has been out!

Sergeants should stay in the army, navy and air force. They have no place in animal training.

 

[storm22]

haha i agree, yesterday i took storm to the vet for a dental check up (he has great teeth he got a score 1) and there was two people in there already waiting, a little 3months weimariner pup named storm (what are the odds of that, two dogs named storm made it quite interesting for the vet who came out and asked for storm we were like which one? lolz)) and a border collie named jerry, well the border collie didnt pay any attention to his owners whining literly she was whining at him in a loud screeching voice 'common and sit jerry' 'please sit' 'SIT YOU MUTT!!!!' you get the idea, she got frusterated
well that upset storm abit and he decided to bark at her voice, every time she talked in that voice he would bark, then the weim puppy would also bark at storms bark, i did get storm to quiet then she would talk again and it would start again, lol me and the weim owner were trying not too laugh at this point and thought it was quite funny as i would say storm quiet and her pup would look at me like who are you?? and she would tell her pup to quiet and storm would try go to her for a pat, which every time my dog moved the border collie owner would imediatly jump on her dog and tell her dog to sit and dont even think about going near him, her dog just didnt listen and got up, but he wasnt mean just interested in meeting the other dogs,

i felt kinda sorry for jerry she spoke to him like he was deaf, (he wasnt i spoke to him and he waged his tail furiously) and he would have to go home with that annoying voice, she kinda got feeling at storm barking at her voice but us storm owners thought it was quite funny, i did try explaining that he doesnt like loud voices but she didnt care (its not so much loud voices storm doesnt like but strange sounds, he also doesnt like abba either he howls his head off soo funny)

 

[tx_cowgirl]

Sergeants should stay in the army, navy and air force. They have no place in animal training.

Well said!! And thank you for wishing me luck. It went well I think. I'm supposed to get a call back Friday and go for a second interview. They're rather picky, and they should be. :doghappy:


Haha, leave it to Storm to put a whiney owner in their place. :doglaugh: Too cute. And a border collie. :dogblink: It's not like they're difficult to train. xDD :dognowink:

 

[szecsuani]

Dog owners in hungary are like this.
Almost all of them. You can imagine how they sound in the park...
And bonus, they are all swearing! Hate those people...

 

[storm22]

i know typical storm thing to do, thats why i hate taking him to places with people like that, another one of his things to do at vets is try and get close to cats, he just likes sniffing them but it really worrys cat owners that this big boof head is trying to get near their cats, i try and sit away from cats cause he likes to annoy them and there owners, i have been to the vets before when there was this cat that liked to play with dogs, thats was hreat storm was so occupied sniffing a cats and this cat was just lying on his back padding storms nose, it was soo cute

 

[maxkaurasky]

I saw something similar to the first post at the Chevron in my town. Big truck with a big trailer pulls up to the gas station & as soon as the door opens, this tiny dog shoots out & runs to the grass. The guy is hollering and swearing as he runs towards his dog, who is in the middle of taking a poo. The guy swears again & yells bad dog & shouts over to his wife some foul language about what the dog is doing. After the dogs done, he picks it up and carries it back to the truck, muttering curses. Like what, would you rather have had it crap in your lap?! Id be telling the poor thing "good boy!"