I Need Help Finding A Trainer….

Dlilly

Dlilly

Honored Member
I need a dog trainer that is located anywhere in/near/outside of Atlanta. I'm getting pretty desperate now, so I don't mind driving anywhere under 2 hours from Atlanta.

My puppy Rory does goes crazy, puts his hackles up, barks, growls, when he sees my dogs. I need help getting him to behave around my dogs. If you're a regular here on DTA, you know the whole story.

I've been searching for a trainer for a long time now. Either the trainer is asking for a ridiculous amount for lessons, they use negative training techniques, or they aren't taking clients anymore… It's crazy, it shouldn't be this hard to find a positive dog trainer! :(
 
Thanks Southerngirl. I'm about to give up on this.... It's just not happening. :(

Operation Tame The Crazy Dog By Myself might be needed. This is going to be interesting....
 
Dlilly said:
Thanks Southerngirl. I'm about to give up on this.... It's just not happening. :(

Operation Tame The Crazy Dog By Myself might be needed. This is going to be interesting....
Click to expand...
I'm having to do the Operation Tame The Crazy Dog By Myself. It's a pain in the butt, and frustrating, especially with no help from family. I can't remember the video(I'll look for it), but this lady did something called the ten day challenge for ten days she would take her dog to petsmart or a dog park. If it wasn't raining she went to the dog park. She started off very far away(under her dogs threshold) from the fenced in dog park and played ball with her dog on a long leash. She gradually got closer until she was beside the fence. If you could do this it could help Rory, if I was able to do this with Missy I would.
Off to look for the video.
 
When I was enrolled in a puppy training class, we had a reactive 6 mo pit bull: ears pointing forward, stiff body, eyes fixated, and barks were deep and loud. My own pup is very submissive, so I was a little worried for my own dog, but the trainer had us do these simple exercises that weren't all that different from the videos posted above.

The very first thing she told the owner of the Pitt Bull was to vigorously exercise the dog to bring it into a tired and relaxed state. Once that was done she could introduce it to other dogs. First starting from a distance and getting closer and closer until the dog began reacting. At that point, back up a few feet, and tell it "Look" and when it does, give it treats. Feeding, I was told, also helps the dog calm down. The next step was to get closer and closer and if needed, start giving treats really fast one at a time, like if you were at a casino and hit the jack pot on a slot machine. As your rapidly feeding treats you can walk closer and closer. When the dog "fails" you start over.

Knowing this wouldn't be an overnight fix, she also taught a "relax" cue. This was to be done at night, when the pup was in a good happy relax state, such as right before bedtime. As your petting the dog you would calmly stay "relaaax" over and over. Basically your capturing the relax state just like you'd capture barking or bow. In this case the petting becomes the hand signal and the word relax becomes the cue.

I also stumbled upon another technique when researching separation anxiety. It's called the 300 Peck Method. I've seen it used to teach sit-stay and loose leach walking too, so it can be applied to a lot of different training scenarios.

http://www.clickertraining.com/node/1056
 
So while wandering around on a Treibball website, I discovered a training center that also gives private lessons. I sent them an e-mail and this is the reply I got.


Molly,

Thank you for contacting us! Yes we do offer private lessons, at our facility, your home, or another setting such as a park. The Prices are $85/hour for here, and $110/hour if a trainer
comes to you (this is to cover travel expenses). It actually sounds like Rory needs some socialization as well, she would benefit tremendously from our puppy class! Feel free to go to our website.

I have attached our Services Agreement to complete. Please fill it out and email it back to us. In the meantime, please have your vet fax or e-mail us Lily’s vaccination records. If you have any questions, feel free to call us. We look forward to meeting you and Lily.

~ I actually thought the whole 'Lily' thing was funny. :p I'm going to tell them that me bringing my crazy 13 month old dog to a puppy class is not safe. They have a giant list of questions for me to fill out, and they are positive trainers, so I'm not too weirded out by this odd reply.

The lesson my ideal price, but it's the cheapest I've seen. I'll be using the $500 I recived from when my goats were on Animal Planet. I was hoping to save it, but this just needs to get done.
 
So glad you may have found someone. Maybe call and talk to someone, and have a frank conversation about Rory. Do you have their website, if so, post it so we can take a look. Truly, see if you can talk to someone, not just do stuff by email. Some trainers are good at doing obedience training, trick training, agility, etc, but not good at working with reactive dogs. Therein lies the problem. It all comes down to experience. They may be able to teach a dog 700 tricks, or a zillion moves for Freestyle, or how to be the best and fastest at agility - but not be able to work with a reactive dog. So before you book an appt with really high hopes, please have a frank conversation with someone. The fact that they suggested you bring reactive Rory to their puppy class sent up all kinds of red flags to me. And post their site so we can give it the once-over, ok? Just trying to help (and save you from a bad experience like I had years ago).
 
jackienmutts said:
So glad you may have found someone. Maybe call and talk to someone, and have a frank conversation about Rory. Do you have their website, if so, post it so we can take a look. Truly, see if you can talk to someone, not just do stuff by email. Some trainers are good at doing obedience training, trick training, agility, etc, but not good at working with reactive dogs. Therein lies the problem. It all comes down to experience. They may be able to teach a dog 700 tricks, or a zillion moves for Freestyle, or how to be the best and fastest at agility - but not be able to work with a reactive dog. So before you book an appt with really high hopes, please have a frank conversation with someone. The fact that they suggested you bring reactive Rory to their puppy class sent up all kinds of red flags to me. And post their site so we can give it the once-over, ok? Just trying to help (and save you from a bad experience like I had years ago).
Click to expand...

Here's their website- K-9coach.com
I'm going to ask to meet with the trainer in person so we can talk. I would love opinions. I asked on a postive dog training FB group and some of the trainers have heard good things about them. There isn't much training method info on their site, but I saw on one of their blog post they mentioned using behavior modification.
 
I searched that site from top to bottom and inside/out. They seem to focus a lot on their daycare and boarding, and I looked all thru their schedule of classes and see nothing relating to reactive dog classes (altho hurray, they do teach nosework!!! (y)) . I don't see any mention of training philosophy - that also concerns me. Maybe it's just a site lacking in info. I'd really grill them before committing to training. I made a horrible mistake years ago with Makena - literally, one private class which turned out to be a nightmare - and it took me years to undo. I don't want to see anyone repeat my horrible mistake. I was naive, but I'll watch out for anyone, anytime I can.

Make sure you're really comfortable with whoever it is you're going to work with. Make sure they're used to working with reactive dogs. Ask what protocols they use. And if you go with them, and find, at any time, you're uncomfortable with anything that's going on, or anything they're doing, stop everything. Immediately. Be Rory's biggest advocate, always. Don't make the mistake that I made (and that I'll never make again) and think the trainer must be right - cuz she really messed up my girl and made her much worse. One session, and it was a nightmare. Two "professional" trainers, two nightmares. One dog who was almost beyond repair. Five years later, and we can finally take nice relaxed walks - altho we'll always be careful around unknown dogs.

I hope this works out for you guys, cuz if it does, it will change your life for the better. Good luck, and keep us posted!
 
Sorry it took me a while to reply, I've been busy. I keep remembering to call her when it's late, so I just send her an e-mail, I will call her when I get the chance. She gave me this link http://www.k-9coach.com/positive-dog-training/ and told me this...

"We believe that you and your dog should bond as a team through respect and trust, and not through fear. We utilize scientifically proven, positive training techniques, including clicker training, luring & shaping combined with praise and rewards (treats, tennis ball etc.) to instill obedience and behavior modification.

We do not use shock, prong or choke collars. We do not use negative reinforcement (leash yanking, prong collar) or positive punishment (hitting, shock collar).

Our trainers have varying levels of expertise and experience in the area of "reactivity" and we always assign clients to the trainer most appropriate for their circumstances. In order to effectively assess the situation I would ask that you complete the Behavior Fact Sheet for me, so that we can discuss in more detail. I will say that we have collectively over 50 years of training experience and at least two of our trainers have a particular interest in helping reactive dogs."
They seem good! I just need to meet the trainer, and if everything works out Rory will finally get the training he needs. :) I also have to fill out a very long application. It's a pain, but it's good of them to ask a ton of questions.
 
All of that, plus what the site says, sounds excellent. Them asking you to fill out a huge questionaire/application is them doing their job. Sounds like you've found the right place. Great job!! Can't wait til you're able to get started!!!! (y)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top