Your thoughts on this trainer...

[GSD MOM]

Ace came to us with some problems. We have had basic training classes, with no luck. I have been trying to fix the problem at home by reading books and surfing the net, looking for solutions and I've come up short. I'm pretty sure that I am missing something because I can't get through to him. I don't want to be mislead and since I have never dealt with a professional I thought maybe you guys could way in on this trainer. I've talked to him and seems to know what he is talking about and seems very down to earth. Your thougths please...

www.TK9T.com

[ken k]

I watched the videos, very similar to the trainer I go to, except during the basic training, the voice command there is also a hand signial, in time the dog will respond to both, he looks like a good trainer, but the end result your looking for is going to be up to you, personally I would not drop a dog off for someone else to train, I take it he makes corrections with the collar?

[GSD MOM]

Dropping him off for training is the part that worries me. I'm not sure if this is common or even practiced with other trainers. I've never heard of it before. I don't know about the correction part. He said we can bring Ace to him for a evaluation. It's $300 for three days training. He said he works the dogs 6-8 times a day for 15-20 min each session.

I know we have to make it happen at home for it to work. That's not an issue. I just want to work with someone that knows what they are doing and help me get the results I want.

[gsdraven]

I'm not a fan of boarding "quick fix" training. A lot of it is done using compulsion (e-collar or prong) to get quick results.

Personally, I feel that a HUGE part of training is training the humans to communicate with their dog not just teaching the dog commands. I think it will do wonders for you and your relationship with Ace to be involved in the training using a lot of positive reinforcement and appropriate corrects. JMO.

ETA: I went and read more and while his paragraph on approach says what I did above, his actual training doesn't follow that method because the owner isn't involved. Most of the time, we are the problem when it comes to training not the dog.

[CassandGunnar]

Originally Posted by gsdraven

I'm not a fan of boarding "quick fix" training. A lot of it is done using compulsion (e-collar or prong) to get quick results.

Personally, I feel that a HUGE part of training is training the humans to communicate with their dog not just teaching the dog commands. I think it will do wonders for you and your relationship with Ace to be involved in the training using a lot of positive reinforcement and appropriate corrects. JMO.

I 100% agree with everything above. I would be leery of "send away" training as well. I would also prefer that the training take place at home because I think, in some cases, the environment makes a difference.

Either way, Good luck.

[rgollar]

I personally like to train with my dog to help establish a stronger bond with my dog. And truth be told the training was really for me. As I got corrected more than my dog lol. But I think training with your dog is best again this is just my opinion. Glad your taking the proper steps with your dog and good luck.

[GSD MOM]

That's how we have handled his training so far. Positive reinforcement. And he has come SO far from how he was. He reacts so well to that type of training. He is just not dependable. Sometimes he does things that are just "out of no where" and I'm afraid I'm not experienced enough to get it under control. He is dog reactive on the leash and I can't for the life of me get him to walk nicely on a leash.

[gsdraven]

Originally Posted by GSD MOM

That's how we have handled his training so far. Positive reinforcement. And he has come SO far from how he was. He reacts so well to that type of training. He is just not dependable. Sometimes he does things that are just "out of no where" and I'm afraid I'm not experienced enough to get it under control. He is dog reactive on the leash and I can't for the life of me get him to walk nicely on a leash.

Notice the two things I highlighted are about you. You don't have the confidence in yourself, not Ace. This is why I really think you need to be involved in the training to give yourself the tools so that YOU can handle him and be in control.

I can almost guarantee you that if you took Ace to the evaluation and handed the leash over to the trainer and set Ace up in the types of situations where he usually has trouble, he'd behave. It's because the trainer isn't expecting bad behavior and is likely giving off the vibe that he's in control and bad behavior won't be tolerated even without correcting Ace.

I'm not saying this to be mean or put you down. I am that way with some of my fosters as well. I've had some dog reactive fosters and can be a little gunshy now when it comes to meeting new dogs with fosters. I sometimes let my trainer friend make the initial introduction because I know he'll react appropriately and not tense up and I might. Once I see there's nothing to worry about, I handle it just fine on my own.

[rgollar]

With the right trainer and all the great people on here you can get your dog trained. It took me about a week to get him to walk on a loose leash and I swore it was never going to happen. I litterly would stop walking every time the leash got tight and would not walk again until he loosened up. And made sure to reward him when he loosens up to help him understand what your requesting. I even would walk and when he pulled I would change direction and walk the other way. The first few times we went out it took a half hour just to leave my driveway. I was never mean and yank the chain I just wouldnt walk unless it was loose. I will say at first I did walk routes where there were very little distractions and worked my way up. As far as the dog being reactive, classes would help that alot with socialization. On walks when he reacted to other dogs I would get his attention with a treat to get distraction off the other dog. I know this does not work once they get locked on but find something that they really want and get there attention with it and try and take there attention off the dog. It does work with your effort but a trainer is the best help. Good luck

[ken k]

Originally Posted by gsdraven

I can almost guarantee you that if you took Ace to the evaluation and handed the leash over to the trainer and set Ace up in the types of situations where he usually has trouble, he'd behave. It's because the trainer isn't expecting bad behavior and is likely giving off the vibe that he's in control and bad behavior won't be tolerated even without correcting Ace.

this is so true, my trainer does this, as soon as the leash is in his hand, the dog stops acting up,