Our Meeting With "the Trainer"...

[shelly]

I left a blog, but here's the long of the short of it..... she had asked for Tori to not be in the room when she arrived so as not to stress her out, but as soon as Tori saw her coming, she started her barking.  She went over the questionnaire, and asked a lot of good questions to clarify things.  We let Tori in and she went right over to her and started barking and nudging her with her nose.  finally she told her to sit and treated her... she did this all night and Tori listened,  She even did some "mini - lessons" with her.  I even liked that she wants to work with everyone involved - all of us and my in-laws.  She even suggested having one of my son's friends come over as well as my nephew (the "herdee) to work with her and even show us what to do to help her in these situations.  As far as her training???? She said she took a course under some guy (I still have to google).  She says she goes once a year to classes held all over the US to take courses on different topics (once even took a class under Victoria Stillwell), she's been doing this for 7 years.  she also said that she has worked with people that kind of live in my neighborhood, I could call, but I don't think they'll have anything negative to say since they've been working w/ her quite a while.  She seems very good and I feel comfortable with her.  She does NOT demand a certain amount of lessons and she is like 1/2 the price of others....

Now for my 'concerns' -1)  the no dog thing... she says she's had dogs all her life, but after getting married they lived in a no-pet apartment, and now, since moving into her own home, doesn't have time right now.     2) this 'course' she took to get certified....    3) When I asked when she was available to come back next week, if I wanted her to, she picked her date book up off of the table to look thru' it.... could this suggest an empty calendar????   I don't know, my husband says I'm nuts.... maybe he's right! LOL

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

1) How old is she? Is her age reasonable with the 7 years of training? Does it look like she might have traveled all over the country to take these classes?
2) I would contact the people she gave as references with pre-thought out questions - at least one of which might be one that, if the references are 'faked by friends,' would probably not have been on their list.(Like how long have you lived here). I would ask the references how they found this person, what the specific behavior problems their dog was having as well as a couple of the solution steps the trainer gave them. What breed and how old was their dog? Where did they get their dog? These things may not matter but might give you more insight as to her skill in dealing with different dogs with varied backgrounds. See if that meshes with what you feel is important.
3) I do think your first impressions are important. BUT you are not looking for a general trainer, you are looking for a problem-solver for more serious behavior issues.

[shelly]

Thanks Nancy... all great questions! I will definitely do that... yeah I thought that this one woman may have been a 'set-up' family reference... I even tried to 'people search' them (I feel like a stalker) to see if she came up as a relative, but i guess i spelled their name wrong... and I can't find them.....
How old is she... I guess maybe late 30s, early 40s
I don't know about the traveling... can't set my finger on it... did she throw out victoria's name - ???
From what I saw how Tori reacted with her.... I do think she can show US what to do, and Tori responded well... but let's face it - Tori's one smart dood - LOL
At least I don't have to prepay, there's no set amount of classes I have to pay for, and I can stop the lessons at any time

[Adina P]

I'd also want to know her 'prognosis' -- how solvable is Tori's problem in her eyes and how much/what type of work will be involved on your part and if you did everything right...how long should it take to fix the problem you're having?

I do want to say that dogs often behave better for the visiting trainer than for their owners...I think even a non-trainer who just followed instructions could often get a dog to do certain things. So be sure you fully understand what is required for Tori to obey you like that. And do you feel ready and able to do those things as required?

[shelly]

I agree Adina! that was the one thing I kept saying over and over... even my MIL asked that.... she (the trainer) seems to think that she is definitely 'able to be reprogrammed"... she said that since Tori has all of the basic commands in place, and just needs fine tuning, the bulk of our time together would be to work on the issue at hand, which she thinks may only take about 4 weekly sessions (and she said we are free to stop at any time if I feel we're not working out???)... Normally I would say that dogs listen better to outsiders, but NOT Tori when she's in her' zoning state'. she gave us a list of exercises to work on, and so far today, she actually did not bark too long at my son's friend - what a sport he is - she went to her bed and left him alone MUCH faster than usual.... the biggest test will be when he goes to leave and she normally does not let him walk out without an attempt to block his path... he's still here so, we'll see... if this works, Tori may be 10 pounds heavier from all of the 'extra' training treats... tomorrow I think I will try frozen cantelope squares instead. (maybe I'll even spike a few for myself - lol) .. don't know how much value they will have against these cheese cracker thingies, but we will try! As with most decisions I make, I always tend to second guess myself for fear of making the wrong decision, but...

[F, Calla & Luca]

What's the worse that could happen,. You lose a little time and money and get another trainer. I seriously doubt this will make Tori any worse and you've been putting up with this for a long time.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

I paid a few trainers for initial assessments and try-outs last month. My thinking was --I am HIRING them. Starlit, DH, and I would see what works best for us. DH had a little problem with me spending extra money but in the end he said thank a doodle we did find what fit for our situation.

Meet of few more. You may just go back and select this one or you may find another you like better. We made appointments with all of them and then canceled when we found the one we wanted.

P.S. Starlit met my son about an hour ago when we stopped into his new house to drop off food for the starving college kid. At first she misbehaved. This lasted 20 seconds. But this time I was able to handle the situation correctly and we spent some time with him without incident. She sat, she stayed, she was down, she healed but of course she was leashed. No growling, hiding, barking, She was calm. She knew what we wanted. Good Girl!

You are hiring. Go with YOUR HEART in what is right.

Adina is correct in asking what is the outcome--prognosis. That was my question with each trainer. Can you help us? How? How long will this take? Will she ever be able to be what we think is normal?

[F, Calla & Luca]

Good for Starlit and you!

[shelly]

Yes! Starlit!!! Bet your DH is really saying thank a doodle too... yeah, dh not as bad as I thought he would be 'bout this....The woman did say she felt very positive about stopping this behavior and was pretty impressed with how well she did w/ commands and how quickly she did what the trainer asked of her... what can I say - she's one smart doodle...hopefully she truly felt this way and wan't just looking for a job ~ there I go being skeptical again. Honestly, WE truly have to be dedicated to this too... her barking did pull me away from my 'cyber social life' quite a few times today... I am still trying to get in touch w/ one more trainer- one with the word "zen" in it... who knows...
I do believe in feng shui....

[Kyoko]

Yay! Good job Starlit!!

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Shelly,
One thing our dogs have in common is problems in the home. Because ours was/is/ in the home, I felt we needed someone to come to our home. We did have in home visits from trainers --1) a professional, 2) a friend who trains dogs and horses.

Surprisingly, an out-of-the-home class is what is working best, is less expensive, and less stressful on stressed out Starlit. Then after Starlit knows what is expected AND I know how to let her know what I expect from her, we will then start working more on in-home situations.

Just another option for you to consider.

[shelly]

Thanks, Joanne... but Tori truly shuts down outside the house. We did initial training at Petco and she 'would not participate'... that kind of was my intention for the agility class... but after talking to the trainer she even suggested we wait w/ that since she feels we're putting her in a stressful situation on top of her stress she has already especially of going in the car, that she's not truly benefiting from the class ???? She did go into the ring twice and did ok, but most of the time she spent trying to get away outside of the ring... however toward the end, she did actually lay down and settle in,.. it's like the kids, y think you're doing something great and wonderful (like taking them to disney and they would be just as happy at a local amusement park). I alaso thought it was good b/c the class is at 8:30 and during the summer it's no problem for us to make it, but once school starts???? We didn't go yesterday, and I'm waiting to see if the woman calls me today to see why not... perhaps she thinks Tori wasn't ready