Hi guys!

I have a client whom I am helping obedience train her 1yr old (supposedly, it's a rescue)chow mix. This lady has two other chows who are about 11 years old. She has major dominance and fear aggression problems with the younger dog and trouble getting all the dogs to get along. The older chow actually put the younger one in the hospital for A LOT of stitches. This lady knows NOTHING about dogs and is the quietest, meekest, most anti-pack leader I've ever encountered.

What I want to tell her is, "get rid of some of these dogs! You can't handle them all, you can barely handle one!" I know that she will not receive this. So far, my advice has been to keep them separated. But I don't think she's listening.

I'm not one of those people who thinks that you can train these dogs to get along. Even if they could peacefully ignore each other (which I doubt) I would always be worried that some day, somebody will mess up and get hurt.

Any advice on how honest I should be as a trainer? I have no problem telling her to keep them seperated. I guess I just don't think it's my place to tell her to get rid of dogs, although if she was a friend or family member, that's what I would say....

Vanessa

Chows and chow mixes are not dogs that I would recommend to first time, beginner or "soft" owners.

I would start there with her. Chows are notorius for going after their owners and people in general if not raised correctly by a fair and firm pack leader, and I am afraid with three, that we will read about her in the news.

I think she should place them all with seperate, knowledgeable owners..... I would suggest she get another dog, but if she is not following instruction, then.......I'm not sure if I would recommend she do that........just my two cents

I agree. Her dog growled at me and she pet her saying, "oh, it's okay." Of course I let her know that was the wrong thing to do. She has a big heart, she's just clueless..

Vanesa , i would be brutally honest with her if i were you.After al you are helping with the training process, and as a "K9 trainer" honesty is the best policy. Don't ever worry to loose clients in that way, sometimes when "we" say things that dog owners want to hear it can come back to haunt us..
I agree with Carol, and I must say your baby is adorable!

 Quote: angelique cadogan

Vanesa , i would be brutally honest with her if i were you.After al you are helping with the training process, and as a "K9 trainer" honesty is the best policy. Don't ever worry to loose clients in that way, sometimes when "we" say things that dog owners want to hear it can come back to haunt us..
I agree with Carol, and I must say your baby is adorable!

I agree, and I would also say that a pack leader does not allow one pack member to put another one in the hospital. She is allowing some, or at least one, to live in a state of constant anxiety -- even terror. This is not what a pack leader does.

I would add that she is putting any human who tries some day to break up a fight in grave danger.

I would be brutally honest, as recommended. I really would.

I would say that I had conferred with other experienced trainers, and they agree that these dogs are not being well served at all. They need to be separated AT THE VERY LEAST. I think re-homing is better.

JMO.

This one's easy. Trade her 3 goldfish for her 3 Chows.

 Quote: Jenni Williams

This one's easy. Trade her 3 goldfish for her 3 Chows.

I would start with one goldfish........

Be honest. As a knowledgable individual approached for assistance you have an obligation to inform her of the risks she is incurring by keeping these dogs. Ask yourself, how would you feel if you did not address the danger and she or another ended up in the hospital or, worse, the morgue? If you at least warn her clearly, the moral responsibility is no longer yours. Ultimately the descision will be hers, but you need to give her the information she needs to make it.

At least, that is how I see it. Sometimes my friends say I was born in the wrong century, though.

Vanessa,
At the very least tell her she has to give the younger dog a chance. It obviously isn't accepted in the pack and either must be protected or rehomed.

Give the little one a chance and get him out of there if possible. Thats my vote.
Randy

I've been in your shoes, Vanessa. I have had a family with 5+ dogs who had fights break out all the time, they kept all the dogs in one 10x10 kennel outside and they were not itty bitty dogs, all between 50-75 pounds. They had the entire pack get into a brawl and the moron owner decided to wade into the mess and got himself chewed up pretty bad.

Long story short they were advised and essentially TOLD to seperate the dogs, they said they would but were not, did not follow my advice at all and wound up with more fights and one of the dogs was so badly torn up it had to be put down. They called me again and I told them either seperate them and continue with the training program or get rid of all but one dog. After two more fights where their son was bitten, got rid of all the dogs.

It is a sad fact but a few of the people with aggressive or dominant dogs that I have helped did not continue to follow my advice for long after the training, became lax, and had serious problems that lead to fights or getting bit. After I came out again they stuck with it longer but in the end got rid of the dogs because they could not/would not keep up with proper handling/exercise/training etc. I took in 6 such dogs and rehomed them myself after some work with proper homes.

I lost a lot of references because the people were lazy and did not want to continue to do things right. I'd get "Yeah she's great but she couldn't 'fix' my dog" people don't get that trainers are not magicians and that they need to work with their own dogs. They don't want to work, they want you to clap your hands, click your heels together, and give them a new dog(s).

Sometimes it is all you can do to help the dogs is to tell the owners to rehome their animals. I would suggest looking around to see if you could find some potential homes or rescues and give her the numbers. Pave the way so to speak.

Good luck, I hope you can get her to see the light..