My 2 year old black GSD just recently spent 6 weeks in some intense "doggie rehab" with a (very expensive) trainer who is known all over the country. The reason I sent Liesel there was because, though I have successfully trained my own dogs (to a point), Liesel proved too much for me. She would not house train. She was VERY dog aggressive. She would bolt & run if she came off the lead. She was chasing and attempting to kill my chickens. Then the final straw came when she got loose from my son, ran across the street, and killed the neighbors tiny dog.

Well, on one hand I would say that the transformation has been miraculous. Right now she is in hour 8 of a long down (2nd day home from the trainer). She is FANTASTIC on leash now. However, last night she was in the garage with my husband, broke her "platz" & ran out of the garage & would not come back. The FIRST place she went, of course, was to that same neighbor's yard. Eventually she finally did come back (when she was ready). Also, while in her kennel run she is still going nuts over the chickens. The trainer never saw this behavior because there weren't off-leash dogs & prey animals running around all the time distracting her.

If I have to keep this dog in a crate, on a leash, or in a run all the time to keep her under control, I really haven't improved the situation for all that money I spent.

Would remote training help me solve the bolting and chasing problems?

Ahem,
I'll bet the dog will mind the trainer just fine.

Does that help?

If my dog isn't learning, I'm doing something wrong.
Randy

Well, that was my reply in a nutshell. But I decided not to type it. LOL

Sorry, Virginia. No one is treating it lightly. It's just that IMO, you are seeing exactly what the problem is with sending the dog away to work on basic ob with someone else without you and then getting the dog back with no continuing help from the boot-camp trainer.

Did the trainer not know that there were "off-leash dogs & prey animals running around all the time distracting her"? If not, why not? (No, this isn't the beginning of a long jump-on-the-owner diatribe.)

What is your own training experience level? (Detail is good. I think you had an old thread once that fell away because some questions in the response were never answered.)

Well Randy, rather than being smug and pithy, would you care to elaborate?

I have a real problem with some members on this forum, and that is the reason why I have posted so little here. It seems that the response to anyone with a problem is "you're stupid and unfit to own a dog." Well, I happen to be neither. It's awfully presumptuous to imply such. If you have never tried to train a "hard dog," then be grateful. If you have trained a hard dog, my guess is that you were not born with the knowledge to deal with such behaviour.

This dog came to me with a truckload of baggage from previous genuinely bad owners, and I have worked her through most of her issues in less than a year. When I reached the end of my own abilities, I paid a professional (Anyone ever heard of Durham Haus? The trainer of the last two presidents' dogs?). We are making huge progress. I have to address the next step, and I thought I would get some opinions from people with a particular type of experience, before I dropped the money for an E-collar & training video.

What I got was more of the same thing that I have seen over and over on this site.

Virginia, you were responded to when you posted (I think last year) and you never answered the questions.

No one is saying that "you're stupid and unfit to own a dog." Many here (certainly Randy, and certainly myself) have trained hard dogs, if that is indeed a description of your dog. And no one is saying that the trainer stinks. I, at least (I can't speak for Randy) am saying that you are seeing the problem with sending the dog away without you and then trying to pick up where the trainer left off -- by yourself.

Let's go past smug, pithy, chip-on-shoulder, problems-with-forum stuff.

A lot of folks get a lot of help here. It's true that the feelings of the owner aren't usually paramount in the replies, but we can get beyond that, I think.

I just looked up your old post. It too was on a weekend, and although you have no way of knowing this, I'm going to mention it for others as well: Weekend readership is far lower here than weekday readership. Many members are training on weekends. That would be part of the reason for your January post having been overlooked until you bumped it.

Thank you Connie. I apologize if my response was over the top. I started not to even post a question here because I was concerned about getting that type of response.

We have follow-up classes with the dog trainer that will be the next three Saturdays. He felt like he needed time alone with her to get her past some of her major issues before working with both of us. Yes, the trainer knew about the situation; however, I don't think he really completely *got* it. If that makes sense. We live in the country. Fencing a yard is impractical (because of the size of people's land). So people's dogs are not fenced. However, for the most part they stay in their own yards, with the ocassional visit across the street.

My experience level is one of a better than average casual dog owner/trainer (meaning my dogs mind me better than those of most friends and strangers I come across). My dogs mind me (sit, come, etc.), and they know I am boss. I have always trained my dogs using the pack theory. I mostly have trained using treats & occasional leash corrections (mostly for dogs that wouldn't come when I called but who learned pretty quickly that I meant it). Every dog I have had until Liesel has been a rescue mixed breed. Liesel is the first GSD I've ever owned. I don't know if that's the kind of detail you meant.

This real-name-only board is one of the most courteous and civilized of any "real" dog board I know (completely excluding the furkid boards). And Randy is extremely knowledgeable.

But back to the topic:

Can the trainer come to your home? He really needs to "get it." (Yes, it does make sense.)

Proofing for distraction can be done on very different levels.

Is it your expectation/desire to be able to have your dog unleashed in your unfenced yard? Do dogs ever enter your yard?

Other people's yards aside, is your yard possible to enclose?

How long ago did she return home?