Ya know as a dog trainer / dog person / crazy dog lady (as I am locally known), you often give advice and know that you're wasting your breath?? Every so often I have an experience so worthwhile that it makes up for all of those. And I wanted to share.

Had a call last week about a Mali X that was very aggressive to... well everything. The owner had been thrown out of a number of classes, had been told by a load of trainers that she was beyond rehabilitation and(including working dog people) had advised them to euthanise the bitch.

They came to see me Saturday morning. Bitch was actually a very young dutchie, working bred with a lotta drive... I don't often see dogs like that in my line of work.

Anyway after a few hours of hard work, she was pretty much ignoring other dogs & people. I was really happy with the progress we made. The owners sent me a really great email afterwards, here's an extract...

 Quote:

Its the first time we've ever come away from a class with her feeling positive and actually knowing what we've got to work on, plus how and why we are doing it.

I love the feeling that comes from saving a dog and giving the owner the tools & confidence to rehabilitate their dog - it's a scenario where everyone wins. But I really hate trainers who tell people to PTS when there is really no need because they don't know what to do with the dog.

Nice work, Tanith!

I give advice when asked. I'll also be a little diplomatic when I give unasked for advice with "I had the very same problem with my puppy and I think I fixed it by...."

 Quote: Michael_Wise

Nice work, Tanith!

DITTO!

Tanith, that's great! You probably saved that dog's life...

 Quote: Lynne Barrows

Tanith, that's great! You probably saved that dog's life...

I agree! I really applaud you for helping these owners find the good dog within!

It just goes to show you that there is a lot of misinformed trainers and people out there, but how very important to be able to turn things around for the dog and the family!
A very noble achievement Tanith!

Today was my 3rd meeting with these people.

The second we took her for a walk with my calm male. She barked once and settled down for a nice long walk. Learning how to sniff etc. without going over the top.

Today she came to learn tracking, to teach her how to use her brain - She's certainly a dog who needs that. A few fields over they were having a kite festival, so we walked over there. Busy but plenty of room to move.

We walked around past hundreds of people, maybe 20 dogs spaced out, a few fast food vans - kids etc. She didn't put a foot wrong, looked at dogs but without barking or lunging.

Only did this for maybe 10 minutes, wanted to keep her calm and happy. Tail was up, wagging when she engaged with her owner but she seemed remarkably unphased.

Doggy got a huge cuddle after all of that.

Believe it or not, despite the reactivity this dog is changing my opinion of dutchies. There's just something about her that really appeals to me.

Outstanding! I'm sure the owners are feeling sooo much better too.

Somehow I miss the original post-

GREAT JOB Tanith!! Sounds like that dog really needed you.

Side note- the brindles are going to take over the world one day. I'm sure of it. There is a secret plan they have going on for world domination... Haha. Great breed, if you can harness that drive!

 Quote: Kelly Byrd

Somehow I miss the original post-

GREAT JOB Tanith!! Sounds like that dog really needed you.

Side note- the brindles are going to take over the world one day. I'm sure of it. There is a secret plan they have going on for world domination... Haha. Great breed, if you can harness that drive!

A mal or dutchie has always been in the future plan but to be honest I am a GSD person, they've always looked like too much hassle. But that said I love the little brindle bitch, she's just wonderful. Told her owners that if they ever did decide to give her up I would take her in a heartbeat.

They're coming to my training club on Tuesday - yikes!

Incidentally I thought cats were behind the world domination plan....?


Edited by Tanith Wheeler (06/06/2011 05:26 AM)
Edit reason: The cats made me do it