I posted yesterday via my cell phone and something weird happened. Can't find the post anywhere but I still see the title lurking on the forum main page- strange! Anyway, probably better to repost now that I am not as upset.

Here goes again...
We met a trainer at Petco last week who sold me on an OB class and also promised to help with some of Greta's excitement and distraction around other dogs. She interacted with him positively at the time; I also checked up on the gentleman and heard nothing but positive things.

Fast forward to yesterday, first class, we went in the store and the trainer asked me to familiarize her with the aisles in the back while he sanitized the floor in the training pod. We did this and Greta was calm and engaged. But when we were ready to formally start and moved in to the training pod, she started to look really uncomfortable. Then he closed the folding wall/gate to the pod and she just wanted out. I could not get her to focus on me at all. We moved back into the aisles where she had been fine a few minutes prior and she was in full flight mode. I finally had to take her outside to try and calm her down. During this time (15 min tops although it seemed forever) the trainer was trying to help get her attention back and was making attention grabbing noises- not unlike the ones that I use. I think a stranger doing this so close to her when she was already freaked out just make it worse; she wanted nothing to do with him and avoided him from then on.

I feel terrible- I wish I'd called a stop to it when she first went into flight mode. I don't think the trainer did anything wrong, although in hindsight I do think I should have asked him to stop trying to interact with Greta and tell me what I should be doing instead. We called it quits and I spent some time with her going in and out of the store with treats (when I finally got her calmed down), then went through the checkout to get a bully stick. She did fine there and interacted with several people without incident.

The whole experience was really weird; I've been taking her there almost weekly since she was "safe" via puppy vax without issue. We've even gone into the training pod when it was empty to practice sits, downs and focus. The only thing I can think of is that the sanitizing stuff that they used reminded her of the vet's office (which she has developed an intense dislike of ). The trainer probably smelled like it too after mopping and then inadvertently freaked her out with his actions.

I'm not sure whether to go back this weekend and try again, or to just ask if they'll give me store credit for the balance of the course. I'm disappointed but I don't want her to have another bad experience; this was supposed to be something fun for us to go do together . Ironically, in the meantime I also found another group who just gets together for walks outside with their dogs. We tried that Saturday morning and aside from a few barks and some pulling, she did great. I think walking along with a bunch of calm dogs (and people) who ignored her was the best thing we could have done.

Eleven did something similar when I thought I would take her to a friends training room and work her on agility foundations. I have no idea what set her off, but she freaked out big time. We were the only ones there, she had been in the room before and had been fine, but there was no way she was doing anything that day...

I ended up sitting on the pause table for two hours while she calmed down and started to interact with me again. The next time I went there she was apprehensive but settled after a few minutes. Third time no issues at all.

Have you tried taking her back to see what her reaction will be?

The "trainers" at Petco, Petsmart, etc may be great trainers and they may be useless.

I think it's just a written test to become a trainer there. correct me if I'm wrong.

You say the trainer had you wait till she "sanitized" the floor.

Just a possibility that Greta didn't like the smell from whatever was used on the floor.

Also, how much busy situations with noise and people has Greta been exposed to?

Just a guess on my part.

I think dogs are like people and they "sense things" like an empath animal. Maybe something just did not seem right and/or that smell bothersome. Animals are great in giving us signs when they do not like something or someone. I would do what you feel is right for your pet. Just my 2 cents worth - I am just a newbie to the board.

Carolyn, before I even got through your whole post, the first thing I thought was that Greta might be reacting to the smell of whatever industrial-strength antiseptic the store uses on their floors. I see you are thinking along the same lines. Was that the reason for her reaction, and the only reason? I really don't know, but I'm betting it was a big factor. I also believe that Petco conducts their classes on a floor that is tiled, but with no matting (at least all of the pet stores around here do). Is it possible parts of the floor were still damp and slippery? Personally, I think a tile floor is a bad place to conduct a training class since they can be very slippery even when dry.

The other thing I'm wondering is how big this training "pod" is. If she felt closed in and trapped in this strange and maybe smelly area, that could have been a factor, too.

It sounds like she is and has been fine being in other parts of the store all along. If you really want to continue with the classes there, maybe they would let you take her into that area during non-class time just to see how she reacts. Even though I think it's important for us to try to help our dogs get past their fears, if she continues to fear this training pod, I don't think you are going to accomplish any meaningful training other than spending all of your class time trying to ease her fear. Are there any actual dog training facilities (meaning other than pet stores) in your area where you could take classes?

The walking group sounds interesting. It sounds like the other owners are savvy enough to not be trying to allow inappropriate interactions between the dogs or to force dogs to socialize, and if everyone there is conscious of the safety aspects of walking groups of dogs together, I think it sounds like a good thing.

Thanks for the very thoughtful comments you guys. We haven't been back yet; I tentatively have a time on Friday afternoon to try it again. If she reacts poorly just going in to the store I know I'll have to cancel until we get that worked out.

The thing that sold me on this particular trainer is that he mentioned a training group that he had run independently that focused on large dogs with social issues. I recognized the name and then asked two friends who both worked for local rescues in our area for some feedback on him, personally, which was positive.

Greta's social exposure to large noisy groups/areas has been limited more to the periphery of those activities versus right in the heart of them, although she has had some (farmers market, pet store, park with lots of team practice going on). That's an excellent point, Bob.

Cheri, you're right about the floors being slippery and the size of the pod being very small. If she makes it around the store ok, I think I will ask if we can avoid the pod for now. There are other facilities but they are either further than I'm willing to drive or didn't seem like a good fit... I should make a better effort to go check others out in person. The closest IPO club is an hour away; there are some agility clubs that are closer I think. I guess it doesn't really matter what the sport is (to me) as long as the atmosphere is constructive and we continue to learn, right?

Thanks all!

Are there AKC obedience clubs in your area?

As you said "I guess it doesn't really matter what the sport is".

Correct!

Anything will allow you to expose Greta to the outside world even if it means just sitting in a class room with other dogs.

I believe that exposure is big for Greta at this stage and you can always go on to other things once you both see and adjust to the excitement.

I don't know how classes are today but when i was teaching basic obedience in the 80s we always had a few dogs that didn't handle the excitement to well.
There were always other trainers that would take these dogs and owners aside and works with them in the back of the class areas.

It looks like there are a couple of AKC-affiliated training clubs in San Antonio, the San Antonio Dog Training Club and the Alamo Dog Obedience Club. (I'm not sure if Alamo is AKC or not -- I couldn't find it on their website.) Of course, I realize these could still be far away from you. Here is a link to the AKC site that lists all of their affiliated clubs in Texas. I'm having a bit of deja vu here and I think maybe this discussion came up a while ago and I posted the same link, so I apologize if I'm repeating myself.

https://webapps.akc.org/obedience-training-club/#/

The AKC-affiliated clubs aren't the only good ones out there, of course. You may have some nice privately-owned facilities in your area. As always, when choosing where to train a dog, with any facility, I would want to check them out ahead of time, without my dog, talk to people there, maybe ask to observe a class, just to get a feel for whether you think it would be a good fit for both you and Greta.

Two cents. It's snowing here and chilly. Another cup of coffee at hand.

As I understand it, you want the dog to be more calm when around distractions such as other dogs, etc.

And the dog is reasonably OK at the Farmers' Market, etc.

I've had very limited experience working with people with similar concerns, and have worked with dogs at the back of the class or outside when the group interaction wasn't going well.

In my opinion, a dog's reactions are most influenced long term by its attention to its owner. The closer the bond and trust between the owner and the dog, the easier it is to distract the dog from being distracted, if that makes any sense.

In the first instance, I want my mutt to want to be with me and to want to work with me. If it is distracted by other dogs or squirrels or cats or people or whatever, I want it to want to respond to me to the exclusion of the distraction. Very easily said, not so easily done.

A trainer can offer tips and help train you but in the end, the dog is tuned in to you and the trainer is in the rear view mirror.

It is possible that the more you simply walk with and practice various commands such as sit, down, walk, turn, figure eights, walk overs, whatever, that the dog will be more easily dissuaded from over reacting to distractions and more attentive to you. But dogs always are distracted by something. The trick is to have a strong command menu to override the inclination of the dog to physically overreact to the distraction.

Farmer's Market visits, wandering around stores like Home Depot, PetCo, wherever, will acquaint the dog to smells, sounds, distractions of other creatures at little to no cost. And if you have a walking group that meets regularly, that too can help condition the dog to events and routines.

In my opinion, how you are trained can translate to how you train your dog. Maybe if you went to the class without the dog and observed, you would pick up the rounding tips that will empower you to devise your own training interaction with the dog?

Not even two cents.

Some great advice given here but if I may so ask why do you not try the BO class on here. I am doing it now and it is wonderful. Of course I cannot get out and about with my dog as easily as others so I have to do all my training for now in my own home were there is zero distractions. I have not even taken Rocky for a walk other than my own backyard. He is a Sheltie and hyper as all get up.

If I took him to a store right now he would jump around and get into everything. I was just wondering why you (maybe you already have) try the Basic Obedience class on this site. It is wonderful! I took the free study of management in the house and now doing this one.

I have watched tons of other videos with other trainers when I first got Rocky and NONE of them I liked better than Mr Frawley, in my humble opinion. He explains things in such a easy understandable way, that the things I have learned from him I wish I had done with my last dog. I too took my Magic sheltie ( he passed in March) to a Petsmart training for a few months and none of it worked out for me so it was money down the drain so to speak. You might be past the stage of training in the home, so I do not know where you are at. I am just throwing out another 2 cents worth. Happy training and would love to follow this thread.

Ms Mona