Dog Training Woes

[pippainnit]

I took Willit to his second training class today. Last week's session was great - we focused on lead work and he seemed to really enjoy himself, especially the off lead socialising at the end where he teamed up with another Husky cross, but today's class was really disappointing.
I've always heard great things about the company and was told today we'd be focusing on recall (which of course almost seems futile with Huskies) but last week I was told by the main trainer that it is still relevant to work on recall with Husky dogs and that she personally believes any dog can be trained to come back when off lead (again, I mainly disagree with this.)

Anyway, today's session saw Willit get attacked by a (albeit muzzled) 11 stone bullmastiff, which shook him up for the whole session (and he is not himself even now) and then when we tried the recall it took literally fifteen minutes to finally catch him in the field to put him back on. The trainer then spent the next five minutes telling everyone how that was proof never to get a Husky/Malamute dog as they're bred to be working dogs and, basically, make crap pets and how people just go for their looks (which is completely wrong in my instance, especially as we rescued him rather than going to a breeder or BYB.) How offensive and degrading. I dunno, maybe I'm having a bit of a stupid moment but I feel really defensive of him now. He's a lovely temperament dog whose afternoon was blighted by being nearly crushed by another dog only for me to then be told that there's no chance he'll ever be well behaved or whatever.
Also the trainers there very much advocate physical punishment with the dogs. Willit was playing with a labrador, who was reciprocating and enjoying it just as much. They were both kind of 'boxing' in the air and rolling around only for the trainer to come over and punch Willit in the ribs for expressing 'dominant' behaviour. Is this advised?!


I think I just need another good session. Last week's was excellent and 90% of the time the trainers clearly know what they're doing, especially when they brought in one of their resident PP dogs as an example, which was ridiculously well behaved.


Anyone else going through training classes at the moment and having any good/bad experiences?

[rum&coke]

he punched your dog in the ribs????

[Shell195]

If someone punched my dog in the ribs I would punch their lights out
Find yourself another trainer before he turns your lovely boy into a gibbering wreck

[pippainnit]

Yeah, they did the same to the bullmastiff too at one point. I couldn't see directly what way the trainer's hand was held out but it was a definite 'jab'/punch to the ribs if nothing else. Enough to make the dog jump back y'know.

[pippainnit]

I mean don't get me wrong - I did question the tactics towards the end and the trainer just said that that's the only way to deal with dogs showing aggressive/dominant behaviour. I'm not feeble enough to not say anything but then when you go to a large company (with mainly good feedback from others) then I was willing to be open minded.
Last week the trainer (a different woman who took it) just used a loose chain and shook it towards the dogs (without touching them) to deter them from any bad behaviour, which I found slightly easier to understand.

[pippainnit]

And also I would kind of understand physical interaction if you had to separate a serious incident or whatever, but if Willit was just jumping around and playing with a dog which was reciprocating the behaviour and enjoying itself too, then surely that doesn't warrant punishment for 'dominant' behaviour? My issue then was that I don't believe in punishing for something that he hasn't done, regardless of how it comes about. I mean he's off his lead (which is a luxury for him being a Husky cross anyway) with other playful dogs and I can't see what he was doing being a problem. Neither could the other owner who commented on how nice it was to see them play and have a bit of rough and tumble together. They're bloody dogs after all!

[Shell195]

I dont believe that is a good method either. Training should be all about positive reinforcement.
I went to a large training company that trains security dogs and deals with aggressive dogs and it was all done with positive reinforcement

[rum&coke]

Originally Posted by pippainnit

Yeah, they did the same to the bullmastiff too at one point. I couldn't see directly what way the trainer's hand was held out but it was a definite 'jab'/punch to the ribs if nothing else. Enough to make the dog jump back y'know.

Originally Posted by pippainnit

I mean don't get me wrong - I did question the tactics towards the end and the trainer just said that that's the only way to deal with dogs showing aggressive/dominant behaviour. I'm not feeble enough to not say anything but then when you go to a large company (with mainly good feedback from others) then I was willing to be open minded.
Last week the trainer (a different woman who took it) just used a loose chain and shook it towards the dogs (without touching them) to deter them from any bad behaviour, which I found slightly easier to understand.

I cant see any reason to ever punch a dog

[samurai]

thats not dog training!! punching a dog in the ribs. i'd find another trainer as your dog will very likely end up dog aggressive if thats how he's getting treated. how did they attempt to train him recall? did they just let him off straight away and expect him to know what to do, they sound like they have no clue how to train a dog. i do think almost any dog can learn recall although you can't expect any dog to come back in every situatuation, eg if theres a nice rabbit to chase. good luck with what ever you decide to do!

[Caz]

I'm aware of this company...
Punched you dog in the ribs...
And you'll go back there..?

There is a really simple recall trick with dogs. Takes approx 14 days. Never known it to fail if done properly and it's reward based. If you're interested i'll pm it to you?