I have a 15 week old American Bulldog named Ike. I went to my first pup class last night. I like the trainer as a person, but I am not quite sure her methods will work.
She is a licensed vet tech, has been training for 20 years and has a list of certifications. She also works with the Friends of the Dearborn Animal Shelter, which is a volunteer group that helps out a local shelter. She fosters Pits and other dogs for them because the shelter has very limited space.
She advocates treating for anything the owner likes, ignoring everything you don't like, or distraction. No training collars....ever. No verbal or physical corrections...ever. No "Bad dog" or anything like that allowe...ever. (I don't ever hit a dog, but I think a tug on a leash and a "HEY!" or "NO" is ok. It gets their attention away from the bad thing and on you.)
My problem is that Ike is very smart and very stubborn. He also gets focused on something and doesn't get distracted easily. I watched her work with an example pup a member of the class brought in ( 1st day was owners only) and it was very apparant that the methods that worked with him won't work consistantly with Ike as I have already tried them and they worked when ike wasn't really into what he was doing.His personality is so different from the Golden she was using to demonstrate.
Should I continue with this class and have faith that it will work or seek out a different trainer? If I were to look for a different trainer, what would I look for? I do like positive reinforcement, but I also think the dog should know what the owner finds displeasing.
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She is a licensed vet tech, has been training for 20 years and has a list of certifications. She also works with the Friends of the Dearborn Animal Shelter, which is a volunteer group that helps out a local shelter. She fosters Pits and other dogs for them because the shelter has very limited space.
She advocates treating for anything the owner likes, ignoring everything you don't like, or distraction. No training collars....ever. No verbal or physical corrections...ever. No "Bad dog" or anything like that allowe...ever. (I don't ever hit a dog, but I think a tug on a leash and a "HEY!" or "NO" is ok. It gets their attention away from the bad thing and on you.)
My problem is that Ike is very smart and very stubborn. He also gets focused on something and doesn't get distracted easily. I watched her work with an example pup a member of the class brought in ( 1st day was owners only) and it was very apparant that the methods that worked with him won't work consistantly with Ike as I have already tried them and they worked when ike wasn't really into what he was doing.His personality is so different from the Golden she was using to demonstrate.
Should I continue with this class and have faith that it will work or seek out a different trainer? If I were to look for a different trainer, what would I look for? I do like positive reinforcement, but I also think the dog should know what the owner finds displeasing.
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