Solo graduated from Basic Obedience! But ... (advice needed)

[Maralynn]

Sorry to be sounding argumentative again, but if it was obviously stressful then I don't understand how it can also have been positive.

 

Just stating the (to me at least) obvious here. . . .

 

I know for me there are situations where I'm glad I went, but wouldn't do it again. Stuff that was good for my dogs to work through, but I'm not going to knowingly have them work through it again due to things that I noticed along the way.

 

 

 

 

[Donald McCaig]

Dear Doggers,

 

Roxanne wrote, "Sorry to be sounding argumentative again, but if it was obviously stressful then I don't understand how it can also have been positive."

 

At my very first Jack Knox sheepdog clinic I took Pip (my first sheepdog) to, Pip stressed and jumped over the snowfence in the little ring , squiggled underneath my VW and wouldn't come out. Pre-novice McCaig thought it was clever of him.

 

Stress and Relief, Pressure and Release. Or as Jack Knox put it, "Allow the right. Correct the wrong."

 

Donald McCaig

[gcv-border]

I am also of the opinion that you should work on what your dog NEEDS in a class - regardless of what the structured class plan is supposed to be. Of course, this is with the caveat that your instructor is OK with it. If the instructor can not be flexible, s/he is not the type of trainer I would want to work with - now or in the future. I believe flexibility in dog training is paramount.

 

Good for you for keeping your dog's needs as a priority.

[GentleLake]

I totally understand that there cane be many times when helping a dog work through stressful situations can be beneficial, both in and out of a class setting.

 

In this case, however, the OP describes a dog whose stress level is increasing from early days to the point where s/he describes that "especially at this last class, he was just depressed" and that "you'd think he had the worst life ever," even though he learns quickly and at other times and in other places "he is his normal happy self."

 

Not only does it not sound to me like this particular class with this particular instructor wasn't beneficial for Solo, but his handler says the instructor that "I just didn't get the sense that she was understanding what I was saying."

 

So I really don't think Donald's example is analogous. Pip stared out highly stressed, but his handler was working with an excellent instructor who was incredibly adaptable to the needs of individual dogs. IIRC both Pip and his handler improved. Pip's behavior didn't deteriorate from his first clinic experience; he got better and became more confident. Quite the opposite from what Solo33 describes in the progression of Solo's classes.

[Donald McCaig]

Dear Roxanne,

 

There's pressure and inappropriate pressure. Life is stress and unavoidable but in dog training one hopes to up it in increments so (a) the beginner doesn't really notice it and b. the experienced dog thinks "Oh goody, I'm going to learn something new." You're right to spot increased depression as evidence stress is being misapplied. Other evidence(pet dog) might be flight, zoomies or even a bite.

 

Donald McCaig

[GentleLake]

OK. So it sounds like we're on the same page after all, Donald. I'm glad of that. Maybe you were making a different point that I missed. ;O)

[Donald McCaig]

Dear Roxanne,

 

Reading pressure signs isn't that easy. Depression might be Lyme. That's the first thing I check for when a dog is really off his stride. Eating grass might be tender tummy might be stress.

 

One I missed: Visiting Manhattan in July with two dogs: June who'd been there before and Fly -straight from the country. I was going to meet my agent in CentralPark so I reserved a spot in a nearby parking garage. 100 degrees in the city and my garage, it turned out, wasn't a basement garage, it was a five story garage and of course it'd be hotter up top. I had to take the dogs and was terrified Fly was going to bite someone on crowded lunchtime 5th avenue. Nope. She lowered her head to the greatest library of scents in the world and never raised it. Whew!

 

It was only later, at Penny Tose's Mardi Gras Trial I ralized that when Fly's glued to the scents and inattentive to everything else, she's really, really stressed.

 

Live & learn.

 

Donald

[Solo33]

Sorry to be sounding argumentative again, but if it was obviously stressful then I don't understand how it can also have been positive.

 

Just stating the (to me at least) obvious here. . . .

 

Solo learned that when we walk kennels of barking dogs, he can trust my voice when I tell him, "It's okay, let's go" and nothing bad will happen to him. At the first class, he was understandably afraid (and started lunging back at them in fear) when we had to walk past the kennels of barking GSDs. By the end, he learned that if I kept walking and told him it was okay, he was okay.

 

Solo learned that if other dogs in the group get into a scuffle, he didn't need to join in. Each time we were in the waiting room, at least one dog would have an issue with another dog. At first he wanted to get right in there and see what was up. At the end, he just raised an ear and looked at me. I told him it's okay and he was fine.

 

Solo was introducted to a few different things that I don't have at home, like an agility tunnel (more like a short culvert), a wheelchair (she would push it around as we walked past), etc. His reactions to things were never extreme but I could tell with each class, he wouldn't give those items much thought if I asked him to walk through them or walk by them.

 

In those ways, I think it was good for him.

[Solo33]

I know for me there are situations where I'm glad I went, but wouldn't do it again. Stuff that was good for my dogs to work through, but I'm not going to knowingly have them work through it again due to things that I noticed along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

This sums up how I feel!