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  1. #1
    Senior Dog janedoe's Avatar
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    Education. A vent.

    I am so frustrated right now. Three people have asked me for help with their dogs in the last couple of years. Every one of these efforts have been an epic fail. Two of them were actually referred to me by a vet.

    All of these dogs have been described as the following:

    1.) Healthy
    2.) Friendly
    3.) Well loved
    4.) Pure bred

    Two of these dogs are dead. One of them has been taken by animal control.

    Some tips.

    1.) Your dog is not healthy if you are feeding it cat food.
    2.) Your dog who has bitten before should not be walked off lead.
    3.) A 200 lb dog raised in an apartment by a disabled person who can't exercise it is the one who is in charge, not the human.
    4.) Your dog needs exercise, training, socialization, routine, boundaries and decent food.
    5.) Your dog is not pure bred if you got it from your friend who keeps some dogs in his backyard.
    6.) If your dog is so "loyal" to you that it can't interact or socialize with others and you think it's just fantastic that it "protects" you at every turn, think about what happens to your best friend when you die or when it bites someone. If your dog bites someone, especially if it's a bully breed, there's a good chance it will be put down. You are there to take care of your dog, not the other way around. It's a dog. If you don't control it's environment, it will, making it completely unadoptable by complete strangers if you haven't made arrangements for its care. Is that fair to your dog? No. It's not. Completely selfish and irresponsible.
    7.) Stop expecting people to solve your problems for free or at all. If you have to put the dog down or hire a behaviorist, pay for it. Stop passing your problem along.

    OK. That's it. End of vent.

  2. The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to janedoe For This Useful Post:

    Annette47 (10-03-2016), IRISHWISTLER (10-04-2016), JackK (10-04-2016), sheltieluver (10-08-2016), TXLabLover (10-11-2016), windycanyon (10-04-2016)

  3. #2
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    Amen!
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  4. #3
    Senior Dog Tanya's Avatar
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    OMG!

    you really should need a licence to have a dog

    And it seems no one EVER has money for trainers. sigh.

  5. #4
    Senior Dog windycanyon's Avatar
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    You ought to try to have to screen prospective puppy buyers some day! OMG.....
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  6. #5
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by windycanyon View Post
    You ought to try to have to screen prospective puppy buyers some day! OMG.....
    Jane Doe is a compassionate person to at least try to help others. Honest to pete... there are so many resources out there, there is no reason a dog owner can't find a book, a website, a DVD series, youtube videos, the classes at PetSmart (better than nothing), a dog-training club that gives basic obedience classes... it is just sad that folks get a dog and assume they are going to have a "Lassie" experience and a wonderful dog by some sort of osmosis. Windy Canyon... you are a saint. I cannot imagine how much concern and anxiety I would feel before releasing one of my pups to people. That is maybe the main reason I would never breed a litter of labs (plus I know there is more than a little science in figuring out what lines to breed to what lines.)

    Man... it's heartbreaking.

    I was thinking... suppose instead of going full metal jacket nuclear on the bully breeds, Montreal had instead required owners to demonstrate they could obedience train their dogs. I don't know... have a list of approved behaviorists to evaluate and certify the dog's temperament and then another certificate within 8-12 weeks showing the dog has been trained even a little... and an evaluation of the dog's home to see that they are not able to break out of the yard.

    It might save a few dogs from the abattoir.

  7. #6
    Senior Dog windycanyon's Avatar
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    Yea, I dunno, but after my last class on Sunday afternoon at our obed trials, I was loving on Kanzi a bit since she aced her Group stays and gave it a good shot despite my bad handling and some ringside disturbances. A family w/ 2 younger boys was obviously looking at Kanzi, and looked like they wanted to say something and so I acknowledged them with a smile. The mom mentioned how attentive Kanzi was and how steady she was in the ring, then looked at the one boy (maybe ~8?) and said, "our neighbor's Lab sure isn't like that!". She indicated that that particular boy (who by then I had invited to pet Kanzi) was a bit nervous w/ the neighbor's dog. I told her that the ring we just came from was very demanding and that Kanzi has been training since she was a baby for this. Told her that people like her neighbor don't seem to "get" that dogs don't come trained out of the box! By then Kanzi had climbed into the boy's lap and was he ever tickled. LOL.

    So yes, TuMicks, I see it all. All we can do is chip away a little at a time. There have been MANY days I've wanted to toss my Rescue hat in too. I get so frustrated.... I'd much rather just hang w/ my dogs than most people!
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  8. #7
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by windycanyon View Post
    Yea, I dunno, but after my last class on Sunday afternoon at our obed trials, I was loving on Kanzi a bit since she aced her Group stays and gave it a good shot despite my bad handling and some ringside disturbances. A family w/ 2 younger boys was obviously looking at Kanzi, and looked like they wanted to say something and so I acknowledged them with a smile. The mom mentioned how attentive Kanzi was and how steady she was in the ring, then looked at the one boy (maybe ~8?) and said, "our neighbor's Lab sure isn't like that!". She indicated that that particular boy (who by then I had invited to pet Kanzi) was a bit nervous w/ the neighbor's dog. I told her that the ring we just came from was very demanding and that Kanzi has been training since she was a baby for this. Told her that people like her neighbor don't seem to "get" that dogs don't come trained out of the box! By then Kanzi had climbed into the boy's lap and was he ever tickled. LOL.

    So yes, TuMicks, I see it all. All we can do is chip away a little at a time.
    There have been MANY days I've wanted to toss my Rescue hat in too. I get so frustrated.... I'd much rather just hang w/ my dogs than most people!
    Absolutely.

  9. #8
    Senior Dog sheltieluver's Avatar
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    I feel your pain. I have to deal with dog owners on a daily basis. I've had many see my dogs and want me to train thier dogs but they don't want to put the work in or thier dog is having a behavior issue and I offer NILF training because thats what i've used with my guys and any foster dogs that I have and it works. The dogs arnt suffering your simply giving them rules and structure your not being mean. I get oh no I can't do that, I can't tell my dog it can't be on the couch or bed even tho it goes after me. Its so frustrating.

  10. #9
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
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    There is a place near us called K9 Games Reno. The owner is a canine behaviorist. Their sign says "any breed, any dog, any problem" and they offer a doggy day camp that includes plenty of exercise and behavior modification.

    I think they are doing God's own work, and charging a bunch of $$$ to do it. I will hand it to the owners (who have probably screwed their dogs up) at least they are getting their dogs some help.

    I have actually set up an appointment to discuss a problem that Rocket Dog has. I know several retrievers that have similar issues. They are such high rollers, they have a hard time cycling back down after attending a HT. Consequently they have to have weeks of training between competitions. I guess you'd call it dog reactivity. Whatever it is, I'm going to get some suggestions and insight for the behaviorist there.

    I keep saying this but... there are a LOT of resources out there for people to learn how to interact with and teach their dogs. There is no excuse.

 



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