A handsome standard Poodle!
I have had 3 new clients start with me this week, they have all seen at least 2 other trainers before getting to me, the one thing they all had in common was that though they had done some great dog training with these other trainers they all shared the same complaint, the dog behaviour issue that had made them pick up the phone had not been addressed!
Yes they may have needed to train their dog to do some basic trianing exercises, and I do get the point of teaching the dog a few new tricks, this can often improve the bond between dog and owner, and at least is great fun, but at some point the owner needs taking through how all this new knowledge can be applied to resolve the original behaviour problem, that is our job! I suspect this aspect has just been overlooked, all 3 of these dogs have a good level of obedience, the owners have worked hard and have taken and used the good advice they have been given, it is the trainers job to keep the purpose of the training in focus at all times, so that the owner can see where the work they are doing is going to help them. The last piece of the puzzle is guiding the owner through the training in the situation that they were struggling with.
I think as dog trainers it is easy to forget just how much we are expecting our human clients to learn, and as with any new subject, every step of the training requires assistance, if the owner is clear about what to do, in a given set of circumstances then the dog gets trained!
I love this part of my job, it is like putting the icing on the cake!
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