# Question on trainer



## Stonevintage (Aug 26, 2014)

I would love to have a trainer come for a couple of private visits to work out some things with Summer. I have no $ but, have been thinking outside of the box this week and may be able to trade some antique furniture/collectibles for professional training services. Why not try...

There is only one place that I can find within a 30 mile radius. I have posted the link to their site.

North Idaho School of Dog Obedience

The question I have, I spoke to this woman about 16 years ago about joining the basic puppy training classes she held in the gov't offices parking lot on weekends (I worked there at the time). I told her I had a GSD puppy (14 wks) and was wondering if I could sign up and how much the classes were (gen information stuff).

She's pretty gruff, I listened to her many times when I was working OT at the county building on the weekends. (She reminded me of a "drill sergeant" with the students). Anyway, she said one thing to me and it was the reason I didn't sign up. "As long as it isn't a White Shepherd" "I won't take a White Shepherd in any of my classes". Smoke was a "Blue Shepherd" but her comment made me think that she holds prejudice for a GSD that is "different". 

Anyway, that's my concern. If there is no foundation to these beliefs, but she is never the less there.... I still have reservations about using her or any of her staff - If that's the way they roll.... 

Thoughts???


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)

They can be nervy garbage a lot of the time, but they're not that bad. I don't think you can call yourself a true dog training professional if you do stuff like that, but on the flip side I do have friends in the industry that won't take tough cases because it's way less time consuming and less liability to just knock out a bunch of easy basic obediences with good dogs vs nervy aggressive or otherwise problematic dogs of questionable temperament. They need special sessions with setups that can be challenging to do or somewhat more risky to do. Sometimes it's just a straight up business decision.


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## MyHans-someBoy (Feb 23, 2013)

I must have lucked out a bit with Hans' first trainer. We had spoken on the phone a couple of times and it had not occurred to me, as this was my first GSD, to mention what color he was. 
When I got there, he looks in the backseat of my Jeep and exclaims "Oh, cool, he's white. I had a great GSD named Bo, who was white!"
He then proceeded to eagerly extract Hans from all of the seat belts, harness, etc. that he had managed to get himself tangled up in on the very noisy trip (he pretty much alternated between whining and screaming) over to the trainers. This trainer's demeanor, calm and handling skills immediately calmed Hans down and I felt a lot better about leaving him for a few days. 
Like you, I would wonder a little about a trainer that excludes certain dogs or colors of dogs, based on generalities, but the explanation could be as simple as what Baillif said...
As for being gruff, I've only met one in person that did NOT come across that way and some that were firmly in "abrasive" personality territory, lol. 
I talked to one female trainer who was pretty abrasive, but I tend to not take a lot of things personally, so we could have probably worked together ok, except I saw some of her online reviews and frankly, they were pretty much all terrible except for one! I passed on that particular one. I deal with abrasive personalities all the time in business, so no big deal to me, but a trainer shouldn't scream at a dog for having an accident. There were consistent reviews that made the whole situation sound very unprofessional such as her screaming at the dogs, screaming at the employees and also screaming at the dog owners.  I guess I look at it like -if that's the way you treat everyone in public, what might you do to my dog in private? She was also a groomer. Uh, NO way!!
I think if you can get it worked out, go once and see if you are ok with her. I wouldn't let "gruff" stop me.


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## Nigel (Jul 10, 2012)

I wouldn't let gruff stop me if she can back it up with knowledge and experience. We use a trainer west of us and she can be harsh, but she is good. I did pivots for the better part a week (10 min sessions, 1-2 a day) and at the end of the week I tried throwing other things back in and I somehow destroyed her "front". She would approach straight but sit at about 45 degrees, sometimes she'd come in and move into the heel like a finish left. 

I knew I screwed up, but not sure how, she was confused. I tried a few things suggested here using boards and what not to guide her, that didn't seem to work, but this trainer had a stupid simple solution. She had me call front (from heel) and then simply step back a little with my right foot leaving my left slightly extended out in front of me. This forced Zoe to move around it and come in square, it worked great. A few short sessions later and her fronts were fine. 

I know this is just small little detail, but a good trainer has a crap load of this kind of stuff to help fix our screw ups and the knowlegde to help you move forward. I have zero problems with gruff if they can deliver results.


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## Stonevintage (Aug 26, 2014)

Thanks for the info. I feel better. Her gruff didn't really bother me. She's not nasty unpredictable gruff. It's just that when she's doing a class it's like she's instructing more like 100 people without a mike, not just 5 or 6 lol.:smile2:


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## Nigel (Jul 10, 2012)

are you talking classes or private instruction?


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