- Thread starter
- #11
- Mar 25, 2007
- 1,310
- 10
- 181
Thank you all for your replies, it's been a crazy couple of days at work. Sorry I didn't get back to this sooner.
I think Wolf-kim is probably right; I've seen their staff let dogs get away with all sorts of dominance behaviors that are not appropriate towards people. The staff, when I see them interact with him, tend to go all "awww! whozza cute puppy den! whoozza cute puppy? YER A CUTE PUPPY YES YOU ARE!" as opposed to the firm, stern dominant attitude that is, shall we say, safer around a big dominant breed. It aggravates me because I would certainly hope that professional trainers would know better--even if you're not going to actually discipline a misbehaving dog, wouldn't you want to stand tall and be firm with them so they don't get any ideas? I guess not. Used to be, we would drop him off at daycare, and he would run around with the other dogs until he was exhausted, and then he'd go right to sleep the instant he got home. Apparently working the chickens and the barn has built up his stamina somewhat.
Bear Foot Farm, I will have to respectfully disagree with you; I feel that dogs not socialized to other dogs and strange situations are dangerous. Maybe not to the owner, but to other people. We've unfortunately seen the results of folks keeping an unsocialized Pyr in our own neighborhood--one bit two passers-by quite severely. Both my dogs understand how to guard and how to stand down, because they were specifically trained. I'd rather my dogs bark, growl, bump and herd intruders away than fear-bite--less chance of a lawsuit. I understand and respect your opinion though. I'm just saying, we're in a quasi-suburban situation where letting excessively territorial behavior run its course is probably not a good idea for us.
He's been very sorry since then, doing all his cutest tricks that he normally does when he thinks he's been bad. It's difficult, from talking to the vet staff and what my husband observed when he dropped Charlie off, to tell what they consider "normal behavior," just because their staff turnover is so high. They haven't seen him often enough to know what his normal self is like. It seems like the trainer is mostly trained in only one technique of teaching basic obedience, and mainly works with smaller dogs (obviously, we have been using a different trainer--our guy specializes in big dogs and training for working trials). I think we are going to have to look for someplace else just because I am not comfortable with them getting new people in all the time. Either the techs/daycare staff are too new on the job or they are not trained properly to handle a big dominant breed. It's one thing to have one or two newbies on staff, but when ALL of them are new and I don't see anyone I recognize, that's a problem. Also, this vet has a really weird schedule--our other dog goes to a different vet just because I happened to need an emergency appointment and the other vet was closed. So I could just take him to the other dog's vet, as they always have the same staff and are good at handling big dogs (other dog is a Newfie).
I've been taking him to the local hiking trails and state park on weekends, but since it started snowing so much, there's hardly anyone there. When we do meet someone, he behaves politely though, so this really threw me for a loop. For sure he has cabin fever, as the chickens refuse to go out in this weather, so he stays more or less indoors when we don't walk him. He gets six walks/day (DH and I work different shifts, we each do 3 walks), but no doubt he's got more energy than that.
Thanks again, folks!
I think Wolf-kim is probably right; I've seen their staff let dogs get away with all sorts of dominance behaviors that are not appropriate towards people. The staff, when I see them interact with him, tend to go all "awww! whozza cute puppy den! whoozza cute puppy? YER A CUTE PUPPY YES YOU ARE!" as opposed to the firm, stern dominant attitude that is, shall we say, safer around a big dominant breed. It aggravates me because I would certainly hope that professional trainers would know better--even if you're not going to actually discipline a misbehaving dog, wouldn't you want to stand tall and be firm with them so they don't get any ideas? I guess not. Used to be, we would drop him off at daycare, and he would run around with the other dogs until he was exhausted, and then he'd go right to sleep the instant he got home. Apparently working the chickens and the barn has built up his stamina somewhat.
Bear Foot Farm, I will have to respectfully disagree with you; I feel that dogs not socialized to other dogs and strange situations are dangerous. Maybe not to the owner, but to other people. We've unfortunately seen the results of folks keeping an unsocialized Pyr in our own neighborhood--one bit two passers-by quite severely. Both my dogs understand how to guard and how to stand down, because they were specifically trained. I'd rather my dogs bark, growl, bump and herd intruders away than fear-bite--less chance of a lawsuit. I understand and respect your opinion though. I'm just saying, we're in a quasi-suburban situation where letting excessively territorial behavior run its course is probably not a good idea for us.
He's been very sorry since then, doing all his cutest tricks that he normally does when he thinks he's been bad. It's difficult, from talking to the vet staff and what my husband observed when he dropped Charlie off, to tell what they consider "normal behavior," just because their staff turnover is so high. They haven't seen him often enough to know what his normal self is like. It seems like the trainer is mostly trained in only one technique of teaching basic obedience, and mainly works with smaller dogs (obviously, we have been using a different trainer--our guy specializes in big dogs and training for working trials). I think we are going to have to look for someplace else just because I am not comfortable with them getting new people in all the time. Either the techs/daycare staff are too new on the job or they are not trained properly to handle a big dominant breed. It's one thing to have one or two newbies on staff, but when ALL of them are new and I don't see anyone I recognize, that's a problem. Also, this vet has a really weird schedule--our other dog goes to a different vet just because I happened to need an emergency appointment and the other vet was closed. So I could just take him to the other dog's vet, as they always have the same staff and are good at handling big dogs (other dog is a Newfie).
I've been taking him to the local hiking trails and state park on weekends, but since it started snowing so much, there's hardly anyone there. When we do meet someone, he behaves politely though, so this really threw me for a loop. For sure he has cabin fever, as the chickens refuse to go out in this weather, so he stays more or less indoors when we don't walk him. He gets six walks/day (DH and I work different shifts, we each do 3 walks), but no doubt he's got more energy than that.
Thanks again, folks!
