Training Begins

What do you do when you have a bratty dog and are constantly pulling your hair out over it? What do you do when after you come home for a walk you find yourself handing the dog off to your spouse and saying, “I need to be alone.” What do you do when all you seem to want to do is drink when it comes time to walk the dog? You go to training.

Simply said, but not so simple. Have you ever looked around for a trainer? Do you know how many of them are out there? A lot. They all claim to have the best training methods, and specialize in this or that but how do you pick the one that’s right for you. How do you pick the trainer that’s a good match for both you and the dog? Depending on how you look at it I tend not to be the best student. I don’t usually just blindly follow the leader. If it doesn’t sound right, then it can’t be right. So I start with the questions and challenges. I made a conscious effort to step back from that. I decided that when I brought Chili to training, I would resist the urge to second guess, doubt, and take over. I would step back and let the professionals teach me. I couldn’t wait. What a dummy.

After sifting through tons of websites and talking to trainers on the phone I finally decided on one. I had this idea in my head (I’m always having these, ideas) that the trainer would want to meet me and Chili before we were placed into a class. You know, like an assessment. It seemed to make sense to me. What if she required some special classes before she went into the general obedience? How would they know if they didn’t assess her? Apparently that’s not how it’s done. An assessment wasn’t necessary. (There goes the voice in my head. Shut it up). Hmm, Ok, no assessment. Interesting. Class would start in a couple of weeks. I was counting down the days. I figured that once we got some training, life would settle down. Ha. On our walks I would look at her and say, “You wait, we start training soon and you’re going to be in trouble then.” It was the opposite.

Up to this point we weren’t letting Chili off leash and her walking manners were horrific. She was still pulling like crazy and lunging at other dogs on leash. She seemed fine once she got to sniff them but on leash, not great. I couldn’t even imagine a day when she would walk nicely and be able to play without being attached to me.

On the first night of training I was very nervous. I was afraid that she would spend the night lunging at the other dogs and we would end up being asked to leave. I loaded her into my truck, made sure that I had a ton of treats in my pocket and set out. Wait, I need to back up the story for a moment. I couldn’t let Chili loose in my truck, so I borrowed a cage from a friend. When Chili was in the truck and saw another dog, she would go absolutely ballistic. She would bark and growl and throw herself at the sides of the truck with her paws flailing and banging her head against the top of the cage. It was like I just caged a wild beast from the jungle. Of course, when we arrived at the hall there were other dogs in the parking lot so she started her caged beast routine. Since we were a bit early, I just slouched in my seat shaking my head while people stared as the truck rocked. Finally, it was time to go in so I carefully let her out of the cage. This meant that I would have to open the cage door with one hand and push her back in with the other. If I didn’t, she would bust out like a jack in the box. I would leave the leash attached to her collar to make it easier when it was time to take her out. She jumped out and started pulling me towards the other dogs. I had to dig in to stop her. Quite the sight I’m sure.

As we walked in the door, she pulled like crazy but wasn’t barking, yet. We found a spot and she surveyed the room. She looked like she was high and then the face started. She began pulling to try to get to the other dogs and barking. This went on for the whole class. I didn’t get the feeling that she had any bad intentions towards the other dogs; I just felt like she was frustrated and wanted to play. She wanted some action. To be free again and romp. At one point in the class, Mary (not her actual name) asked me why I thought she was acting that way. I told her that I thought she just wanted to get to the other dogs to play. She looked at me and calmly told me, “No, she wants to fight.” I was floored. It was like I had just been punched. Mary said she could tell by the look in her eye. What? The look in her eye! Did I miss something? Again, the voices in my head started going and I had to shut them up (another mistake). I promised Chili that I wouldn’t jeopardize the training by taking over and that I would trust the professionals. I felt heartbroken that I misread my own dog. I couldn’t believe that she was aggressive. I know she’s been a royal pain for me since the beginning but I already loved the dog and was disappointed in myself for not knowing what she was about.

I didn’t remember anything that was taught from the first class. I couldn’t hear above Chili’s barking. I cried the whole drive home. I was so frustrated with her barking and deflated because I suddenly had an aggressive dog. I looked at her in my rearview mirror as she sat quietly with her happy face looking out the window and I felt helpless. Where do I go from here? How do I make this right for her?

I’ll continue the story in my next post, however, I wanted to point out that this was the beginning of a greater lesson for me. Trust yourself, but use clear vision. I’ve had Chili checked out by other trainers and she’s not an aggressive dog. She’s no angel, but she’s not aggressive. Choose your trainer wisely.