Can You Fix Dog Training Mistakes? – Phoenix Dog Training – Dog Trainer – Behaviorist
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Sam Basso
PHOENIX , AZ AREA: (602) 708-4531
OR, if you are out of this area, inquire about a telephone or e-Lesson
Email: [email protected]
Is it possible to fix dog training mistakes?
Yes and no.
I have trained many dogs that were previously “trained” by their owners or other dog trainers. These range from just silly mistakes all the way to what I would consider dog abuse.
Some things can be fixed, and some can’t. It depends upon the level of trauma. I am currently working with a dog that was abused by a dog trainer. He said he did what he did to this little dog for “character development”. What he did was physically and psychologically abuse this dog. This dog is now fearful of the normal things that wouldn’t worry most dogs: eye contact, a hand coming down to pet the dog, close proximity by a stranger, brushing (especially the hind quarters, because the dog was spanked a lot). Unfortunately, this all happened outside the US, so there is nothing that can be done to put this jerk in jail.
Then, I get a lot of dogs trained at pet stores. Some of that is harmless but useless training. Some is downright stupid and harmful. I’ve discussed the problems with pet store training in other articles. In my opinion and experience, these well meaning folks are just not qualified to be giving out advice. To the ones that are good, I recommend that they take their skills and go elsewhere to develop them further. And to dog owners, I recommend demanding better training than this.
Lastly, I have worked with numerous dogs “trained” by their owners. Never once have I worked with a well trained, do it yourself, dog. Mistakes abound, and I have to go in and unravel them. Again, it all depends upon the level of trauma the dog has received. The worse the training, the harder it is to fix. Sometimes it can’t be fixed, and you just have to do a workaround, and the owners have to live with what they have done.
It doesn’t have to be this way. There are good trainers and behaviorists out there. Don’t be lazy. Don’t be a cheapskate. Go find someone good, learn from them, and train your dog properly. Good trainers don’t traumatize dogs.
