I have a rule: I don’t train sick dogs
What I mean by “sick” is any dog that isn’t feeling well… infection, raging allergies, recovering from an injury, overly stressed, and such. I want owners to tip me off in advance, if possible, if their dogs aren’t their normal selves.
It’s not fair to make a dog work when they are not up to it. Also, how they are feeling when doing the lessons will feed into how they feel about doing those exercises in the future, even when the “sickness” is cured.
I’m working with a very mild-mannered Chihuahua mix. She looks like a long-haired Chihuahua. We must take extra effort to ensure that she doesn’t cross the threshold of being too worried about anything or she shuts down. Well, for the past 3 weeks, she has just been off, acting more scared, not taking treats, hypervigilant. So, I had the owners hold off each week. I’d meet with them, the dog was out of sorts, and I’d cancel the lesson. I was supposed to see them this weekend, and before I arrived, they called to say that she’s rubbing her butt on the ground, and the other dogs in the home are sniffing her there a lot. She’s got impacted anal glands, and they have made a vet appointment to deal with that.
That “sickness” would explain the past 3 weeks. Prior to the phone call, it wasn’t obvious that anything was wrong physically. I’ve seen this numerous times with dogs. They appear normal on the outside, but their behavior goes off course. Sometimes even the vet can’t find anything. But after a while, there are outward signs that point to a cause.
Thus, I don’t work “sick” dogs. If a dog is off and just isn’t working normally, I will cancel the lesson. I’ll have the owners watch the dog a bit closer, tell them to check with the vet if they think something is going on, give the dog a happy and relaxing day, try out some homework the next day, and keep me in the loop regarding how the dog is feeling.
We can’t put dogs on the proverbial psychiatrist’s couch and ask them about their troubled childhood. We shouldn’t force them to do things when they seem off. Maybe the dog had an unknown stress that needs to decay for a day or so. Maybe the dog is “sick”. Be like a good mom, when the child is sick, she might keep the child home for the day, put a hand on their forehead and see if they have a fever, give them some mild food to eat, and look to see what the next best step might be. If the root cause is non-medical stress, then we can puzzle that out in subsequent lessons. But it is often better to observe the dog a little while to diagnose what direction we need to take.
Similarly, I don’t train “sick” dog owners. For similar reasons, and with the same recommendations. I appreciate when students let me know they aren’t going to be able to do a lesson that day. If it is a virus or something, I am thankful my students tell me so I don’t get exposed. If it is some kind of personal stress that will interfere with the lesson, then they can tell me whether we should take a day off, or whether they feel it best to do the lesson that day. Or if they are just off, like a migraine or some other thing, sometimes we can’t give the dog an appropriate experience.
Plan accordingly.