Would you allow this?

[TahlzK]

O, how sad. I agree the dog would more likely fear the prong. Why are people so quick to take the nastier route of training!? I'm not talking about prongs, I'm talking about trying to make the dog 'respect' the wrong. A dog should be properly introduced to a prong, not in the way that idiot did it.

-I would have been pissed and I defiantly would have said something.

-Poor dog

 

[AdrianneIsabel]

Yes because my dogs would without fail bite him, rightfully so.

Just kidding, sorta.

 

[StephyMei1112]

Only close friends, my trainer, my parents, and the groomer/vet have ever handled Katalin - and even then for very short periods of time. I won't allow any fools to get near her beside myself - and hopefully she will return the favor later on xd.

A prong is a fine line between a valuable training tool and instrument of abuse lying in responsible and educated usage. Katalin has been on a plastic prong during training sessions and occasionally on walks; she pulls and gets into, erm...awkward positions when out and about sometimes and the prong really makes things very black and white for her and improves clarity in communication to her quite alot I find.

I'm not trigger happy with it and I only give her a correction when necessary. I have a near 80 pound molosser guardian dog on my hands and she will NOT "back off" or "respect" anything let alone a collar of plastic through sheer applied pain/force - it'll only result in me along with others I'm sure getting mauled and or killed (if she's mad enough) and her degrading into a fearful-aggressive, reactive, jumbled mess of a canine.

Guy needs to lose that job, pronto.

 

[mrose_s]

I let very few people work Quinn other than me. I can count on one hand the amount of times I have handed the leash over.
Usually its people at herding because I am so clueless. There is one instructor there that I've seen alpha role dogs a few times, I am watchful of him because I don't like this method and usually hang around the other instructor there to go in with him. Not that this first instructor is a bad guy, I've seen him work hard on a BC over the last 18 months that when I first saw her on sheep I wondered why they were bothering, she'd go from no interest in the sheep to being after them to grab them in an instant then back to ignoring them. She's pretty hard headed with an owner she walks all over, but 18 months on she's no longer morbidly obese and she's casting nicely and working well. Not so much my method but this dog has a much, much better life because she comes to herding every week. The owner still needs to give up being scared of the sheep and gain some confidence handling her dog though.

If he ever tried to hold Quinn down I'd be into him, I don't agree with it as the best/only method and it would shatter Quinn's confidence further, I think he recognises its not the thing for her though, he's never even suggested it, then again, I have pretty good control over Quinn most of the time so it's kinda a moot point. If I don't keep the flapper on the ground right by my side she quits on me, last week she decided she had enough of me and went to walk at the heel of our favourite instructor instead, eyeing me off warily like I might not be trustorthy anymore and she better stick with Richard instead.

 

[Saeleofu]

Nobody in a store is EVER going to be allowed to "train" my dogs, or handle them, or anything. I'm not even a fan of letting most employees pet my dog or feed them treats. The employees at one store are allowed to pet and treat, and one employee at another store is allowed to do so (she's in love with Logan and sad that I won't breed him lol, she always asks about how his shows/trials are going). These people are also allowed to tell my dogs to do cute tricks so long as *I* have control of the leash and they ask first. For some reason their favorite is "sit" so my dogs humor them :rofl1:

I'm even hesitant to let someone else handle my dog in class. I can't remember if I ever have let someone do so with my current dogs - even when I was helping my dad with his classes I did the demos and he'd just narrate. They both took the CGC and of course there was the section where I had to hand them over, but even then I trusted the person I handed the leash to because I knew her well. She's also a collie person and LOOOOOOVED entertaining Logan for 3 minutes (or however long it is) lol.

Some of my coworkers are allowed to handle Gavroche - take him out to potty and if needed hold him for an exam or whatever if I'm not around. I'd still prefer to restrain him for procedures/exams myself. Nobody at work is allowed to handle Logan aside from petting and the like. Some day when I no longer work at a vet clinic, I will find one that will let me restrain my own dog for exams, because I'm sure as hell not letting some random tech/assistant do it after seeing the way some of my coworkers handle dogs.

 

[Teal]

I would have attacked him. And it would have been ugly.

I can count on one hand the number of people I will hand one of my dogs' leashes to (even if I am going to be right there), and still have fingers left over.

 

[adojrts]

Never fails to amaze me that people allow some random stranger (even a trainer) handle or work with their dog.
Like asking and recieving advice on training from a Vet, they are a vet and most have little or no knowledge about how to train a dog. The advice most vets give out is down right scray and harmful.

To answer the question, nobody gets to handle my dogs unless I know their depth of knowledge and skill. IF someone did that, they would first be knocked off their feet and then I would leave them with no skin because I would verbally ripped it off of them as I went up and down them several times. They wouldn't make that mistake again.

 

[Dizzy]

There would be trouble. Not only that I would seriously wonder whether I could work under someone like that.....

I'd probably have intervened.

 

[puppydog]

I would have inserted my foot into his arse and held him down with it until he learned to "respect" my dogs.

 

[Whisper]

Hell no. It bothers me enough if people give any command to my dogs ("come," "sit," whatever- no one is permitted to handle them except for one other person and even then I'm hesitant), and that would so beyond cross the line I don't even know what I would do.

 

[elegy]

I would just die if that happened to my dog. I was so upset after I handed Mushroom over to my first agility trainer and she was kind of mean to him because she didn't have a clue what to do with a dog like him. And she didn't use any harsh physical corrections....

That experience taught me a lesson though. I am far more careful about whom I put my trust in these days.

 

[Taqroy]

At this point I will not give my dogs to anyone I don't trust. Not at the vet, not at a store, and not at training. I have complete trust in all the trainers we work with right now but I still don't hand the dogs off simply because not everyone knows their quirks.

I cannot believe that owner just stood there and let him do that.

Someone else said it (stardogs?) but people in authority get away with a LOT. Mu is flat out terrified of vets because I stood there and let our last vet manhandle her. At the time I was not confident enough to be a voice for my dog and it happened so fast that I didn't have much time to object. That was a year and a half ago and I'm STILL kicking myself over it. My dog will probably be scared and anxious at the vet forever because of my inaction. Sometimes it takes an event like this to get people to stand up for their dogs. It's hard to overcome that instilled tendency to obey people in authority.

 

[MicksMom]

Strangers are not permitted to inflict pain upon my dogs. Ever.

Not a chance. No one but me is allowed to interact with my dogs other than petting and talking to without my direct permission or if they are close friends. That includes any type of "training" or discipline.

These.

Same here.

 

[AgilityPup]

Petstore employees aren't allowed to train my dogs, or even try. They're generally idiots.

 

[Danefied]

Hello Milgram Effect!

No, I would not allow that, but a lot of people would. Not because they don’t care about their dog but because they assume the authority figure knows best. I was in a training class where the head trainer (a very successful obedience and field trial competitor) grabbed a dobie by the prong and jerked him back to where he blew the stay. He was yelping and peeing himself the whole way back. NOBODY (including me) did a thing. Some people even laughed.
And yes, I still kick myself for not doing anything. I could have at least made a statement by walking out.

Just this past weekend we had an incident at a run through that was the same authority figure type thing. We were doing long sits and downs and we had the novice dogs all through the open and utility dogs together. So I’m there with my friend and we’re the only two novice dogs. Her dog breaks, and the trainer grabs the dog and re-sets him before she can do anything. Her dog is very shy and hates being handled, and even though the trainer was not rough in her handling, the dog was clearly freaked out by it. So I leaned over and suggested she go treat him since he was clearly stressed out. She goes to walk up to him and treat and return and one of the utility gals yells “don’t treat him!! You don’t treat them for making a mistake!!†So my friend backed off. Sure enough, the dog broke again - because that’s what he does, when he gets upset he wants his mom and returns to her. Darned if the trainer didn’t step in AGAIN and freak him out more. Now this dog is a very “quiet†dog and the freaking out is not obvious, but certainly the plastered ears and bug eyes are...
My friend was beyond pissed, but she didn’t stand up for her dog, not because she didn’t care but because in that sort of situation, even though you “know†what is right for your dog, in the moment with all these people who supposedly know more than you, you start to doubt yourself. I know I was...
Anyway, it was a total clustermuck from this dog’s POV and his training. I know how stressed he was because my dog was next to him and they are good buds, and my guy went down on the sit as the trainer was resetting my friend’s dog next to my dog. And yep, she then re-set my guy. Of course he loves being handled so he probably found that rewarding. “Cool, if I down, peope come up to me and touch me!â€

 

[AdrianneIsabel]

Funny enough I have a ton of clients who wouldn't allow that, hell many find any correction to be too harsh. I'm surprised that so many clients allow Petsmart trainers to be so cruel. I wonder what causes that difference of client base?

 

[~Jessie~]

Not a chance. No one but me is allowed to interact with my dogs other than petting and talking to without my direct permission or if they are close friends. That includes any type of "training" or discipline.

Yeah, this.

 

[monkeys23]

Hah, and I stopped buying cat litter at Petsmart because their "trainer" purposefully lured Lily out of her down when we were doing some OB work around the distraction of the yorkies owned by people she was trying to give a sales pitch to.

Honestly it would not surprise me if Lily nailed some moron she didn't know that nailed with with a prong collar. And she's pretty hard where prongs are concerned. But if it ain't me...

Scout is one of those really quiet dogs when she's uber stressed to. I pushed her too far last night, we were doing boxwork and I finally had gotten her to go into the crate after our turn (she has not wanted to leave her safe zone aka me during our chat breaks in CU class)... well I left her there during the other four dog's turns in the box and it was way too long. The next exercise was lat which we already do and she was so quietly shut down that I walked her out amonst the agility equipment far away from the other dogs, had her down, and gave her a massage until she relaxed. Her recovery was good though, she successfully did parallel games with the trainers Terv afterward.

 

[AdrianneIsabel]

What class is that?

 

[Toller_08]

Not a chance. No one but me is allowed to interact with my dogs other than petting and talking to without my direct permission or if they are close friends. That includes any type of "training" or discipline.

This completely.

I would be horrified if somebody did that to my dog.