Bulldogs World

Had the opportunity to meet 4 trainers over the last 2 weeks. I must say I am blessed to find the one I have, and I will be doing everything I can to help give her a little confidence boost to continue her education, get licenced, and work for a better company with better pay.

Trainer #1.  Male, insisted ALL dogs have choke chains on, no matter how much training they already had, breed, etc.......I gave him VERY little time. Private owned training facility, he has worked there for 3 yrs.

Trainer #2.  Female, soft spoken, seemed intimidated by larger breeds, wanted to sit on the floor and play with little tea cup breeds, saw very little training, and NO authority. works at a pets store, and administers classes every evening

Trainer #3.  Male, love to use the word NAUGHTY and BAD and even UGLY.  Stood over and even bent over the dogs and yelled at them when they did not follow through with 'Heal" commands.  Works at a private owned training facility

Trainer #4  Male. Similar to my trainer, positive reinforcement but has a manner of authority.  Works mostly with the owners giving the tools they need to train the dog.  Has a former student come to visit him after 4 years, the dog remembered him right off the bat.  He shared with me that he has been doing this for 5 years, he works 25 hours a week typically, with classes, paperwork, scheduling, and some individual training.  Last year he made 36K--on this PT job.  This allows him time to be with his young children after school, while his wife works FT, and also allows him alot of time to work with the Humane Society with free training for employees, and nurturing abused dogs.  He worked with Kippah a little bit at the park and was really impressed with how far she has gotten, at 9 months, and with a Petsmart trainer.  He has heard of our trainer, even though he lives and works in a town an hour away.

My gal, which I am convinced is a rare breed, really needs to finish what she needs to do to get into a Canine training company that will treat her right.  She works 32 hours a week, she has been there for 6 years, and earned less than 18K last year.  So sad.  She just got her licence to administer the CGC test.  I am hoping to be able to sit down with her and see what her next steps are, maybe help her on a resume. 

OK my rant for the day....well the hour.

Anyway, long story short...if you are looking to put your puppy into classes (which I highly recommend)  shop around, ask for referals, get students opinoins, and watch classes, there are SO many techniques and personalities.  I shopped around before putting Kippah into Petsmart, just because I wanted the best for her and did not think it would come from a corporate pet store.