Oh no. First Puppy class was awful. (Very very long)

Sorry I know this has been done to death but this other side of the world stuff always gives me a cheap thrill. You're on breakfast, I'm on wine.

Sorry @Leanne82 for post diversion.

 

*raises mug of tea in solidarity*

 

After the day I’ve had I think I might combine breakfast with wine

 

I used to live with some folks that did cider on cornflakes with a whiskey chaser

 

Only you, @SwampDonkey , only you

 

They were strange I moved out when I could. Student days

 

How to ruin a good cider

 

Poor you. I’m really sorry you had this horrible experience and I hope you can get a refund. Perhaps if you decide to go to a class with a different trainer you could ask to observe a lesson without your puppy with you first.

 

Numerous trainers I know have the first session for humans only and use the session to explain about positive reinforcement, the use of food in training, what to expect in classes etc., and if vourse are more than happy for some to come to observe a session. If a trainer is reluctant for you to observe a class (without pup obviously) , walk away - very quickly

 

Sorry you and Maslow had to go through this. Good luck with the refund, but even if you don't get it, you're better off out of it.

So it's wine o'clock, & I'm sipping.....a glass of milk. Cheers!

 

Our first trainer did this and I found it very helpful. She had one of her dogs with her, and it was a slightly skittish rescue so although we could all see that the dog responded in an enthusiastic way it wasn't military precision, so on the next class we didn't feel like complete hopeless failures. She also explained the concept of the entire set of lessons so we understood what we were working towards.

Even if you don't get all that, attending a class on your own will allow you to really suss it out.

I am really sorry that you experienced this - the nineties called and would like their dog trainer back. Poo to her.

 

The squishy orange kind

 

Our first class was humans only and we certainly found it beneficial. It was easy to take on board all of the information, which would have been very difficult if our puppies had been there. As @Jojo83 mentioned earlier, our class is a maximum of six, but the night we go there are only three puppies, and that works really well. I’d definitely avoid classes with high numbers of participants.

 

I’ve just gone through the terms and conditions and it states that fees are not refundable and that it is a ‘reward based motivational based training class’ I don’t see how pushing dogs to the floor is reward based or motivational, but I don’t hold out much hope for a refund.

It also states ‘Our puppies learn to make friends with the other class handlers and their families, and are extensively handled by them’ which I’m guessing was the swap the pup bit. I still think that’s weird. Why would I want other people handling my pup?

Serves me right for not reading it thoroughly enough I guess.

 

Well it is reward based - for her.

And honestly the swopping thing is really not bad, as a very short experience when the pup is older - we did it in one class with Harls but we were also allowed to swop with people we knew and the trainer told us the week before. And by that stage we were on the third set of classes with the same people, so all in all not a difficult experience.

It is like saying we will socialise your pup by putting him in a shelter for a week - so he can experience new things.

 

So don’t! I went to a play group one time where the “trainer” was forcing butt sniffs. We left.

 

Certainly not motivational - mishandling pups just isn't acceptable and certainly grabbing a pups face as she did with Marlow is neither reward based or motivational. Does this trainer have a website? Happy to have a look and see what we refer to in support of a refund .

 

They weren't journalists by any chance were they? many many years ago in London I shared a house with two who put vodka in their breakfast orange juice! Not to take away from how awful your experience was Leanne. Sounds very wrong to me and not at all like the very gentle training sessions we attended when Joy was small. As mentioned by Nick, our first class was humans only and the trainer did a lot of work around the dominant dog and pack leader theory and explained that this was now very outdated thinking and that was not the way in which he would be working. Little Joy Crocopup was the youngest dog there. I wore gardening gloves throughout and she was really quite a nightmare. She was the quickest at recall though (massive pride)and the trainer said at the end 'You've got a very good little dog here, just keep going and let her grow up a bit." I was happy with the whole experience and it taught me so much about how to train my girl. Totally sack that trainer you had and if you can't find one you like, go with your love ,instincts and advice on this forum. I muddled through bringing up two sweet girls with no formal training and no forum advice and they were both dear dogs who were well behaved where ever we took them. Wishing you and little Maslow (still love that name!) all the very best.

 

But you didn't get what you paid for! I wouldn't hold out much hope in her refunding you, but I would hold out hope of getting a forced refund via Small Claims. It all depends on whether you can be bothered doing that, or if you want to write off the whole experience.