ᴍᴀᴏᴄɪғᴇʀ wrote:tenor wrote:the trainer promised that he would be socialized and muzzle-trained since nearing the end, he was still aggressive towards newcomers, especially at home.
after 3 months of him being gone to training, where we were unable to visit him because the trainer said it would make him depressed and distracted, he is back home.
I’m just a regular dog owner so anyone correct me if I’m wrong here, but promising that a dog who has been unsocialised for 4 years will be fixed in 3 months and not allowing the owners to visit sounds like a huge red flag? Surely you would want to work WITH the owners to help the dog in various situations, as it’s also about training them to handle the dog, no?
I’m sure other people here have helpful advice to give, that just threw me off a little.
All that I can add is that you say it’s only been a week that you’ve had him back; I assume the trainer gave you things to do to continue working on him? Like a person, it takes continuous work to ease anxiety - and he’s just had a change of environment.
And I know the following will sound ridiculous, but try to calm yourself down around Goose, especially in situations where he’s already anxious like being around people, as he’ll be picking up on your anxiety too. I know it’s incredibly hard to not be anxious, but you don’t want him feeding off your anxiety too.
I’m sorry you’re going through this, it sounds incredibly stressful and I hope it gets better for you & Goose. Don’t blame yourself for your parents not socialising him.
thank you for your words and advice. we are trying to have patience, since it has only been a week, and we are still working with him with aggression and such with his shock collar, but i am antsy about using it, so it has been primarily my husband taking up the shock collar business. the trainer upon returning him did not really give any other advice besides using the shock collar at a medium level anytime he does anything we don't want him doing.
the lady we sent him to had an abundance of high reviews, she's a local behaviorist and trainer, but we have seen many red flags upon his return. we were referred to her by a friend, so we thought we could trust her immediately, and she had a lot of success stories, but there have been a lot of red flags. for one, she didn't let us visit goose, and she didn't allow video calls or to show us where he was staying. we got weekly photos when we asked her for them, but it only showed him on walks in the woods. another red flag was that he came back with lots of sores on his joints on his legs, and upon examination from the vet, it seems that he had been laying on concrete for probably the entire extent of his stay. he was also 10 pounds lighter than when we sent him, deeming underweight. (avg 55lb the past few years, give or take 5lb, he came back 44lb). another red flag was that she didn't give us any other form of helping him. she did not give us any tips or advice that did not include the shock collar. she gave us a muzzle and said to keep it on at all times that he may be anxious (bringing him out or having guests over), and to shock him if he acted up.
we don't know how to feel about our chosen trainer. i am a naturally anxious person, so i could be overthinking it, but everyone else i've told about what happened has said that's not natural. but all of her reviews are top-tier, which confuses me. goose may have just been a special case with her, but it definitely concerns me.
thank you again for your kind words. i am just a dog owner as well, and i just want what's best for my boy, while also protecting my family and future family.