Puppy Kindergarten Disaster

So tonight was Lyla's first Puppy class. I debated for a while about whether or not to even sign her up for one, since I can teach all the commands at home for free, but eventually decided on it because Lyla is a little timid and could benefit from the socialization.

First night of class, we walk in, and Lyla's instructor reminds me of an older version of the dog trainer off of Marley and Me. Yikes! Sure enough, the first class was spent practicing alpha rollovers with the dogs. I calmly told the instructor that I did not agree with the fearful submission methods, and that I would be skipping these exercises. I don't think she was impressed. =) Soon after that, the instructor came over to my neighbor to help her rollover a very hyper little puppy. The puppy got scared and bit the instructor, to which she proceeded to pinch the pup's lip until she squealed! It hurt my heart! Especially because the hyper little pup reminded me so much of my Sky at that age, and I would have hated for someone to treat him like that just because he was squirmy and scared. Today Sky is a very well behaved and obedient dog, but I didn't use any harsh methods to get him that way.

I just sat with Lyla in my lap while everyone else practiced and waited for off-leash time. It was what we had come for after all. Then... class was over... no off-leash time! The instructor told me on my way out, that we might at some point let the dogs play for a couple minutes, but there was no guarantee.

I am so disappointed and seriously considering demanding my money back on this class!

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Comment by Sue Olson on May 21, 2009 at 11:33pm: I showed a Corgi to an Obedience Trial Champion and had no trouble. She was absolutely the perfect dog after she got over running away to tease. However, I have had four since and after teaching Obedience for 15 years, I realize how different they are. One was absolutely STUBBORN and I had to resort to strong measures to take the lead to make her heel off leash. I was only once, I got bit but I held my ground and she not only never did it again but she became a loving dog which I could live with. Putting a dog on its side for submission is not cruel in my book. It gives the dog a chance to pull itself together and also establishes the pack leader.

Comment by breanna bellefontaine on May 21, 2009 at 11:23pm: just out of curiousity, how come you don't agree with the submitting method? All though, you now got me thinking... i hope this did not make maggie stay at continuing to play bite constantly. we do not do it to hurt her, i totally disagree with that aspect to no end, how can someone hurt a dog? drives me nutz. but we do lay her on her side, and put one hand near her head neck, one near her hind legs, and when we pet her to get her to calm down. but i dont think it works...it has been 4 months and she gets back up and is at it again...but we are not giving up! but i dont know...we want to be consistant, but i am not sure if it is working. just curious as to why you dont agree with it.