Choke chain and manhandling in training classes
Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 4:04 am
Hello,
I recently bring my Chow Chow puppy Amy to regular puppy classes. There is one training club that provides Kennel Club (KC) Good Citizen Training classes and certificates upon completion so I thought the classes and trainers must be good based on the reputation. I have been to three classes so far and have a lot of concerns over the method they use to train dogs.
First of all, they use choke chains during training. They have not recommended me to use on my baby but they do recommend other people to do so. I know choke chains really hurt and can damage a dog mentally and to be honest, I am not happy when seeing them used in the class. We taught Amy a lot at home simply by rewards and she learns very quickly so I doubt if I really need to use choke chains on her. I am afraid soon enough I will get the recommendation and it might be hard for me not to follow.
Secondly, the trainer uses a lot of manhandling on Amy and that clearly terrified her a lot. Amy is a bit hand shy with strangers, she is alright with people generally but doesn't like people petting her. If introduced gradually, she learns to accept the strangers and they can pet her as much as they want. But in classes, the trainer just approaches her abruptly and takes the lead or collar to control her. The other day she demonstrated how to teach dogs to accept us touching the collars using Amy; she put on the glove, grabbed Amy's collar and held on to it strongly, continuously told me to practice this at home and never to let go before she lets go, otherwise she knew she won?!? Amy was very horrified, she pulled and nipped to escape, which I never saw her like that before. Until now she never has any problem with me touching her anywhere, even the collar. And I can understand why she wouldn't allow the trainer to touch her collar because she was a stranger and she didn't even let Amy get to know her a bit more, let alone grabbing the collar that harshly. The next training class, Amy was horrified and tried to escape right the time she saw the entrance door!
I dont know if the method is right, that you need to introduce some pain in training and let the dog know who is the boss by manhandling and controlling her, and I am just a bit paranoid and overprotective over my baby, or this is completely wrong and I am letting other people to damage her. But it really upsets me when seeing her like that. I am afraid this might make her feel negative over stranger's touching and make petting matter worse. If anyone has any knowledge over this, please give me some advice on what to do, I really appreciate it.
Thanks.
I recently bring my Chow Chow puppy Amy to regular puppy classes. There is one training club that provides Kennel Club (KC) Good Citizen Training classes and certificates upon completion so I thought the classes and trainers must be good based on the reputation. I have been to three classes so far and have a lot of concerns over the method they use to train dogs.
First of all, they use choke chains during training. They have not recommended me to use on my baby but they do recommend other people to do so. I know choke chains really hurt and can damage a dog mentally and to be honest, I am not happy when seeing them used in the class. We taught Amy a lot at home simply by rewards and she learns very quickly so I doubt if I really need to use choke chains on her. I am afraid soon enough I will get the recommendation and it might be hard for me not to follow.
Secondly, the trainer uses a lot of manhandling on Amy and that clearly terrified her a lot. Amy is a bit hand shy with strangers, she is alright with people generally but doesn't like people petting her. If introduced gradually, she learns to accept the strangers and they can pet her as much as they want. But in classes, the trainer just approaches her abruptly and takes the lead or collar to control her. The other day she demonstrated how to teach dogs to accept us touching the collars using Amy; she put on the glove, grabbed Amy's collar and held on to it strongly, continuously told me to practice this at home and never to let go before she lets go, otherwise she knew she won?!? Amy was very horrified, she pulled and nipped to escape, which I never saw her like that before. Until now she never has any problem with me touching her anywhere, even the collar. And I can understand why she wouldn't allow the trainer to touch her collar because she was a stranger and she didn't even let Amy get to know her a bit more, let alone grabbing the collar that harshly. The next training class, Amy was horrified and tried to escape right the time she saw the entrance door!
I dont know if the method is right, that you need to introduce some pain in training and let the dog know who is the boss by manhandling and controlling her, and I am just a bit paranoid and overprotective over my baby, or this is completely wrong and I am letting other people to damage her. But it really upsets me when seeing her like that. I am afraid this might make her feel negative over stranger's touching and make petting matter worse. If anyone has any knowledge over this, please give me some advice on what to do, I really appreciate it.
Thanks.