Will this ruin my training?

[mnp13]

I think it's a mistake honestly. You told the trainer that she is dog reactive and that trainer's reaction was "My thoughts...honestly my thoughts are that she needs to be socialized." And she based this on???? "Give her a chance in a safe setting..with a muzzle until you see what she will do." A SAFE setting? There is nothing "safe" about a dog park, not for half of the dogs out there. And we all know that already.

Telling you to just throw a muzzle on your reactive dog and go through the dog park as if it's no big deal tells me that she is missing something in her experience with dog training. If it goes well, then that's great, however, if it goes badly... someone who thought that it was going to be no big deal in the first place is not going to know how to handle the problem, or ultimately fix it - and since she caused it, she should be the one to fix it.

Dock diving is fun, and free is always extra fun... but the potential for a problem is to great in my opinion.

All that said, since Ginger thinks it's ok, then go for it... since if it goes bad, Ginger will be fixing it.

[flibgit]

I'm curious how the trainer teaches her how to swim.

Me too Honestly I like using life jackets on dogs that are hesitant to get in the water. The life jacket gives them a huge boost of confidence once they do get in because they can just float around and don't panic as much. If a dog has a bad experience in water (sinks, has trouble swimming, etc..) it can often be very difficult to get them over that fear after so making those first few experiences really positive seems to work best.

My few experiences with dock diving have been really positive. The dogs love it and it is fun for the handlers as well. The only thing I would caution you about is the off leash dogs that are dock diving. Many times dogs that are jumping will run out of the water and "mingle" with the dogs waiting. Most of the dogs that show up are extremely social (labs, goldens, etc..) so the owners are often less cautious about letting their dogs run up to other random dogs.

Hope you guys have a good time!! Grab some pictures if you can

I just picked up a life jacket for Amber last night. I was thinking that if she was comfortable that she wasn't going to drown she'd relax and enjoy herself more. Poor girl might be embarrassed though. They only had pink polka-dotted life jackets at our petco. She's not gonna look like her 'big tough pibble-self'. (She's so stinkin' cute in it though!)

[flibgit]

Aaack. Double post, but .... I think mnp13 makes a great point and is a voice of reason. And I think you're lucky to have a trainer (Ginger) who knows how to help Inara. I wish there was a competent trainer near us. Amber is improving, but I'm sure a knowledgeable trainer would help us improve faster.

I think it's a mistake honestly. You told the trainer that she is dog reactive and that trainer's reaction was "My thoughts...honestly my thoughts are that she needs to be socialized." And she based this on???? "Give her a chance in a safe setting..with a muzzle until you see what she will do." A SAFE setting? There is nothing "safe" about a dog park, not for half of the dogs out there. And we all know that already.

Telling you to just throw a muzzle on your reactive dog and go through the dog park as if it's no big deal tells me that she is missing something in her experience with dog training. If it goes well, then that's great, however, if it goes badly... someone who thought that it was going to be no big deal in the first place is not going to know how to handle the problem, or ultimately fix it - and since she caused it, she should be the one to fix it.

Dock diving is fun, and free is always extra fun... but the potential for a problem is to great in my opinion.

All that said, since Ginger thinks it's ok, then go for it... since if it goes bad, Ginger will be fixing it.

I think mnp13 makes a great point and is a voice of reason. And I think you're lucky to have a trainer (Ginger) who knows how to help Inara. I wish there was a competent trainer near us. Amber is improving, but I'm sure a knowledgeable trainer would help us improve faster.