The half blind one? He's a sad little case. They paid a fortune for him, he has severe allergies, is mostly blind in one eye at the ripe old age of 4 and has some serious temperament issues. I think we can get him turned around pretty quick, but it will take some commitment.
Last week I added a Great Dane to the class with very similar fear issues.
So far... we have a 3 year old female Hound/Rott mix who is a fearful bully who just needs to learn that the world doesn't revolve around her. A 4 year old Pug/Beagle who is half blind, has a bad attitude, is spoiled and coddled, and a 2 year old female Great Dane who was mostly fine until a bad experience at a doggie day care and now is jumpy and fearful around people and dogs.
As usual, it's mostly a bunch of dogs with people problems, but problems that will make them all big problems in classes of 8 dogs and 8 people in the large open building with all the noise and goings on. Since everyone had to go through an eval to get into the class I think they are a little more committed to the process.
I've actually said no to about half of the dogs I have evaluated. It's funny (odd, not ha ha) to me the number of people who think their dogs are "brats" when really the dogs just need some work in a regular class. The owners just need someone to look at their dog and tell them that everything will be ok and they just need to work with the dog and commit to 10 minutes a day every day and a class once a week. They have all left happy and relaxed and looking forward to signing up for a class. "Oh, you mean my dog
isn't a brat??? He just needs some direction? Really? great!" I really like making that kind of difference for people's dogs.
Last week this really sweet hound came in on this gi-normous choke chain. She was fearful, but really just a normal old hound. Didn't listen all that well, sniffed a lot, somewhat distracted, checked in with the owners, then kept on sniffing. I got rid of the choke, got them a martingale, fitted it correctly and told them to get into a regular class. Everyone was happy.
They all seem to
want a class, they
want help, but don't really want their dog to really be a "brat" but if that's what it takes, a brat is better than nothing.