What happens when clients don’t listen

I’ve been training an Hungarian Vizsla puppy for a few months now. At the very first lesson, I advised the young owners that male Vizslas can be aggressive, headstrong and dominant dogs. I could tell they didn’t want to hear this but it’s my responsibility to let owners know what to expect.

The dog is now over five months old. Much of the training hasn’t been enforced and as a result, progress has been slow. With this being the case, I have insisted that they keep the dog on the lead, a little short term pain for long term gain. Unfortunately, they haven’t taken my advice.

In the latest lesson, the owner insisted that his dog would come back and not run off and mess about with other dogs. I told him to let his dog off the lead and I walked away with one of my dogs. Of course, the Vizsla followed and would not go back to his owner. Eventually, I went to get hold of the dog by his collar and he swung round and bit me, then walked off. The client was mortified and of course, the dog still wouldn’t come back. In the end, we boxed him into a corner, where he tried to bite his owner before finally getting the dog back on the lead.

Why training matters

No matter what breed, I see assertive, aggressive and dominant dogs all too frequently. As I pointed out to the owner, if that had happened in a public place and it had been a member of the public trying to restrain the dog and being bitten, the dog could have been destroyed. Dog training isn’t for fun – though of course over time it can become fun. The fundamentals have to be put in place for a reason.

I see more and more dogs that are not trained in between their lessons with me. I see a Bloodhound every two weeks; between the last two lessons he has only been walked once a day with no dedicated training time. Unsurprisingly, the last lesson was terrible, we are back to square one.

So don’t mess around with your training. If you don’t want to listen, take advice and act on it, don’t come. My advice to the Vizsla owner was just that: train the dog or get rid of it.

Posted: July 30, 2019