laura271gsd1 reblogged this from twobigears and added:
Be very careful and listen to your gut- if it feels off or wrong then shove Ryker in the car and peel out of there. I didn’t listen to my gut twice and so I’ve been stewing over my poor choices for quite awhile. The whole experience has left me very wary of all trainers (except Bosco’s breeder).
For sure! We'll see how the lesson on Tuesday goes. Things might turn out differently in training, and I think he picked up that I wasn't keen on the whole "dominance" thing and didn't push it. If he had, I would have been out of there right then. But if it does go badly, we won't be back with that guy.
lucycardi replied to your post:Well, Ryker just had an evaluation with a new...
I did something similar when Sofi hit the teenage phase and was starting to challenge. It worked very well for her and while she sometimes vocalizes a protest about things, she has never challenged me since. I wouldn’t recommend it as a new technique on an adult shepherd but…
If I had handled Ryker better when he was younger, it probably wouldn't be an issue. But like I said, trying to do that now is a guaranteed way to end up with at least one of my body parts bleeding. That whole dominance, "you will submit" stuff that I unfortunately ascribed to at the time I got Ryker is a large part of his current issues and I don't want to undo what reparations we've made from those mistakes.
Plus, being able to roll him onto his back in my lap has ZERO to do with whether he listens to or respects me. It's one thing if he offers to do it (which he never will), it's entirely different (and not good) if I force it on him. I could do it if I had to in like a medical emergency or something, but doing it just because is unnecessary and not going to end well for anybody. I doubt even Solstice would be comfortable with it. She'd tolerate it, but in a "wtf are you doing :(" kind of way.
And it's not like Ryker is challenging me. That's not the issue at all. He listens rather well. The issue I've gone to this trainer for is drive capping and getting Ryker to be able to think under arousal instead of just spazzing out. I.e. on the startline at agility trials. I'm pretty sure that even if I could roll him on his back in my lap and he was cool with it, we'd still be having the same issue with drive capping because those things are not related at all.
