Puppy nipped trainer?

[chriserb]

This is a peculiar situation. I recently sold one of my puppies to a very nice young family. I produced many articles and information for them from many of the dog training sites that I found most helpful. I advised them to take the puppy to a local Puppy kindergarten, where they will teach her how to handle and teach the puppy and the puppy will learn how to interact with other dogs properly.

Well, she calls me on the phone and tells me that she took the dog to a "trainer", where the puppy nipped the trainer. Upon being nipped the trainer said that the puppy (who is ten weeks old today) was unruly and dangerous and she refused to train it.

The entire thing strikes me as a little strange for a couple of reasons. One, I have never heard of a personal trainer for a 10 week old dog. Two, a little nipping, while not desireable, is not suprising to me. It is a habit that many young puppies exhibit, and one that I presume a professional trainer would be familiar with, and would help to correct. Three, the circumstances of the nip were fishey to me. The trainer took the puppy and flipped it over on its back within the first couple minutes of meeting it. I know this is a reasonable test for a puppy, but after a car ride a stranger flipping a puppy over could be quite distressing.

This young lady tells me that other than this incident, the puppy has been excellent with her and her son. But now she is very concerned.

Is the trainer's behavior as questionable as I think it is?

and

What can I say to this girl to assuage her fears?

best,
chris

[Kasey]

Sorry to say but it sounds to me like the puppies owner found a trainer who is not qualified. The owners need to look for a different trainer who has more knowledge. The puppy needs to be in a puppy kindergarten, not in a formal training class yet. The earliest I have started formally training a puppy was three months old and it was a very dominent puppy, otherwise I start at four months with short and fun work sessions. If the owners have not had any trouble with the puppy just tell them to look for a new trainer who has more knowledge and ask many questions about the new trainer. Do they have knowledge with several different breeds? Are they afraid of any breeds or will not accept certain breeds in their training classes? What methods of training do they use? How did the trainer get started in training? Have they been training a long time or just trained their own dog and then called themselves a trainer? Ask many questions and see what reaction the puppy has with the trainer. Training should be fun, there will be some rough times and the puppy may not be happy about doing it at times but if it is fun and consistent they will learn. Tell the owners to look for someone new. Good luck with puppy.

[southerncomfort]

You may also warn her about taking her 10 week old puppy anywhere other dogs frequent until he has had the proper vaccinations....parvo, distemper, etc.

:(

[chriserb]

The pup had her first and second round and I stressed at the point of sale the importance of this schedule. I revieved a call from the young woman saying that the vet check went AOK, so I assume that she is vaccinated properly. But I will make sure to ask when I speak to her. Thanks

[Mojave's Mom]

chriserb-

Just curious....are you a breeder?

[chriserb]

A breeder,no. I bred Rabbits for show for a long time as a young kid.

I wanted the experience of raising a litter of puppies before I went to law school.

It has been fantastic and I am happy to say that all of the dogs went to good homes that have given me nothing but rave reviews for their behavior. This has been the only exception, so naturally it has been very distressing.

[luvarott]

Tell them to get away from that trainer NOW!! This is dreadful training technique and totally unacceptable in light of all the learning and research that has been done in the last 20 years....Alpha Rolling a 10 week old Rottie puppy is guaranteed to get you bitten if the pup has any spirit at all and will frighten the heck out of the puppy too in the process.....hardly a good start to a training relationship.
A puppy of this age would do much better in a puppy preschool type class, focused on purely positive methods, socialization NOT training as the goal....although the training is usually a lovely byproduct and what is learned at this age tends to stick with them for life....