The UpBeat K9

Recently I had an agreement with Ian Gresh to purchase a Dog Training Service. As indicated on his business card, Ian stated that the service would provide "for all your training needs". Our understanding included a fee of nearly $3000 which I agreed to pay Ian in return for training which he promised to give my dog, Casey, The program included 3 weeks in which Mr. Gresch agreed to take Casey full time with him to ensure that my dog would receive a thorough amount of training. He returned my dog to me 3 days early during this initial 3 week training because he said he had previously forgotten that he had a commitment to attend a company conference in the southern United States (Knoxville, Tenn. I believe). At this point he stated that he would have liked taking Casey with him to the conference in order to satisfy his 3 week commitment. Because I was afraid that Casey would be stuck inside a cage within Ian's truck for that period of time, I got Ian to agree to give me three days training makeup time later in order to complete that portion of the training which he had promised to give my dog. I was afraid that the in-truck confinement in a hot part of the country would have a negative effect on my dog's health. Also, I began looking askance at Ian's sense of judgement due to what I considered to be a poor decision. Upon completion of the three week full-time training, communication became difficult between Mr. Gresch and me. It was hard to get him on the phone. I received sporadic calls back. When I did get him on the phone, he was frequently busy with new customers and said he would get back to me at some other specified time. Frequently he would forget to call me back at the promised, designated time. Gradually, as we continued working together it became my responsibility to do the calling if we were going to have any contact with each other. Ian proved not to be very reliable. In addition , Ian became irritable with my "inability" to follow along with the device I was instructed to purchase (the electronic collar). According to Gresh, "I was not learning fast enough". At one point, in a telephone conversation that we had, he became very upset and yelled at me because of my "general inability" to learn the commands for Casey quickly enough, and also because I "was unable" to absorb the transfer of learning "adequately" from Ian to me. This, in spite of the fact, that I had received only 1 lesson in addition to a demonstration hour which involved no teaching by the instructor. Increasingly, I got a sense that Gresh no longer wished to be bothered dealing with me or with my dog. I continue to be bothered with the following issues: 1. With no written contract, I continue to be unclear as to what is supposed to be provided to me. 2. Ian has been unable to communicate to me the commands I should be using with Casey (i.e., that he trained the dog to follow). My son had to have a conversation with Ian in order to assemble a coherent partial list of commands. My son, Chris, organized the information in order to make it understandable. 3. Instructions on the use of the electronic collar have been vague. What should be the incremental increases in the settings due to the lack of obedience. How many times to "buzz" in order for me to help Casey to do things correctly. 4. Ian's frustrations culminated in his becoming overtly impatient with me. He felt that I was not understanding his program adequately enough. This, in spite of the fact that he was not able to explain things clearly. I don't know what kind of a job Mr. Gresh did in training Casey. He has been unable to communicate the results of his work with my dog. In addition, he has not communicated his methodology to me. I have not seen any "before" or "after" results. Ian's lack of communication skills as well as his lack of time management skills had also left me without the ability to follow through on my dog's training. I have paid for this service and feel cheated as a result of this transaction by being placed behind new customers whom Ian has moved onto before finishing working with Casey or with me. I felt it was disgusting to have paid almost $3000.00 for the service described above without receiving any tangible results. Although at one point I felt a refund was in order, what I really wanted was the service for which I originally had transacted. This was the service that Ian had promised me, i.e.; I would be taught how to follow up on Ian's training of Casey so that I would be able to deliver commands to my dog the way it was described. It may be possible that I could not do this with Mr. Gresh. Mr. Lance Picard of Upbeat k9.com took over my dog's training . He has succeeded into turning what had previously proven to be a waste of time into a service that was very beneficial to my dog, Casey. Mr. Gresh does not have the skills necessary to run an independent dog training franchise. In the language of the vernacular, he is a loser.