The WELL MANNERED DOG

Background: I have two dogs, one a cattle dog-lab mix who was 14 last summer and whom I've had since he was a pup and the other a female I'd gotten from the shelter in Dec. of 2012 and who now appears to be a Chow-Golden mix. She was about 3 when this all happened. Daisy was always great with people, but she showed signs of trauma from her previous life and periodic aggression to my older dog as well as to my cat. In the summer I called Debbie, explained my situation, had a great conversation with her, and she recommended bringing both of the dogs down to her studio, which is a little ways off West 11th in Eugene, for a preliminary consult, and then we'd take it from there. She wanted me to bring somebody with me to help manage the dogs and she also gave some specific instructions about how the dogs were supposed to be managed in the car after I arrived at her office and was filling in paperwork.
Well, my friend whom I asked to help me doesn't drive, and I have a compact car. So I loaded 2 60 lb. dogs in my car and drove over to pick her up She got in the back seat with Daisy, who loves car rides, and I kept the elderly dog, Pippin, who's afraid any car ride will end at the vet's, in the front with me. Pippin was in a panic by the time we got there and was hyperventilating. There was absolutely no one else in the parking lot. Debbie stepped out of her door and told me to come in. I asked my friend to take Pippin out of the car (on leash) and see if she could get him calmed down because he was hyperventilating. Once again, there was no person and no other dog nearby. Neither of my dogs was acting aggressive. I went inside to fill out Debbie's forms. When she looked out the window she stopped me and yelled at me to go back out and get my dog back in the car. RIGHT NOW!!! She was not interested in hearing why I thought the dog needed air. So I did, trying to explain to my friend what was going on. Meanwhile, when we opened the front car door to put Pippin back in, Daisy jumped out; when we opened the back door, they both jumped in, and then back out. They were clearly confused and the situation was chaotic. Neither of them was aggressive, though, and no one was in danger.
Then Debbie came storming out. She yelled at me that I was incapable of following her instructions and she couldn't work with me, so I shouldn't come back. She went on yelling at me for about 5 minutes, counting up all my various infractions, including telling me that I'd probably have to have Daisy sent back to the shelter.
We finally just drove off. At least I never had to actually pay for anything except the gas it cost me to drive out to her place of business. But it was certainly one of the more unpleasant and least professional experiences I had last year. And for the record: Daisy is coming along great. Using commonsense discipline and rewards she's becoming a self-confident and very good dog who can behave herself with other dogs and even with cats.

I would highly recommend Debbie! She has always taken the time to get to know my dog and work with his individual needs. She is extremely knowledgeable and understands dog behaviors. She offers group classes which allows your dog to be calm in an environment with lots of distractions. I will continue to work with Debbie in training my dog.

evaluated my dog for safety. did not like granddaughter, and was worried, rightfully so. |he flunked all the test, and had to make the sad decision to put him down. I sat there and cried for a while, and she was very comforting and caring. offered her support if i ever needed it.

At the orientation the dog trainer, Debbie, appeared very to the point; she informed everyone that if we attended the next class then there would be NO refunds issued if we decided not to attend down the road; now I know why. At the second appointment she was very curt and somewhat rude; she lets us know that no one should show up late, and if they're late they should just go home. She basically tells you that the only way to get the most out of this training is to buy a bunch of her merchandise (feeding toy, leash, clicker, treats, toys), so it actually ends up costing a lot more. If you don't buy from her she somewhat snubs you. She tells you that everyone needs to do daily training which is fine; however, she keeps on adding on tasks each day, and not taking away tasks; she expected you to work with your dog for about an hour per day, then you need to walk your dog and train it some more which wasn't included in the hour. Not one dog graduated "to her standards." So she wanted every dog to take more classes before they could go on to the next level; she does give a discount however. . .you can pay for each class individually and if you do so, you save $5 from the total price. Myself, and one other pet owner were the only ones at the last class (out of about 15 pet owners that started). I wouldn't recommend her! My friend adopted a dog from greenhill and they were provided with free puppy classes; they were also told by their school to bring the dog back if they have problems and they can re-do any class for free.

Everything has been just excellent so far. Her advice has all been very very good. We don t know what the end result is going to be, as it is an ongoing process, but so far, so good.