http://blog.hollywoodonaleash.com K9 Gosspip and interesting facts about our 4 legged friends Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:30:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 http://blog.hollywoodonaleash.com/2008/05/30/rattlesnake-avoidance-training/#comment-2 awdixon Sat, 07 Jun 2008 15:31:52 +0000 http://blog.hollywoodonaleash.com/2008/05/30/rattlesnake-avoidance-training/#comment-2 Something to add: I am the hiking partner Julia mentions and just discovered another side effect of the training. Keep in mind this training was mid-March and it is now June. I took my dog to do some additional training now that we are in Virginia and living in a large apartment complex with lots of dogs and people. He just needed a little tune up. We were in class with the trainer who he has met a couple of times and she asked if she could use him to demonstrate a skill since he already knows it. I said sure and handed her his leash and she went to walk him away from me and he flipped out. He spun and started trying to climb into my lap (I was on a folding chair). She was very calm and just tried walking him in a circle around me without leading him away and he actually tried to crawl through the space between the seat of the chair and the chair back (again my dog is almost 120 lbs). She quickly stopped trying to lead him as she didn't want to further upset him and he stood leaning against me, heart racing. It suddenly clicked that the last time a "trainer" (and I use that term loosely regarding Mr Callahan's assistants) lead him away from me he experienced incredible pain and fear. Now with the training class we are having to work on "trust issues" we never had before. Now, I will admit, my dog was always a mamma's boy and clingy, but the sheer terror I saw in him and the panic attack is something that I've only seen since the Rattlesnake class. And as a last tidbit, we have come across snakes (albeit not rattlesnakes) 4 times since the class without his even being aware. I truly believe he didn't even register the presence of the rattlesnakes at the training and only remembers being shocked. Amanda Something to add: I am the hiking partner Julia mentions and just discovered another side effect of the training. Keep in mind this training was mid-March and it is now June. I took my dog to do some additional training now that we are in Virginia and living in a large apartment complex with lots of dogs and people. He just needed a little tune up. We were in class with the trainer who he has met a couple of times and she asked if she could use him to demonstrate a skill since he already knows it. I said sure and handed her his leash and she went to walk him away from me and he flipped out. He spun and started trying to climb into my lap (I was on a folding chair). She was very calm and just tried walking him in a circle around me without leading him away and he actually tried to crawl through the space between the seat of the chair and the chair back (again my dog is almost 120 lbs). She quickly stopped trying to lead him as she didn’t want to further upset him and he stood leaning against me, heart racing. It suddenly clicked that the last time a “trainer” (and I use that term loosely regarding Mr Callahan’s assistants) lead him away from me he experienced incredible pain and fear. Now with the training class we are having to work on “trust issues” we never had before. Now, I will admit, my dog was always a mamma’s boy and clingy, but the sheer terror I saw in him and the panic attack is something that I’ve only seen since the Rattlesnake class. And as a last tidbit, we have come across snakes (albeit not rattlesnakes) 4 times since the class without his even being aware. I truly believe he didn’t even register the presence of the rattlesnakes at the training and only remembers being shocked.
Amanda

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