We just got kicked out of puppy classes

[NewYoiker]

Fucks sake!

She's 4 months and as the title suggests we were asked not to come back to puppy class.

She was attacked by a neighbours dog on Monday last week and she's been recovering slowly but I asked the puppy class trainer and she said she was fine to come this week but to be aware if she needed to leave.

It started okay but then there was a half an hour play session and it did not end well. All 10 puppies off lead playing. She went in to play like a bat out of hell batting faces and play bowing.

So not aggressive but also not particularly polite. After the trainer saw her playing, she asked us to stand on her lead in the middle of the play area and allow other dogs to come to her- only issue is she was incredibly frustrated she couldn't play and then inevitably leave the situation herself. I didn't want her to bite or be bitten so I asked if I could put her behind the baby gate to sniff other dogs, but as I asked she started barking and they said we had to leave because the attack on her has made her aggressive and it's not fixable.

What the fuck?

Is this even possible at 4 months?

Oh my god I would be so annoyed with your 'trainer'. Even though my puppy had not been attacked I wouldn't have been happy with a free for all with all puppies off lead.

I would find another trainer and get them to do some 1-1 training with you where you can slowly introduce new dogs slowly on your puppies terms.

She sounds like a typical puppy! Bouncing around & playing. Putting her on a lead in the middle of the off-lead (presumably) puppies is a stupid idea even if she hadn't been attacked - dogs don't like being the only one on-lead because they feel vulnerable as they can't escape.
Find a new class with someone who actually knows about dogs! You're not the ones in the wrong.

Of course it's fixable. Your trainer is being ridiculous. You must be furious!

As above - get on google, or your local facebook sites, and ask for recommendations of local trainers and classes. Ask your vet for recommendations. And give your puppy an extra treat - poor thing!

Your trainer sounds like an idiot!!

A dog on a lead feels incredibly vulnerable when being approached by other dogs. A dog that was attacked last week by another dog is going to be a million times more defensive in that situation! What was your trainer thinking?? Find a new trainer. Definitely.

That sounds like an appalling class. We went to one with 6 puppies, and they were well spaced apart throughout the space and were never once let off lead.

My dog was attacked last year and it took a lot of time and patience for him to recover. Puppy class was probably very overwhelming for yours. I'd find a more sympathetic class to be honest or a good local behaviouralist.

If you're in Gloucestershire I can recommend btw.

Find another class, having one dog on a lead in the middle of those playing seems wrong.

This is precisely why I never and probably would never attend classes.

The industry is utterly unregulated.
Full of individuals who have no idea whatsoever.

Your puppy isn’t ‘unfixable’, doesn’t even sound aggressive!
Typical rude boisterous puppy more like and of course, if in that heightened bouncy state she’s going to be mega frustrated if everyone else is playing and she can’t!

This "trainer" doesn't sound like she has a clue what she's talking about and perhaps felt a bit out of control of the class?

Like others have said, anyone can call themselves a "dog trainer" but it's really hard to find a good one. Can you have some one to one sessions with someone else and then see if they can recommend a class to go to?

Having said that, we've never been to puppy classes, just did socialisation out on walks etc and that seems to have been enough.

Oh my god thank you! I'm going to call round a couple of trainers and see if they can fit her in. Going to write off the class as an unmitigated disaster but I'm so relieved that it's not unfixable

That sounds rubbish. I have been to puppy training at two different places and neither would have allowed a free for all play session with 10 puppies! The most would be 2 puppies with similar temperaments carefully monitored. Maybe try a different class?

This is not you...

• 10 puppies is far too many puppies for a single class.
• Ian Dunbar, Sarah Whitehead, Sophia Yin, Patricia McConnell ALL use the example of unstructured, free-play in puppy classes as being a classic example of a badly run class
• The lead exercise sounds like a brilliant way to train lead reactivity in a dog.
• The idea that any professional would 'write off' a 4 month old puppy says far more about their own incompetence than the puppy's behaviour

Move on and don't look back!

That sounds like a terrible class with an incompetent trainer - you've dodged a bullet by being kicked out, believe me!! Having her on-lead in the middle of a bunch of off-lead pups is just asking for trouble, especially if she's recently been attacked.

the attack on her has made her aggressive and it's not fixable.

Maybe it is best if you don’t go back to these classes. The trainer needs training themselves cos they sound clueless.

Your trainer sounds shit. She clearly just wants to take money from people who have easy, biddable dogs who don't challenge her authority or try her patience. Any puppy where she has to work a bit harder for her money and she's not interested or can't cope. Which sort of defeats the object of you going in the first place.

Find another class and leave her a bad review somewhere.

Wow what an idiot. Hate to think what else that "trainer" does.

Classes vary hugely. When I was looking I investigated a lot of different trainers and clubs. The one I settled on was very much about working with your dog's personality and not squashing it to create a perfectly behaved robot. I watched a class first and got on well with them. Once you've completed puppy classes you can then move on to adult which has a wide range of abilities and everyone supports each other. And all the dogs, even the very best, will have off days. We joke about it and sympathise. A fair few people defect to our club when the iron rod at others gets too much!

One thing to note with that club - it's cheap. It's run by volunteers and isn't in any way a business. I think this makes a bit of a difference in the attitudes.

It you can let us know your rough area someone may be able to suggest a trainer or club. Good luck!

And all our trainers are very up to date on latest techniques. They have to train themselves first with recognised trainers before they get to try it on dogs!

That's terrible.

1. Who the hell lets 10 puppies free play in the kind of setting?
2. it's totally fixable with help form a proper trainer.

Good luck with finding a decent trainer. As if a 4 mo is unfixable ffs. I fixed my adult dog, who didn’t have any socialisation for the first couple of years of his life, which is a key time to learn social cues. When I got him I lived in a rough area and over time he was attacked once two often by other dogs and suddenly decided to randomly attack other dogs. After I’d gone through a big reintroduction process, he found a number of dog friends, who loved playing with him. He never quite managed to initiate play properly. But he lost the aggression.

My mother in law had GSDs all her life, one was an obedience champion and competed against police and RAF dogs. She was asked to help at an obedience class, and I remember her getting very angry with the man who ran the class and standing up to him when he was trying to train a border collie not to go for other dogs, by hitting it on the nose with a rolled up newspaper. He said "Well he's been coming here for weeks. If you've got a better idea, you try". By the end of the class she had the collie weaving in and out of the other dogs and ignoring them. Not all dog trainers know what they are doing. Find another class.

I hated puppy classes

The trainer had a couple of favourites and was unfriendly and unwelcoming and very dismissive of my terrier. I went three times then didn't bother to go back. Dog is fine!

Where in the country are you OP?

If you want to DM me I can recommend a couple of brilliant trainers in my area...

That is outrageous-your poor puppy and poor you!!

Lucky escape for you and your pup. So many bad outdated trainers around.

I'm in Cheshire/ but close to Manchester and the Peak District. Probably closer to the Peak District than Manchester but can travel anywhere. If anyone can recommend anyone decent?