Dog returned from trainer / I'm worried

[themessygarden]

Have a lovely female lab, 5 years old, we never really trained her but she is generally a really good dog, she is the sweetest girl ever.

She has a few bad habits we have been unable to get her out of, pulling when on the leash, jumping all over visitors to the house and pawing everyone and anyone for attention, and no recall whatsoever.

We had a dog trainer recommended to us, and she spent a few days there while we were away. Got her back last night and she seemed subdued, I thought she must have been exhausted after a few days with other dogs and long walks. She was excited to see me and none of the usual jumping on top of me.

This morning I wanted to put her in another room and she was just sitting there and wouldn't move, so I went to grab her collar to guide her into the other room, which is how we have been doing it for all her life, and she absolutely cowered as if she thought I was going to hit her.

I don't know if I am overreacting, but I am absolutely gutted.

Is there anything else I should look out for to see if she has been 'mistreated' or trained in a manner that we would never have wanted her trained.

PS OP: the reward-based, postive reinforcement method is not about being dependent on treats for compliance. The treat should always come with lavish praise from you. Every dog craves the attention and approval of its human. That is the real reward. As training progresses, you cut down and ultimately eliminate the treats and continue with the praise.

Can I suggest you check her private area for signs of harm?

ask this person what he did to your dog
ask to inspect his premises and get the address and Google it

I have never grabbed a dog by the collar. I certainly wouldn't tug him along into another room with it.

You are taking the easy road here. Two weeks training is not enough on your part - not even a start. You need to go at this consistently either one on one with a trainer or in a class. You don't know enough to train so I suggest a one on one. Pulling does not get fixed fast.
Sending her off to a randomer with no idea what he is doing and expecting a fully trained dog is a bit stupid. Maybe you should re-home?

Thanks for all the replies, suggestions, experiences and support. But just to clarify I didn’t drop my dog with some random person.

1. my daughter and I had had 5 sessions with him in the 2 weeks prior to leaving the dog with him.
2. he used lavish praise and also used treats initially, as that is what we did.
3. I saw nothing about him that made me think he might not be professional or an unkind trainer.
4. i visited his home, he has labs himself, he has a lovely home, a large garden, a lovely large room indoors specifically for the dogs to sleep in, she had her own bed which we brought to his house.
5. the dogs are walked daily in forests and swim in a local lake.
6. he brought some dogs with him on one of our walks and they all seemed to like him.

I just never saw my dog cower the way she did today and I am upset about it, which made me worry something had happened that we would not have expected or wanted.

it was the first two weeks of a programme that he estimated would be about 3 to 4 months. We didn’t intend to stop after 2 weeks.

he was highly recommended by someone I know.

I just never saw my dog cower the way she did today and I am upset about it, which made me worry something had happened that we would not have expected or wanted.

You say it's normal for you to drag her by the collar to get up - maybe the trainer has used a different method and now she's afraid of having her neck or collar tugged on like that?

@themessygarden Sorry you're being roasted here. Don't want to make you feel any worse, but now that you've explained you've had 5 sessions with him previously (during which he did use some praise, treats etc) there's some serious inconsistencies in your own behaviour you need to think about. You said in the original post:

"This morning I wanted to put her in another room and she was just sitting there and wouldn't move, so I went to grab her collar to guide her into the other room, which is how we have been doing it for all her life,"

So... when she didn't move when you called her to another room, you immediately resorted to your old bad habits (grabbing by collar is a form of dominance-based control) rahter than using some of the positive tools you presumably had been shown by him ? Why? YOu could just as easily have fetch a little treat and used it as a chance to practice? In fact, had you been practicing with your dog outside of the sessions?

What I am saying is that you need to fully participate in any dog training. It's as much about training the owner as the dog. Her boarding with the trainer, even if it followed previous sessions, was never going to yield results. You need to change your mindset. As ever, it's the owner and not the dog that's the problem.

Any competent trainer would also train the animal owner on how to reinforce the new training.

Dog returns home and fails to jump all over you: = training success.

You wanted it taught to come when called (like, into another room) That should be , a verbal command (as the dog has been taught by trainer). NOT, you dragging her by the collar (your old mistake repeated)

The whole idea of training is for YOU to use the methods the trainer has taught the dog.

This. It's not the dog that needs to be trained - it's just being a dog who has never been taught any better. It's the owner that needs the training.

Agree with @SafferUpNorth - Every single minute of a day with your dog is a training oportunity - wait at door. lie and wait for treat, sit stay, come to a command, sit for a lead etc etc. You literally can do stuff every day that will re-inforce training. Please don't grab by the collar - most dogs hate it.

Even if you had 5 sessions before you went away I'm a bit worried that there were no goals set as to outcomes. A good trainer probably would not do board and train - often used in police/ search & gun breeds tho so maybe thats why he has labs.
You need to start yourself with a good trainer and work with your dog.

You need to go back to your trainer with your concerns.

How distressing for you and the dog.

I am a new dog owner but one of the first things I was told by a dog trainer I brought in was never to be tempted to send my dog away for training. The dog has the relationship with you, it’s owner, no one else. You need to be present at training sessions.
On your own admission, you never really trained the dog, it is a good dog with a few bad habits and has reached the age of 5 without it bothering anyone too much.
As others have said let the dog completely relax back into your home routine, make a fuss of the dog to make her feel safe again. You have learned from this experience. Your dog sounds lovely, you sound caring and responsible. Put it behind you and enjoy your dog and all her quirks.

Sorry this has upset you OP. I would try not to worry about it and to move on from this. I wouldn't use this trainer again though because:

a) a gentle leader is a training aid, it's not a training method and it's also an aversive, which means it works becauase when your dog pulls, something happens it doesn't like/that is uncomfortable/hurts the dog and so she doesn't pull. Most modern dog trainsers try and avoid training aids such as this, although alongside proper training they may still have a place. The trainer isn't training your dog at all by using this.

b) saying that dogs that are given treats when training are only working for the treat is old fashioned and outdated. Dogs learn by conditioning. If you reward a dog for doing something, it will keep doing it. If you reward it enough times, eventually you can start dropping the rewards and only rewarding every few time/occasionally. Although that said, I reward mine fairly heavily most of the time, it leads to pretty well motivate dogs...

So, when moving your dog to another room, use a treat to 'lure' her in and use whatever command you want to use. No need to grab her collar. Training to walk to heel is more tricky once a dog has learned to pull, but although she won't pull with a gentle leader, she will pull again if you put the collar back on and walk her, so you still need to train her. Sophia Yin has some good videos on Youtube for this.

Residential trainers are notorious for using abusive dog training techniques. I am a member of lots of dog groups on facebook and have heard so many stories like yours and worse.

@themessygarden your dog may not have been abused as we think of it, but she might simply be feeling upset, confused and scared after changing environments.

As for training, we have our dog years, we still "train" to reinforce his basic training.

As for the pulling, I found using a non-extendable lead and a lot of patience helped. If he pulled we quickly turned in the opposite direction and said "let's go" in a really happy voice and then turned back again. Or if he pulled I just stood still and we didn't move again until he released the pressure on the lead.

I think you have to give yourself a break. You were going off advise. You had been working with the training, and you are where you are so now you need to move forward.
Find a good positive trainer to come to your house and train you. Or watch some positive training videos online