Secret Dog Trainer Pet Peeve #432. The “use it or lose it” dilemma.

 I was more than a little excited to see my next dog training client. So excited, in fact, that I was waiting at the door, peering out into the parking lot of the training facility.

These were smart, dedicated dog owners; and I was anxious to see how they had progressed since our last session.

As I saw their car pull into the parking lot - right on time - I looked forward to watching them walk the dog in.

When they began working with me, their dog had been a lunging, barking tyrant on the leash.

But so far, training had gone really, really well - and he’d begun to be transformed into a dog who actually cared who was at the other end of the leash. The last time he’d been in, he was actively and happily looking to them for guidance, even when there were other dogs or people around.

They had been on vacation for 2 weeks, but there had been no emails expressing any troubles, so I was more than hopeful things were still right on track.

Here they came….

And…my heart dropped.

You know the kind of disappointment that even if you’ve experienced it a hundred times - it still hits you right in the gut every time it happens?

Yeah.

The small-but-strong dog was dragging hard on the leash; hard enough to be coughing and gagging. His training collar and the handling skills I’d worked so hard to teach the owners in previous weeks were nowhere to be seen.

I opened the door to the training facility and instructed them... read on.