Standards For Dogs & Clients
Wonder Dog Training has high standards for dogs and the clients we take on. With that being said, below are the standards for the dogs and clients that we take on.
Standards For Dogs We Take On
Not every dog is best served by Wonder Dog. As a training company we have decided to focus our attention to the dogs that are happy & healthy. With that being said, below are the standards for the dogs we take on and do not take on.
Dogs We Do Take On
1) Friendly Dogs. DUH! These are our favorite kind of dog to take on.
2) Reactive dogs…? Yes. We do. What is a reactive dog? A reactive dog is a dog that is ‘aggressive’ or ‘reactive’ behind a barrier or on a leash. This means when the dog on a leash or behind a barrier sees another dog or person, it will bark and it looks aggressive. When the dog is off the leash or there is no barrier, the dog is NOT aggressive. They only appear aggressive on a leash or behind a barrier. We do work with these dogs.
Think about these dogs like you would think about people who talk crap in comments or online. These people are way tougher online and behind a keyboard than they are in person. They will be big and tough behind the keyboard, but when you see them in person, they won’t say the same stuff or even act nice to you. Reactive dogs are the same way, they will bark and lunge on leash or behind a barrier but when the barrier/leash isn’t there they aren’t bad and most of the time even friendly.
3) Fearful Dogs. We do serve fearful dogs. Note: You can insert the word anxious for fearful here too. There are two main types of fearful dogs. Dogs that are quiet fearful and dogs that are loud fearful. We serve both of them. If a dog is a loud fearful, the best thing to do is put the dog on a leash and bring the dog close to you. If the dog quiets down, this is a good sign and is definitely trainable. Some dogs will try to pull away from you, but eventually will stop fighting the leash and settle in. This is what we are looking for.
4) Deaf OR Blind Dogs. Yes, we can train deaf dogs. Yes, we can train blind dogs. They need a bit more specialized training, so if you have someone with a deaf dog, sign them up, but make sure they get a trainer with a bit more experience. Note: We do NOT train deaf AND blind dogs.
Dogs We Do NOT Take On
1) Aggressive Dogs. What is our definition of an aggressive dog? A dog that has bitten humans or other dogs in an aggressive manner.
Dogs will nip and gnaw on you to play with you, especially younger dogs. BUT if the dog is biting in a non-playful manner, this is not something we fix. If you have a dog that is a herding breed and it nips ankles then this is not considered aggressive. How to tell the difference between aggressive and reactive: A dog that is aggressive has bitten other dogs and people and hurt them (not puppies), could be on-leash or off-leash.
Note: Some people will say their dog is “aggressive” but when you dive deeper into it, the dog just nips and it hurts and THEY deem it as aggressive, but it is NOT aggressive. Or, you’re working with a puppy and it bites a lot and they say it bites aggressively but it isn’t, it’s just being a puppy.
2) Fearful Aggressive Dogs. Above we talk about the two MAIN types of fearful dogs. Those are dogs that are loud and quiet. There is a third type of dog and that is a dog that is fearful aggressive. This is a dog that when scared will resort to biting humans. We don’t help with this. This is a dog that would be better served by a trainer that specializes in something like this.
3) Barking. If the dog barks at you for more than 15 minutes at the eval, it is a no deal. Typically dogs that bark 10+ minutes are too far on the fearful spectrum and would be better served by another trainer. Note: You can try putting the dog on a leash and getting it to come next to you and this typically solves the barking with dogs that are scared.
4) Dogs That Are TOO Anxious. If the dog is a bit anxious we can help, but we are not anxiety trainers. For instance, if a dog barks in the crate we can help. But if the dog is eating bars off the crate to get out, harming itself, or self-mutilating, it will be too much for us and they would be better off with another trainer.
5) Two Dogs: If they have two dogs, it is okay if the dogs play fight, but if the dogs are actually fighting, that is too much. Questions to ask, have the dogs hurt each other before? Made each other bleed? We don’t train aggressive dogs or work with aggression between dogs in the same home.
6) Small Dogs: We do not train dogs under 5 pounds. The collars we use will not fit them and we choose not to train them. Note: We do take on certain dogs under 5 pounds on a case by case basis. If the dog is under 5 pounds as a puppy but will grow to be bigger than 5 pounds, we will train that dog.
If the dog is UNDER 7 pounds, we can only sell them on-leash until the dog grows to be over 7 pounds.
Standards For Clients We do and do not Take On
1) Practice: Do they agree to practice 20 minutes a day?
If not, it’s a no deal. We don’t need the whole family practicing but we do need a commitment from one person to at least the 20 minutes a day.
2) Trainer Safety: Would you be comfortable sending your mom to this house or to work with the person? Or one of our trainers?
We say this meaning three things. First, would you be comfortable sending your mom here to this part of town? Second, would you send your mom or little sister to work with this person alone (is this person a creep or does this person make you uncomfortable?) Third, would you send your mom to work in this house (are the conditions okay to work in? Is the house a hoarder house?)