Border Collie Dogs Training - Getting Started
Recommended Answer:
I am so sorry. She sounds awful. Maybe check with other reputable dog trainers and call the Better Business Bureau. See if she has done this to others and try to get your money back. Good luck
Boxer Dog Training Tips and Ideas That Are Critical to Effective Instruction
- you need to call and talk to management.
- find a new dog trainer...
- I think you need to call the office of the company and make a formal complaint.
- Ya you realized the same thing I did in just reading this. Unless they have a guarantee in writing then you are 500 bucks less in the account. Next time you want to spend like this, without checking out the Company and without a warranty send it to me. I will put it in the bank for ya..
- Ask for your money back or part of your money back and why. Turn her into the BBB if she doesn't. Make blogs about her business, that is all she does when she comes over. :) Hope you get it resolved. I would be pissed, too.
- I am so glad I read this....I was thinking of using Barkbusters to train my dog but haven't done it yet due to the cost ($500 seemed very expensive for a 3 hour visit). Contact their head office (should be on the website) and talk to them; they may send out another trainer for you. From what they say in their website they are supposed to do a much more thorough job of training than what you described. By the way, they also claim to have a lifetime guarantee on the training (no extra cost) so ask them about that too!
- sue the company and get in touch with the dog whisperer
- wow she sounds like she did nothing for u call the company and ask what do they do and see if it matches what she did if not complain and have them send someone else to u. My trainer that came to my house was not like that he trained my dog and the first time he came he had changed my dog
- If you have a phone number for this person, call her and discuss your feelings over the phone. If that doesn't go well, you can always complain to the corporate headquarters. I believe there is a link on their website.
If you live in a large enough city you may have some options for trainers through a local obedience club. Check www.akc.org and look under "clubs". - If you're not satisfied, call the company and complain and ask to be reimbursed. Be polite, but firm and tell them you did not find the trainer to be helpful at all. Ask for either a refund or another session with a different trainer (at no cost).
You said it is a nation-wide business. If this trainer is not just an employee, but a franchise owner, I would contact the company's home office. - It seems as if you got an incompetent trainer. Report her and request another person for the next visit.
For $500.00 you need more expertise. - Get you money back, if you can. Go to Petsmart and pay $100 for something like 8 weeks of training that works. At Petsmart, if you aren't satisfied you can retake the training unlimited times for free.
- I'd find a new trainer. Check with Petsmart, they offer training and if you don't have a store near you, they can still recommend a trainer in your area. Also, if you know a Sheriff Officer or State Trooper, you can ask to see who trains their k9 unit, or see if the k9 officer does any training.
- Contact the company and let them know that you expect a more detailed level trainer or a refund...might not work but worth a try. If you still aren't happy then report them to the Better Business Bureau as well as letting your vet know so that others won't hire them and feel cheated as you do. She should have been working with you AND the dog in short sessions not lecturing for hours. Be sure and post what happens here so others will know how the company handles this issue.
- call up and simply tell them your not interested in furthering your sessions with these people and find a new trainer!
if your not happy with the issues (and it sounds liek this personal didnt cover anything you realy needed to cover...) you also shoudl feel comfortable enough to talk to the trainer about the issues you realy want to cover ect.
if not, you NEED to find a new trainer. - Call BarkBusters and complain ( I doubt you'll get anywhere). Then call a new dog trainer and this time you'll know what questions to ask up front. Most reputable dog training companies will work with both you and your dog for an hour or two at a time and it's a regularly scheduled (weekly) training time. Most do want the money up front but others are pay as you learn. Good luck!
- I see exactly what she is doing.
If you can get enough backbone to make the dog stop doing other bad behavior then maybe you will be able to stop the aggression.
You need to take control of the little things first. Keep him from stealling food and barking like you are in charge. "bah"
Added:
You wrote a check for services rendered. You owe her the money thats a very simple civil suit. - realised what !?look if she cost you 500 dollars you have been well and truely done ,look i have done this job and i have got a lot of owners and dogs sorted out for a fraction of the cost as regards to the monkey ,that should not be the issue here for starters ,ask about the animal but not for that length of time and to be honest anyone in this business explains the cost right at the begining ,and then a plan is set out for both youre self and the dog ,and see what you have done in the training and throwing a chain at the dog wont help this problem it will only learn to see it coming and learn to be a bigger problem ,now as for her coming back phone her up and tell her that she dosent need to come back as youre not interested in her trainning process as this is not how you want youre dog treated .......i hope you can get this problem sorted out .....take care xx
- Call the company and tell them all this.
However, it would seem that you were partly at fault in not stating at the outset to the trainer that aggression was the problem rather than letting her go on and on for hours about other things.
Seems that there was extreme lack of communication between what you needed for your dog and what she was doing.
Stopping the check doesn't solve anything, if you have a contract or agreement with these people, it will just leave you open for small claims court or worse. You need to talk to the head of the company (or office) and reach a settlement. - I would complain to Barkbusters and find another trainer! The aggression issue is the first thing she should have dealt with! A dog trainer is a service and if you do not like it you have the right to find another one suited to your needs!
A good trainer is going to ask questions (it is called 'pet detective!') not just tell you a lot of stuff!
Try contacting the Better Business Bureau also. Did you sign a contract with her for a certain amount of sessions? If so, there should be a clause for you not being satisfied with the service. You could take her to court also. She may not want to take the time to deal with you in this way. - Of course she should get her money up front. With people now a days, you can't trust them to pay you afterwards. If she had done the training and then you said you had no money ... then what?? She can't take back what she taught you. They have probably found just like everyone else out there that people cannot be trusted to pay the money they owe once they already have something.
If you aren't pleased with the training and the information you got, then you should contact Barkbusters and tell them you aren't happy. I would think they should have some sort of guarantee that you should be happy with what you are getting.. Did you not sign a contract, or get any information at all before you started this?
If you don't like how it's going, and you don't feel that they are doing what you want, then find a new trainer. If you agreed to the $500, for the session, then you are obligated to pay that $500. You can't stop payment on your cheque. You got your training. They'll just take you to court if you try to refuse payment for the training. Call and discuss it with Barkbuster and find out what they are saying about it all.. Find out if they even train aggressive dogs.. Maybe you weren't clear in what you wanted your dog to learn? - quote
"that she never even said anything about how to solve the aggression issue with my dog. which is my main problem here that needs fixing asap! "
A-er,,,,, why on earth would you call an O/B trainer for an aggression problem????
Sorry to say it but there are better choices. Like perhaps a Behaviorist that specializes in agressive dogs. - I detest Bark Busters.
It's a franchise ANYONE can purchase. The owners attend a 3 week training sessions and then call themselves "trainers" or "behavorists".
The entire "method" they use is growling at the dogs. There was an article in our local paper a couple years ago about them. We were furious that a franchise got free press with some guy who'd been a traininer for all of 5 months and he was calling himself an expert. Our non-profit organization does training and have been training for YEARS and we didn't get that kind of press....
Anyway, look at the contract. It should state that there is a lifetime quarantee. This means they will keep coming back for as long as you own the dog or for a year to work on the issue you have.
I'd do 2 things. Quickly call an attorney for help and see if you can stop payment legally. That consultation may cost you more than the $500.00.
Work with these dopes for EVER. Keep making them come back until your dog is fixed. I'd pester the daylights out of them until they refunded your money. You paid for a service, USE it. It's a small business with that woman for an owner..... She needs to keep coming over to help you, that's what their contract states. Make her help you... and help you and help you and help you...
Make sure you get your $500. worth of training. It says on their website they can help with aggression. Make them help. If not, call the home office. Complain to the Better Business Bureau, Angies List, Craig's list Etc.
The thing is, you have only 1 consultation right now to go on and that's not enough to say the method isn't working.
If it were me, I'd ask the attorney about the money. Then I'd probably just chalk up losing the $500. You can try using them. But growling at dogs and noises don't train dogs.
Post a question about those methods here and see what Tom l, Greekman and Animal Artwork have to say about them. They'll all say this is garbage.
It's more important to get your dog on the right track.
I wish you the best of luck! - You said that she did nothing to train your dog, she just told you what to do. Well, that is what trainers are supposed to do. Trainers train YOU to train your dog, they don't actually do the training. If she did everything, you wouldn't know what to do when she left.
- Get a new trainer or do it yourself. I would call the company and get your money back too. Sounds like the lady is trying to take advantage of you.
- Hi there,
As a dog trainer myself all I can say is WOW, $500 bucks for a visit.
I really don`t know what you can do about your present situation, owing her a fee.
Did you sign any sort of contract with her? If so be careful what you do.
Anyway the first time you would see me in that type of situation would be to first evaluate the dog and it`s handlers. Then sit you down and tell you about my observations to be sure we were on the same page.
Then I would ask about your concerns and what you would like the dog to do.
All this info would give me a starting point for a plan that we would start the next visit.
$500 bucks, WOW, I still can`t get over that!!!
I would deffinately charge for the evaluation and milage if you lived outside of my area, but it sure wouldn`t be that hefty.
Following that I would charge you a flat rate for all visits following, and I charge $35 per hour plus milage if your outside the area for private lessons.
Big difference is that I`m a "hands on trainer", simply put, I would not leave your residence till you understood and could preform that weeks exercises.
Bottom line, before getting involved with any trainer, attend one or 2 of his/her classes to evaluate the trainer and see if it is what you want.
If they tell you that you can not come see them in action, drop that one and continue searching.
Perhaps look under obedience clubs, they normally set a lower rate, and have dedicated trainers.
Even I attend other trainers classes, sure I can train my own dogs but I always need the distractions to make sure my dog is trained the way I want it.
Hopefully this has helped you out. If you have any questions that I can help you with don`t hesitate to contact me at dogtrainer7@yahoo.
Good Luck - Definately NOT one of my favorite "styles" of training. I find it generally ineffective at best. However, the average dog probably can be managed with such methods.... trouble is, by the time someone's willing to spend that amount of money on training a dog "average" is not usually the correct description for the dog.
All that aside... Payment is expected up front by most trainers and consultants. Most trainers do not train your dog for you, but simply teach you how to train your dog... you're paying for their expertise and knowledge. As a trainer, there are very few dogs who don't listen to me... I can get them to do things their owners have only dreamed of... that doesn't mean that the owner has enough authority over the dog to convince it to even sit... the issue is NOT the dog, but is the owner.
Training a dog is also about making small steps... forming building blocks for the next larger step. I do not know why she did not address the aggression issue, but it would make more sense to ask her than it would to simply be upset. I have had training situations where I needed to develop a rapport between the owner and the dog BEFORE I could assist in working on what the biggest issue was... frankly, to do so otherwise would have been a good lead in to getting someone bit.
FWIW.. My initial consultation is $200 for a 2 hour consultation plus written plan. Each additional half hour of training is $75. (I do negotiate some package deals) My average total fee is $750 and includes a consultation and 8 visits. (which may sound like a lot of money but when you consider time lost traveling, gas, problem solving etc... it averages out to be quite a bit less on an hourly basis). If I feel an owner is not following through with the training... I'm pretty blunt about it.
Edit: I require weekly visits at minimum when I'm working with someone. A month between visits is too long. - I would have done what your Dad did, put a stop on the check. Let her sue you, read your contract, it probably states that she'll help you train your dog, instead you have to listen to her talking about things you already know. I had a dog trainer come to my house and we "worked" with my pup, he was amazing and had her obeying commands within 1/2 hour and we talked at the end of each session on what I should be working on and techniques. Don't give up on dog trainers, there are good ones out there. By the way, I paid him after each session not up front. Good luck.
- Contact the company, not her but the national one, talk to customer relations, the office of the President, whomever but lodge a formal complaint.
Explain that you talked to her about a specific problem you needed addressed immediately. Note that she said she would address this for you but that she did not either in her visit or her plan for future training. Say that you are thoroughly dissatisfied and feel that you have been misled.
State that you will pay a reasonable fee for her time but you do not want her service in the future as she has not delivered what she promised. You are the customer and she should not be threatening you but negotiating a reasonable solution. A business person who does not deliver what she promised and threatens you with a criminal complaint is not anyone you ever want inside your home....ever.
What she said was beyond the pale and completely unprofessional and unacceptable.
The BBB is useless. The State Attorney General is much more useful and I would go on the web and check out consumer complaint services on your State's website and see what they say about the check, about delivery of services, etc.
I would also look at your state's laws regarding sales in the home. There may be a cooling off period where you can decide not to buy the service you signed up for as some salespeople resort to high pressure tactics and intimidate customers.
Hopefully, a call to the national company will have your local franchisee doing a better job of customer service and you can get rid of the contract, pay a fee for her time and be done with this company.
Unfortunately, anyone can call themselves a trainer or behaviorists and some of them can actually damage your dog both physically and psychologically. If you cannot find someone who is well recommended by multiple, independent sources, I would stick to books by world class behaviorists and trainers. They are available everywhere and they include proven techniques. - It seems that I am just one lucky soandso with Barkbusters. I had a great trainer who didn't make us pay the whole amount up front, trained three dogs for the price of one, and discounted because they were rescue dogs. He did a great job with the aggression in our Heeler. I am sorry you had such a bad experience, and I would definitely pursue this with the BBB. In addition, there is a Barkbusters website with a toll-free number that you can call to complain about your trainer. Maybe they will take her franchise away-she definitely needs to be in a different line of work!
No comments:
Post a Comment