Ticked at trainers attitude

[pamha]

We had our first puppy class with Lola last week. The first session was mostly orientation & telling us the rules & going over common puppy problems without the dogs there (waste of time IMO for us at least).

She was scared when we first got there, acting like she was being taken to the vets as she smelled the other dogs. When they had their first off-leash time, Lola was scared, came to run under my chair (my son (13) is handling her for the class), and started snapping at the dogs that followed her. The trainers had her back on leash and released the other dogs one at a time to come meet her; she was fine with that. Most of these pups are 4-6 months, some large, some small, and it was really overwhelming for her.

One of the assisting trainers came over to talk to me, explaining why they wanted her on the leash. I understood that and let him know about her background (dumped at 4 weeks). I mentioned we`d taken her to the dog park the week before- she did fine with some smaller dogs, but started getting fear-aggressive when some larger dogs came - I gave her a few minutes to see if she`d get used to them & then left because she was overwhelmed. He said she should never go to the dog park until she was at least a year old because if she got scared at this age it could stay with her.

OK fine, I understand his reasoning and accept that he knows more in general about dogs than me. But then he ruined it by saying 'of course HE could handle her at the dog park'. Excuse me? Either the dog park is bad or its not. He has no idea how I handle her or anything about my experience or knowledge of training. I`m not saying I`m any kind of expert, but I`ve had and trained several dogs and I believe I can handle and read my dog well enough to make a good decision on whether she can cope or not. We`re taking the class mostly for socialization and for my son & Lola to gain more confidence in each other; any new tips or useful information is always good too. He also stated that puppy class is enough socialization for her. With only 4 more sessions I think not. Our vet and several others that I respect recommend a LOT more social interaction than that for her and you can even see an improvement in her behavior after she has a good one on one (or two) play session with an active elder or pup near her size.

I`d like to go back to this club for obediance training later, but I don`t want to have this guy for our trainer. He really rubs me the wrong way! I`d already decided to wait a bit before going back to the dog park- the first time was just to check out the atmosphere. I liked most of the dogs & owners that were there, but it was a bit much for Lola. His attitude though made me want to stop off there on the way home! I`m sure his advice was well meant, but he needs to learn at least that acting all 'doggier than thou' is NOT the way to get people to listen to him.

One the plus side, we discovered another good reason for adopting a shelter/rescue pup (I know the terms aren`t interchangable, but our no-kill shelter functions much like a rescue). We got a $10 discount on class registration