Dog training talk with Larry Krohn part 12 tips myths and mistakes
all right folks slurry packed masses dog
training this is part 12
dog training talk let’s talk about a
couple of cases where clients weren’t
very happy okay what would I consider
unsuccessful cases because we all talk
about the good stuff and we like the
good stuff but let’s face it not
we can’t satisfy everyone no matter how
hard you try okay I have a extremely
good relationship with the majority of
my clients and what I tell people is
once I’m your trainer I’m your trainer
for life and unless you don’t want me
okay I treat people very well I treat
people with respect but I’m also very
demanding
I don’t ask a lot but the things I do
ask for I I need them to do and here’s
the reason they’re gonna cut me a check
and pay me a lot of money to help them
I’m not here just to take their money
okay I’m gonna give them everything I
got and then some I’m gonna give them
everything but I can’t do it by myself
we need them to work with we need to do
it together that’s all there is to it so
every now and then you’re gonna get
someone that you’re gonna have some some
issues with I’ve been very fortunate
because all the years I’m doing this I
can count on you know less than one hand
how many times I’ve had difficulty with
the client it just it’s very very rare
it really is but the I had two that I
know weren’t happy with what we did and
they were both pretty recent two first
one I got a dog it was in it was in bad
shape mentally like it was absolutely
awful and here’s the thing trainers I’m
sure see this when you get a board and
train sometimes the dog is real anxious
and real nervous being away from home
you know there’s a lot of bad habits
that go on in the home there’s a lot of
anxiety when they’re separated from
their owners and sometimes they won’t
eat you know for 24 hours mornings
sometimes even a little longer that’s
normal not a big deal I don’t worry
about that this dog had so many issues
that not only had it gone three days
without eating three days nothing no no
treats no high-value stuff no food
thing I can still live with that it’s
its food mother nature will kick in and
the dogs not going to starve to death
okay but the thing that scared me is
this dog didn’t have a sip of water in
three days nothing that’s concerning
okay that’s really concerning I did
everything I could think of to do the
dog wouldn’t eat one drink I tried
everything that I couldn’t come up with
any more I reached out to other people
you know some real experienced dog
trainers people I really respect in the
pet dog industry tried to put our braid
they came up with things I try her in
nothing I mean nothing and so basically
that day I think it was going on day
four I was about to take the dog to the
vet to have some fluids put in under the
skin because I was I was really scared
for this dog’s health a dog can go a
while without eating a dog can’t go that
long without drinking so now it became a
safety issue okay so what I did I tried
one more thing just out of the blue this
is how it usually happens to see what
would happen and the only way I got this
dog to finally start eating a little
something was while the dog was in the
crate a wire crate I could take some
kibble and one at a time drop it over
the top of the into the crate one at a
time and the dog picked it up and eat I
was like okay that’s great standing
there drop in kibble here and there the
dog was eating like that so I stopped
shortly put it in a bowl tried to feed
the dog tried to feed but I had nothing
absolutely nothing I said okay so I got
to drop food through this freaking crate
for the dog Dee but you do what you got
to do right so that’s what I did I stood
there drop in one kibble at a time
through the top of the crate and the dog
would eat it so that’s good at least now
it’s eating all right but that’s the
only way you would eat that’s progress
so now I let the dog out and hopefully
the dog would drink it wouldn’t all
right so I tried one more thing now I
put some kibble in the dog food bowl a
little bit not too much and I filled it
with water okay so I put I didn’t just
you know a lot of people will wet the
dog food I didn’t do that picture just a
like
half a cup of kibble on the bottom of
the bowl and then I filled the whole
thing with water and I put it in the
crate and immediately the dog started
licking the water and going down trying
to get the kibble and then started
drinking all right so we got that done
now the dog started eating and drinking
but that’s some weird stuff okay but
again I had to try so many different
things I reached out for help I asked
other people you know and just nothing
worked so again it was something weird
that I’ve never had to do before that
work so now we get the dog eating and
drinking and the dog was doing okay
during training did well here’s why I
could tell you the owner wasn’t happy
when I talked to the owner of course
this dog was free fed okay there was no
structure in the home the food was out
all the time sometimes the dog windy and
I hate the free feeding thing guys it’s
so important not to do that so when I
met with the owner we do our go home
visit and I work with the owner you know
she was real receptive to everything we
trained the dog did great not a problem
I set up an appointment for the
following week go to the home now I like
to see the dog in the house and we train
in the house well I was very adamant
about what I needed her to do what not
to do and she agreed okay especially
with the food stuff I go in the house
what’s the first thing I see two giant
bowls of food on the kitchen floor I
asked like hey what’s going on here you
know and I kind of caught an attitude
about it we went in the yard we trained
it wasn’t very positive because the
energy was just terrible there was a lot
of tension so I knew right away this
person had no interest in training this
dog they paid me for nothing and at that
point I don’t feel bad because I can’t
force someone to want to help their dog
I haven’t seen that person since haven’t
talked to him and I won’t if they
reached out for help I would help them
under one condition
you change these things I need you to
change or I’m out I can’t I don’t work
like that
because it’s useless I’m wasting my time
and I’m wasting your time okay so I know
that person was not happy it would never
bring me another dog but it probably
never bring anyone another dog okay
that’s the type
person that you can’t help so for you
trainers don’t give give people
everything you got but every now and
then if someone’s unreasonable and it’s
not willing to meet you halfway there’s
only so much you can do okay
don’t bend your belief system or what
you feel needs to be done to satisfy
someone when you know it’s not gonna
help don’t do that
stick stick your ground there okay next
person was kind of different okay and
this was kind of my fault so I get a
call about training a dog doing a board
in three week boarding train and I
should have known from the phone call
because there were more questions than
usual it was like it was a very long
interview process about expectations
what they could expect from my program
you know and and I should have I should
have known from the start like I don’t
know if your expectations are realistic
you know I should have just kind of said
I don’t know if I’m the right guy for
you you know but I answered the
questions whatever and it was a very
long interview process more than one
time which is kind of weird because
normally people are kind of fighting to
get in and and you know get scheduled to
get in here but I did what I had to do
so I get the dog and the dog has no
issues there are no problems it’s just
an awesome young dog little dog awesome
dog
I like really had a good time with this
dog and the dog trained fantastic where
I made a mistake guys is I think I made
I think I made two videos within the
first week with this dog and the dog was
great
a little superstar people are like holy
crap that dog is awesome you know it’s
it trained up real nice here’s the
problem as trainers when we get dogs
with some issues especially serious
issues it’s very easy to make a dramatic
change very fast to her people will be
like wow that’s awesome very easy when
there’s a lot of bad there it’s very
easy to make a big difference and have
the dog look a lot better very easy when
a dog doesn’t have problems and does so
well right from the start
the progress is going too slow right
it’s kind of like kind of like a fat
person when they start working out and
dieting and doing the right thing right
they’re gonna lose a ton of weight the
first week or two like a shitload of
weight an unreasonable amount of weight
very easily but then that’s gonna slow
down and you know reality is going to
set in and then instead of losing 10 12
pounds the first week you’re losing 1 to
2 pounds a week progress becomes steady
but much slower and so this dog did so
well right from the start I said I’m
gonna film this and I’ve made a couple
of videos and the owner saw him and
everyone was happy but at the end of the
three weeks when the dog was picked up I
can tell I could tell that the owner
wasn’t happy I can just tell I know
people and I and I called him out on it
I said you know it seems you seem to be
not happy is there is there a problem is
there something you’re not happy with
then they’re like no no no there’s not
but I know that wasn’t the case I know
that wasn’t the case I know people very
well and I said just be honest if you’re
not happy with something you got to tell
me so I can fix it and I never said
anything so I set up a schedule for the
next one week or two weeks after in the
home because again I like to see the dog
in the home and we went to do that and
we had an honest discussion and though
the one owner said I was kind of
disappointed in the result I said yeah I
know
I know you were so I’m not an idiot I
know you were so well tell me why and
and and he said well I don’t know I just
expected more so well what did you
expect you know I want specifics and
they couldn’t give me an answer it’s
okay I understand I said well I
appreciate you being honest and that’s
all I asked for because if you’re honest
then I could try to figure out where we
can go from there
I said but you got to understand
something you have a dog with no issues
you have a phenomenal dog and the sky is
the limit with this dog but you also
have a puppy you know this dogs a year
at less than a year old it’s a but it’s
a little tiny puppy still and the dogs
still learning so if we continue to do
what needs to be done the sky’s the
limit but I don’t know what else you you
want more than a well-trained obedient
off-leash dog yeah
and I’m not really sure but if you give
me specifics I can try well they really
couldn’t so we did that lesson that day
and it went real well you know I worked
with the family a lot and I think we
made a lot of progress you know and I
think I was able to get across that you
can only do so much in three weeks but
this is just the beginning I said my job
is to lay a very strong foundation and
we got to continue to build on that
especially with a dog at this age you
know you don’t create a perfect dog in
three weeks guys it takes some time you
could do a lot in three weeks but you
have to provide the owners with the
education to continue that and it
doesn’t take a lot you know a couple
minutes here a couple minutes there the
foundation is set so in both cases I
know those clients were not happy and
I’m not used to that you know I have
really good success with people I really
do but I give a lot I give more than
what people pay for it believe me when I
tell you and you know I’m always gonna
try to make people happy but sometimes
you know you’re gonna run into those
cases where just people expect things
that aren’t realistic now if that dog
that second dog had a lot of problems
guarantee they would have been thrilled
because the problems would have been
gone and that is like oh man that’s
that’s great but when a dog doesn’t have
problems it’s a lot harder to impress
somebody okay and I think maybe what
they expected was they expected that dog
to do everything Luca does that’s what I
think I think they expected to see Luca
in that little body when they come got
there that’s not realistic I can’t do
that no one can do that you understand
what I’m saying
so give people give clients everything
you have you know but but you know just
really stick to your beliefs treat
people well treat people with more
respect than they deserve and you can’t
go wrong give all you got but those are
two cases there that I know they weren’t
happy and and a few years back guys that
would have really bothered me oh and the
second client I sent a text a couple
weeks ago like a we need to meet and do
some more training that’s where I was
going with that sorry and just you know
let’s set something up I never heard
back so that’s how I know they weren’t
happy you know if someone’s not willing
to to meet with me I can’t do anything I
did my part and if it was a few years
ago I’d be calling and texting like hey
I want you know let’s get this done
I won’t do that anymore if they want me
they can call me but I’m not gonna chase
someone beg them there’s too many people
out there wait and they’ll want the help
you understand what I’m saying keep
training dogs keep training keep
training keep training
let’s help as many dogs as we can and
and and on a quick side note guys
there’s so much animosity in the dog
training world with like-minded trainers
you know we don’t we don’t agree with
each other’s methods there’s a lot of
negativity there’s a lot of things put
out there that people don’t mention
names but we know they’re talking about
you don’t have to agree with what
someone does to respect them and treat
them with respect you know there’s a lot
of trainers out there that do things I
don’t like but at the same time they do
a lot of good stuff too so all you can
do is if someone’s trying their best and
they’re sincere and helping people and
helping dogs you you know sometimes you
just got to give them the benefit of the
doubt know what I’m saying
just treat everyone with respect man as
long as they’re not doing those shady
and harming animals and robbing
people give them the benefit of the
doubt peace out
