If you know me at all, you will know that I have for years judged people based on my own experience with them.
Yes, as a dog advocate, I have fought with God knows how many people over God knows how many issues, but I don't jump on bandwagons.
This week I want to talk about a 'dog trainer' who is not too far from us and who moved to Jefferson in recent years from Buford.
A self-styled Cesar Milan wannabe with lots of patter about being a 'dog psychology expert', we have had many, many clients who have brought their dogs to us after having had them there, each of whom has almost the same story, although some more upsetting than others.
I have written about this woman before, years ago when introducing new guests, sweet little Jaxson Fleming and big boy Rocco Shields to our Facebook family, but the stories seemed almost too fantastic for some to believe, I have been told, despite being absolutely true.
The reason I'm talking about her today is because social media has been set alight over the last week about how this lady abuses dogs, takes huge amounts of money for 'board and train' but does little training, charges a great deal for regular boarding but the dogs spend little time outside, and how dogs are physically abused, kicked and generally bullied while in her care.
It is a massive relief to me that this great wave of stories has been unleashed on social media, and that it has become so bad that this woman has been forced to actually remove her Facebook page because of the reviews.
Because you see, we have many clients who have transferred to us after having been clients there, who were told that we at DD had 'no idea about dog psychology', and yes, even labelled me a 'pu**y' to a large gathering of folks at a workshop she held.
This accusation was because we are well known for not tolerating the use of pinch, choke or shock collars and because we refuse to force dogs into doing anything they don't want to do.
There is a very good reason I am sharing this today and that is because I want you all to always remember just one thing.
Ready? Here goes..
"If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and waddles like a duck, it's a duck".
When the Fleming family brought Jaxson home, they were determined that he would not be reactive like their former dog and so they took him to this facility, then located in Buford. They sat down with the head trainer / dog whisperer / bully-in-chief and explained that they wanted to make sure their dog would be safe around their children and visitors.
To 'temperament test' the dog, the 'trainer' proceeded to knuckle punch the poor puppy time after time on various parts of his body, upwards of 30 times, during which the family were horrified. "Trust that we know what we are doing" they were told "it is how we test for reactivity and aggression".
After 30 punches, little Jaxson, who is honestly the sweetest little man you'd ever meet, said enough is enough and growled at the trainer.
"Ahh, you see? He's very aggressive. We recommend our full 'immersion board and train program' where he stays with us for four weeks to get that out of him."
The Fleming family for a moment were taken in because, after all, she was the 'professional' right? So, they reluctantly left him and went away, but got just two minutes down the road, looked at each other and said, "No way is that right! That woman is just a bully".
They returned to pick up sweet little Jaxson who was petrified and a few weeks later, he joined the DD ranch family where he has been ever since.
Maribel Shields had the most amazing 230 pound Mastiff, Rocco, who went to that facility for boarding. After a few visits, they realized that their big, beautiful boy was urinating out of fear and pulling back as soon as they tried to get him out of the car. The son of the owner told them that he just needed to 'toughen up' and slipped a pinch and choke collar on him and 'helicoptered' him right in front of the family. As Rocco fought to breathe, Maribel and Mike realized that this was not dog training, it was actually just abuse and vowed 'never again'.
Rocco joined the DD family a little while after that happened and if you are familiar with his story, you will know that it took me months to build this boy's trust in humans outside of his family. He was broken. Not irretrievably, but broken none the less.
It is, to this day, one of the greatest, most fulfilling rehabilitation jobs I have ever had, and the day he trusted me enough to get into the swimming pool with me, I bawled like a baby. Rocco was one of the great loves of my professional life (he's the big goober on the front of my book 'It's okay, he's friendly') and I seriously wanted to hurt those that had put him through such pain, because he was just a kind soul, confused by how they saw him and how they treated him.
The big dog whom they felt needed to be 'mastered' and 'dominated', the dog who was tormented to gain compliance, was a kitten at DD. He used to sleep with a little 9 pound poodle, Khloe Horne, in the curve of his belly and once even broke my chair trying to get into my lap for a cuddle.
The only time I was ever terrified by that dog was after he drank a bowl of water and shook his big old head! 🤣🤣
Our walls will never be the same!
So many times in life, we trust people because of who they say they are and what they say they can do. We put our blind faith in anyone with a Facebook page or a website and then question ourselves as being in the wrong if things didn't turn out as planned. But please, folks, have a little faith in your own good sense.
If your dog doesn't want to enter the gates of a boarding or training facility, don't force him. He may need more time, or they may just be serial killers. Give him the benefit of the doubt.
If your dog doesn't want to have a relationship with the people looking after him, don't trust that person. You have a very clever animal who can smell epileptic fits, sniff out cancer sites on a person and can be trained to change the socks of a disabled person, so please trust him to be able to sniff out an a$$hole.
If anyone says that physical punishment is the way to gain compliance in dog training, then they are not dog trainers, they are bullies.
If anyone needs to use tools that stab, pinch, choke, shock or cut off the dogs' oxygen in order to get him to stop doing something, they are not dog trainers, they are abusers.
At the Ranch, we only employ people who are gentle, kind and empathic.
We honestly don't care if someone can get a dog to solve a Rubik's cube or sew on a button in thirty seconds. Good for them if they can, and whoop de doo, but here, we are all about just making them happy.
Because you see, making them happy reduces the levels of the stress hormone cortisol which is responsible for so many chronic illnesses in our pets today.
Stress is what drives dogs to react inappropriately to whatever stimulus is applied, be it social, environmental or physical.
When dogs are not stressed, they are open to learning.
No animal can take in and process training information when their oxygen is restricted or when their heart is pounding in pain or fear. It's like asking you to learn Pythagora's theorem while having a heart attack. Really, it's just like that.
When they learn calmly and the learning is reinforced with praise, patience and kindness, they make better decisions, develop better habits, and the lessons stick.
When dogs are not stressed they become open to forming relationships with other dogs and humans. They trust more, they invest more of their emotions, drop their guard and relax, and in so doing allow us to develop deep and lasting bonds with them.
Who benefits from that? Everyone.
This post is not about getting you to bring your dog to DD. It is about making sure you lean on your own understanding and become an advocate for your dog.
Many people on that person's social media said nothing for years because they doubted that their feelings were right, felt that maybe it wasn't abuse, maybe it was just 'how you got results'.
When one person came forward and told their story, so did others, and that's when it all started to fall down like a house of cards.
Do I want to ruin this woman's business by sharing this? Nope. I fear for the livelihood of her employees and want to make sure that she is able to maintain a living to feed her own large pack of dogs.
I would like her to learn from this and change the way she operates, learning to 'partner' instead of 'dominate'. It's never too late to learn new ways of doing things, one of them being that, with dogs, you get more with honey than vinegar.
All I want to do here is illustrate that you have to trust your gut and be prepared to walk if something looks abusive, hurtful and wrong to you.
You know why? Because it very likely is.
If it looks like a bully, acts like a bully and beats the $hit out of a dog like a bully...it's a bully.
And that's why she is our Dick of the Week.