Well, it is official. I love my animals as much as my children. Last night I took Blitzen to dog training. He is in Level 2 and it was his first night back after a pretty long absence. We were tangled up in soccer before that, so it was hard to get away at night. Lavin decided to go with me to training because she was bored. On the way there, I was telling her the story about the vet telling me Blitzen may have fear aggression issues after seeing him for like one minute.
(Aside)***After he left the vet 6 hours later, they were all raving about how sweet he was. I knew that was wrong.
Anyway, I told Lavin that I had told the trainer the story at either our 2nd or 3rd training session. The trainer, instead of saying he was a sweetie, said she felt the same way about him. She said she thought that from the beginning.
(Aside)***I could KIND of understand where the vet was coming from because they were sticking a thermometer up his --- and he turned around to probably pull it out with his teeth. This all happened within a few seconds. She made that assessment so quickly that I pretty much could forgive her harsh, quick, judgment.
Back to the story...I told Lavin what the trainer had said about Blitty. We were both puzzled because really he is a really sweet (a bit anxious) dog. He lays with the kittens and licks them. He laid next to Liz and Mandi's babies and just laid by them like he was a friend. He never barks at anyone, and he is cuddly. Oh well...I thought maybe over time she would see what he really is. After all, it had only been 3 sessions and there were other dogs around. He cries and pants a lot. Anxiety, yes, aggressive, NO.
Training started off okay. I ran into a friend I hadn't seen in almost 6 years. She was there with her dog too. Blitty was nervous, but just lay at my feet panting. He was doing all the behaviors I was teaching him just fine. Then we had to go parade around the wash tubs with bowls of food on the floor for distractions. We were teaching the "leave it" command. We went around the circle a couple of times and then Blitzen sat down and refused to go any further. He planted his butt on the floor and no matter how I tried to coax him to keep moving, he would not. He was looking at me with a look of "Sorry, but I don't want to do this anymore". The owner signaled for his wife to come and she told me he may need to go potty and I should take him outside. I did that and we were outside for a few minutes. We came back in and everyone was back in the training room. Lavin was looking at me funny when I walked back in. She said, "Mom, when you left to take Blitzen outside, that lady was talking crap about him." Instantly I felt very upset. She told me that the lady said "That dog is the sketchiest dog I've ever seen in my life." :( :(
I felt like I was kicked in the stomach. I really did. Lavin was furious and feeling very protective of me. I guess she said she was certain the trainer forgot she was in the room and heard that.
This is troubling to me in a few ways. First of all, that was a VERY inappropriate thing to say. Not only to say, but to say to 10 other people behind my back. As a business owner, that does not look good. People are smart enough to know that you don't say crap like that. I'd get fired if I pulled something like that. Apparently they have enough business that it is no big deal to alienate a customer who also knows many other dog owners in town. Second, she could not be more wrong about Blitzen. He is very sweet. Anxious, yes, but very sweet. I would trust him with any child or person. He is a loving dog. He loves people and other animals. The troubling part is that if she loves animals so much and owns a dog training facility, she should not say anything negative about an animal...a rescued animal. That would be like me having a meeting with a few families and one of the kids acts up and I tell them to take him outside because he probably needs a break and then after they go outside, I turn to the others and say something stupid like "That kid is a real odd kid or ________________(fill in the blank with something inappropriate and rude). Yes, that was a run-on sentence. I know it, but it had to be done for effect.
So, now I have a dilemma. I have one punch left on my punch card of prepaid training sessions. I think I am going to go on Sunday and finish the punch card. After that, I may send her a link to this blog so she can see just what she did to lose a customer.
A good friend at work said something to me that was very deep and totally fit this situation. He said something like, Our biggest challenges should be our biggest rewards. Very true!
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