rookskylar

Do you feel there is currently an issue with shelters mislabeling/ misrepresenting dogs? I’m a Certified Professional Dog Trainer and Ive noticed a lot of shelters will describe dogs as “sassy” or “prefers his humans to be home” or “likes to be bossy with other dogs” instead of being honest that the dog has a tendency to snap when uncomfortable, has major separation stress, or is dog selective.

I use that verbiage because that is the title of my certification. There is no legal prerequisite to being a dog trainer, so if you wanted to, you could call yourself a dog trainer and start a business. The term Certified Professional Dog Trainer is protected and owned by the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers, and can only be used by those who meet their requirements and pass their exam, so I use it to specify that I am actually a qualified and vetted trainer.

I feel like you’re seriously misrepresenting pits (and generally animal behavior) here. It’s not 100% in how you raise them, although it plays a role. I’ve personally had a very lovely pit client that started with me at 10 weeks, was raised with 2 cat siblings, and was generally an incredibly lovely dog with a very loving family. Around 18 months old she grabbed one of the cats and shook it to death. My dads old dog (doodle) was raised alongside his dog brother (other doodle) loving home, trained really well. 10 months old, he mauled his brother to the point of almost taking his eye out. Come to find out, two others in the litter also showed dog aggressive tendencies once they hit adolescence. Genetics are important, and recognizing the existence of genetic aggression is also important.

It’s not just in pits, and there are lovely pits out there, but they absolutely have a higher incidence of dog aggression/ intolerance and small animal aggression.

I agree and disagree, on a couple of points. Yes, they just pull some random breed out of their asses to get the dog adopted. Client of mine adopted a “Bernese mountain dog mix” that is at least 75% Rottweiler. However, I disagree that no one wants bully breeds, there are absolutely people do want bully breed mixes, and will seek them out. I have a few clients that are lifelong bully owners, and will always be.

I also disagree that all dogs in shelters all have behavioral issues. Most, yes, but not all. Lots of dogs end up in shelters because the owner just wasn’t ready for the breed. A husky in a shelter for escaping all the time and being too loud doesn’t have a behavioral issue, it’s just been under-stimulated and under managed by it’s owners. A GSP whose getting walked 30 minutes a day and is destroying the house isn’t ill behaved, it’s just been failed by it’s people. People just suck sometimes.

I do agree that the general dog owning public isn’t looking for a behavior case to work on. Shelters need to be better and more honest about what their dogs are, and need to be more realistic with themselves about what dogs are adoptable and which aren’t. Only so many homes out there for a man aggressive, dog aggressive, small animal aggressive dog.

Not upset, it’s just the sentence “it’s all in how you raise them” is really dangerous info to be giving people, and as a trainer I try my best to help people understand why. Genetics play a very, very major role in who your dog is as an adult. You can influence that with training, but genetics can’t be turned off.