doggie training today

so today was the first time EVER i went to a professional one-on-one doggie training session.

from the start, i received the distinct impression that i was taking up her time. dunno if she was nervous, tense, or irritable or maybe i just bring that out in people, but i felt that i was being rushed through things. i also didn't appreciate the few things i do that actually work being criticised because they weren't *her* way of doing things - ie, when he jumps, i bring him down and make him sit. she said that's correction, we don't want to correct - just ignore him, it's a normal form of dog communication. i said i'm not down with that, as he's left claw scrapes on ppl's faces (saari and her dad) when he jumps and it may be normal for dogs but it's just not acceptable.

she was also dismissive of cesar millan - "oh, he's got *some* good ideas but i have NO idea where he's coming from half the time". to my mind, unless she has the same status, she's got no call to criticise. she wouldn't even let me put dandy in the penned field to burn off excess energy before the training session because "that's for my agility training and i don't want the ground torn up". i still can't figure how one dog running around for ten or fifteen minutes could demo a field, but whatever. i don't know if it's significant, but i've noticed that ppl who are disparaging of cesar millan absolutely do not have his zen-like calm demeanor and she's no exception.

the experience was, overall, great - i really enjoyed properly learning how to use a "clicker" - even though it totally highlighted my deficits as the owner of a dog of dandy's quality. he got the hang of the clicker training WAY faster than i did and more than once gave me *the* most exasperated look, lol.

i'll go back again (at least once), but i told her it was a lot of information to process and if she wanted to halve it per session, that's fine with me - "i'm not interested in siphoning every last drop out". i would rather spend the hour learning two skills REALLY REALLY well in a casual, chatty, relaxed atmosphere instead of just touching on a half-dozen in a rushed, "hurry hard!!!" kind of way.