minimiss

+1 You have yourself and your little family to look out for. This guy sounds like a total idiot who has zero respect for anything. Make a complaint, and keep on making complaints if nothing is done... Poor little dog

Ah yes, 2nd Puppy preschool session - What a mistake. It seriously made the first class seem so wonderful and I left almost in tears. I'm not usually one to become distressed easily, but I think this was an appropriate time if ever there was a time to get distressed so forgive me if I ramble and don't make sense! I just felt like I was in some kind of alternative universe!! There were more puppies this week... and a LOT more bogan owners. The vet nurse said she was a part time vet nurse who 'sometimes got called in to do puppy class so we must forgive her for reading from the book'. I don't know where to start, so let me get started on some of the delightful owners. There was this gorgeous 'Cattle Dog X GSD' that was so gentle, but very vocal (as they are) so the bogan owner grabbed the puppies lower jaw and squeezed it til the puppy yelped Vet nurse looked on, didn't say a word. Another instance this owner punched the puppy in the shoulder and told it to 'shut it's mouth'. Vet nurse still didn't say a word. I didn't either, but I didn't think it was my place to start conflict with this woman who was quite rough and loud (I'm pretty quiet on a good day let alone a day like this). The Vet nurse could have constructively suggested a more positive training method... Then there was a 'discussion' about what each of the owners fed their puppies. Varied responses from Black Hawk, to mid range stuff, to Pal... And then some guy who said he feeds his Beagle 'A variety of beef sausages, 'those red hotdogs' and a roast chicken from Woolies once a week. The Vet nurse didn't suggest alternatives, she just said 'oh yes, I bet he loves the marinated types of meat'. WTF?!?!?!?! On to the Vet nurse... She rambled on a lot and a lot of the owners, and puppies got very bored and everyone just switched off and talked to their children (lots of children at this session) or their dogs. So the Vet nurse decided to get onto the training. Benny and I had already done this type of training at home, so we did some more of the same things, using the high distraction situation as a good change to really cement these things (lay down and stay). The Vet nurse came around to each of the dogs and tried to get them to 'drop and stay' for her. No dogs listened to her, and a few listened to their owners but they were really excitable and weren't really interested in doing anything but play with the children that were there, and eat the treats. When she got to Benny she said 'Oh this is the shy dog I was told about from last week.. IS HE GOING TO DO ANYTHING THIS WEEK OR JUST SIT THERE?!?!' ... ($#@^&*#%@ ) So she tried to get him to 'drop and stay' for her and he wasn't interested. She said to me that he must be a terribly stubborn dog to train.. So I said to Benny without acknowledging her 'Benny, Lay down' (He laid down perfectly) ... 'Benny, Stay!' .. and I walked away to the middle of the room, and he stayed. I then told her he was a breeze to train and I'm really quite happy that he only takes commands from me as it would be very concerning if someone told him to 'come' and give him ratsak etc etc. She said (jokingly) 'There is always a smart ass advanced puppy in the class and Benny may take that award'... I just ignored her at that point. At the end of the class there was a Q&A session and the people with the gorgeous SBT from last week asked what they should do about their puppy at night time as they've got him in the spare room and he just cries all night. They then asked about Crate training as many people have told them that this was the way to go. She goes 'OH NO... I DON'T BELIEVE IN CRATE TRAINING - ONLY CRAZY FANATICAL BREEDERS DO THAT SORT OF THING'... (WTF?!?! Excuse me!). I couldn't not say anything anymore and I said 'Well, I crate train Benny, he settles at night time in his crate beside his bed, and he is toilet trained at night time due to this aswell, it was a godsend for me, I also know many breeders AND experienced pet owners who crate train, and have done so very successfully'. (I don't 'know' but DOL counts as people I know right? :p) But she didn't say anything more and wrapped up the class. The SBT owners came up to me and discussed crate training and were quite interested in starting to train.. So that's a positive. I really will not be going back for another class. They're lucky that their facilities and wonderful Vets (and some of the nurses) are redeeming points for them. Sorry about the long winded rant - I had to vent..

How exciting dobesrock! Can't wait to see the pictures. Those puppies would be gorgeous. Yay mumof4girls - Time has flown!! Almost time to tell the girls :D

I know I know there are some countdowns nearing the end soon. Can't wait for all the new puppy pictures :D

I hope this was a joke and not serious... I think this was said as in the other people think - Who cares about lines temperment and suitability. Why should K & C Bother with them ( the other people) Yes this is what I meant! Sorry for confusion Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Ahh Well that's good then.. Sometimes it's quite easy to misinterpret things in text

And to think these people are stupid enough to think these are legitimate reasons and think its ok..

I hope this was a joke and not serious... I think this was said as in the other people think - Who cares about lines temperment and suitability. Why should K & C Bother with them ( the other people) Hopefully! It can be read either way but I hope you're right.

I just cannot fathom how people don't want the best health for their puppy and would prefer a mutated version that will have mental and health issues growing up.. Not that it'll get to grow up to live a long happy life anyway..

I removed the name but I think the public should see how horrific these poor puppies look. It is an o/s page anyway but there are a few of them around the world. Thankfully none seem to be in Aust. Can you pm me the link? I'm on iPhone so searching anything on Facebook is not without glitches.

:mad I hate how this is allowed to go on! Those poor puppies

I hope this was a joke and not serious...

OT but here is the cute, but 3 month old 4kg 'pomeranian'

This reminds me of a debate I had last week about a girl I know bragging to me about her rare white Pomeranian. It's 14 weeks old and already 4kgs (looks like a japanese spitz X) she believes it won't get any bigger.. She thinks she is going to show and use it as a stud... Needless to say she didn't like what I had to say. At least OP is doing a bit of research for her friend. I wish more people would allow themselves to be educated or be proactive in educating themselves.

http://www.teacuppoms.com/ Here is a good site informing people on the 'teacup' scam. Like others have said its just ill-bred and/or sickly runts of the litter. You don't understand how small Pomeranians are until you get one.. My Pomeranian is 12 weeks old on Tuesday and weighs a massive 1.07kgs. He will only grow to a maximum of 2.5kg as per the standard. He's so dainty and little, if he was any smaller I would be too scared to handle him in fear of breaking him!

Sounds like you had a wonderful puppy preschool teacher, Saxonpup! Especially with the Pit Bull puppy. If only we had more classes who educated people on the not so 'evil' Pit Bulls there wouldn't be such a frenzy here about them. Also if only we had more owners who want Pit Bulls as pets rather than just breeding them poorly / training them to be vicious guard dogs... I think it really must be like any industry - you'll get your fantastic workers that stand out, and you'll get your pretty crappy ones. I'll keep doing my research and in the meantime, next Tuesday's session is fast approaching and I'm curious to see how this other vet nurse runs the class. I'll be sure to update on that session!

At least you know where not to go Good luck also in your search! There has to be a good school somewhere in our neck of the woods!

I might have to take you up on that offer in the near future :) sounds like your girl would be a good playmate!

Yay for another 'shy' puppy I think a lot of us DOLers just have very polite little babies

I'm in Sydenham.. You're right - This morning I was looking through the review handouts given at the session and it's basically stock standard information you'll find in any generic puppy training... I'm trying to be positive about it by thinking 'perhaps she's a great nurse, just not a great puppy preschool teacher, but the way she handled Benny makes me think otherwise. Wouldn't basic handling and fear be part of vet nurse training too?

Kongs are a godsend! Especially with peanut butter I give Benny his kong in the morning stuffed with peanut butter, a few bits of kibble and shredded treats and that usually keeps him busy. He gets so excited about his kong that he doesn't even say goodbye to me! Another thing that we've got here is an 'everlasting treat ball'. This frustrates him because his little mouth can't get around the treat portion and he spends hours just licking it to death! I also scatter some of Benny's breakfast over the floor so he has to do some hunting for his breaky and I pack all of his favourite toys into a small paper bag as he likes to relocate his toys to under the table. We run around and play for 30 mins before I leave, and have a 10 minute training session before I leave in the morning so he's tired and probably wishing for me to hurry up and disappear to work so he can get some peace and quiet. Haha So far we've had no destruction, except of course for all of his toys piled predictably under the table. In the evening we have lots of short bursts of running around and another training session before dinner. By the time it's bed time he puts himself into his crate and zonks out til I harrass him awake in the morning to go downstairs to start our exercise. I think it's finding out what works by trial and error... Poms are smart little creatures as you've already found out, and can be cheeky! Just tire her out mentally as well as physically and give her lots of things to do. I know you've mentioned that Lucy isn't very food oriented, which I suppose is where Benny differs - He'd sell his soul for food! Toys that make noises are found pretty fun too.. Even better for you when you're not home she can make all the noise with her toys without disturbing you with highpitch squeaks! :p

Thanks for your responses everyone. It's reassuring knowing it's not just me being overly sensitive about the situation and knowing that as I thought, Benny is a normal little boy! It always takes 1 person to say something to set you off wondering if you've done something wrong or to make you think that there is something wrong with your puppy. It was a little worrying because I thought that perhaps I didn't notice something seriously wrong as I thought he had a great little personality. He's very polite, well behaved and obviously pretty sensible. I've read a lot of books, and DOL has a wealth of knowledge that I have been taking in, but of course I don't know everything. As a first time puppy owner it is very daunting, and you do worry if you're doing the right thing. I think last night reassured me that Benny and I are doing pretty well in terms of training and general obedience but I lack the confidence that an experienced owner would have from past experiences. My main reason for choosing this particular clinic is because it's a really short walk from home and when I went there for Benny's first check up the Vet was fantastic (and wasn't pushy with trying to sell things etc)... Just this nurse has put a dark cloud over the experience now. I don't have my licence so I try to opt for convenience as I don't like expecting my boyfriend to play taxi although he doesn't mind. Fortunately I opted to pay per session, but I may return next week as that nurse wont be running the session. Hopefully it makes the situation a little nicer, if not, I will not be returning. I will continue using the vet for vaccinations, checkups etc but as others have said, perhaps make use of professional training sessions who know their stuff and take their jobs seriously.

Apparently no puppy is 100% toilet trained until they've gone 4 weeks without a mistake or a helping hand from you. 13 weeks is still very young, and coming into being an adolescent so you'll find that puppy may become a little more stubborn over the next few weeks and you'll just need to be patient and continue with your training Puppies don't understand how to do things after just one day, or even one week. You'll get there.. Just remember puppy is still a baby!

Find another puppy pre-school. This vet nurse is an idiot and YOU should have screamed at her and taken your puppy back. How dare she put your puppy in danger and scare him like that. I hate puppy pre-schools that expect the puppies to all play together. Much better to teach the puppies to focus on the owners in the presence of the other puppies. I would never let a Border Collie baby play with a SBT puppy let alone a tiny Pom because the play style of the SBT is far too rough. It is very dangerous to let really little puppies play with much bigger and more boisterous ones. Your puppy is normal and sensible unlike the vet nurse running the puppy pre-school. I did remention to her that just 10 minutes before she was saying this age was the most impressionable for puppies and 'did she think it was wise to force him to do something he didn't want to' incase it left a negative impression on him. She kind of just mumbled at me and looked at me like a 'knowitall' owner. Luckily she only does the opening class, and runs the graduation - So I'm hoping the 3 sessions she doesn't run are better. I'll see how next week goes. ETA - SecretKei, thank you for making me feel a bit better - I thought this would be a good experience for him (To play with other puppies) but he didn't seem interested and was happier just to look on. I wasn't sure whether getting some play time with other puppies was important or not. I don't think him being foccused on me when we're out in public is a bad thing, considering last night I was made to feel it was(At home he happily has zero recall and ignores me unless I have food )

Last night at our first Puppy Preschool session, my puppy was called shy by the Vet Nurse.. He just sat in front of my feet on the floor and watched the other puppies play with each other and just didn't appear interested to join in. He wasn't cowering or shaking, he was just sitting, observing and wagging his tail occasionally. (The other puppies: A very excited English Stafford and an even more excited 'Poodle x Maltese'). I've already done some training at home with him (Sit, lay down, come etc) and he's a quick little learner so that part of last nights session he did really well in (Other puppies were so excited and bouncy). He just seemed more interested and focussed on me rather than playing. Also, he's come to family get-togethers with me and has happily ran around getting cuddles and pats from people of varied ages (From my primary school aged cousins to my great aunty) and hasn't be overly outgoing, but has been very waggy tailed and excited but polite and gentle. Last night the vet nurse picked him up and he screamed at her and started shaking.. Yet the receptionist at the vet picked him up after straight after and he was fine. I'm a bit confused about the term used - 'shy'.. and I felt the vet nurse was making it sound as if it was a really bad thing that he didn't want to play with the other (bigger) puppies and I was pretty offended when she yanked him up off the ground where he was sitting and watching to 'take him to the other puppes' - which is when he screamed at her. My little boy, is an 11 week old Pomeranian who was a little smaller than the other 2 dogs. He's definitely not a super active little puppy, but he has his zoomies moments at home and loves to play.. To me he just appeared to be observant, not shy.. Is this normal puppy behaviour?

Pomeranian Papillon Japanese Spitz Standard Poodle German Shephard