East Olive Dog Training

11/02/2024

Beau spent this sunny Saturday getting a handsome haircut! 🐶 ☀️ 🍁

10/27/2024

Are you dressing your dog up for Halloween!?! 🎃 👻

Let’s see those cute pups!

09/28/2024

Very well said! The first step to picking a dog is looking at what breed and temperament fit your lifestyle!

OK. There is something that needs to get off my chest and it’s probably a very unpopular opinion.
But we HAVE to talk about unethical rescues or rescue practices.
I honestly think it’s a problem that rescues are put on a pedestal. Yes they do amazing work, but let’s not pretend that it’s all sunshine and roses.

This week I worked with a client that had adopted an under 2 year old pittie mix. It’s a gorgeous dog. But it’s a LOT of dog. High prey drive towards cats. High energy in general. Quite leash reactive (but friendly off leash). �Not a huge problem and definitely workable. �Except.. and here is the kicker. This dog got adopted out to a 81 year old and a 72 year old.

The first session they had the dog a few days and instantly needed help to get on top of some behaviours and when I arrived I said this is not the right dog for you. You got a Ferrari and you need a Toyota.
One week later for the 2nd session I arrive to the house and guess what? They had a fall with the dog and she broke her arm.
An unpleasant session followed, again, where I kept insisting this dog is going to be a liability for them (causing more broken bones) or for the environment because they’re letting the dog off lead running up to everyone and everything and are physically not able to control her.
She also started jumping the fence between the 2nd and the 3rd session. By the 3rd session they decided to give the dog to a family member who has an active lifestyle because the owners are now so scared to walk the dog in case something happens. �Also; the reactivity got worse. Now it’s to people, dogs, things on wheels etc.

There is a few things that went wrong here in the adoption process:
1. The new owners got suckered in and completely let go of all their ‘wishes’ - older, smaller dog that was easily manageable. But it’s easy to fall in love with a dog when you go see them and they behave so beautifully.
2. The foster carer being completely full of sh** saying she’s the most perfect dog and she has great recall and great this, and great that and no flaws. WHY? WHY would you do this as a foster carer? You are setting people up to fail. You should at least say: She has great recall WITH ME, but recall doesn’t transfer over like that so you’ll have to put the work in. She should’ve also tested the dog with cats (which the dog wasn’t) but was adopted to a cat household which turned into a whole problem as well.
3. The rescue itself. Who in what state of mind approves a high drive active pittie mix to be adopted out to an elderly couple like this? And I mean, one elderly couple isn’t like the other.. I get that. But it was clear as day that they would struggle with this dog from the moment you met them. They are honestly the nicest people with the BEST intentions. They really wanted to put all the work in, but physically this was just impossible.. as well as reaction time was (understandably too slow).

So who do I blame here? The rescue. I find that completely unethical. Who does that? What did they achieve with this? Yay, we adopted another dog out.. that got rehomed 5 weeks later again. Luckily solved within the family, but the dog could’ve also landed back at the rescue.. and honestly I would’ve bet $5000 on it that this would happen.

And this isn’t the first time I have had to deal with this exact situation to a point where an elderly couple was fostering a dog that was an absolute hazard and the rescue refused to take the dog back ‘cause they just had to put more work in’ and I had to get involved quite seriously and cite liability issues.

Rescues need to stop rehoming dogs to houses that are completely unsuitable. This isn’t the only case I’ve worked with let me tell you:
- Adopting a young super scared sharpei mix with mange out to a family with a child that’s afraid of dogs to let him gain confidence and wanting the dog to be an active friendly part of the family. The pup was so anxious it barked and growled at everything that moved and will have reactivity issues for life.
- Adopting out 2 puppies at once because ‘the other will be sad if left alone’
- Adopting out a super active dog to a family that hasn’t got the space or time for a breed like that
- Adopting out a dog that is ‘’good with kids’’ but they actually mean kids 13+ years and not the 4 year old the family has
- The dog that is ‘cat friendly’, but turns out they’re not
- The dog that is told is friendly with dogs, but turns out to be aggressive AF and didn’t tell the owners this
- Adopting out an anxious, reactive difficult breed to a first time dog owner.
- Adopting out a dog with several bites
- Adopting out a dog with so much anxiety, stress and aggression/reactivity that it’s better for the dog to be PTS.

Like the list goes on and on.
One of the BIGGEST reasons for rehoming dogs is because they don’t fit the lifestyle or the family. And here we have rescues that just don’t give a s**t as long as they can say ‘yay we rehomed another one’. �And then the new owners are stuck having to pay $1000s of dollars on a dog for training, are faced with the shame of rehoming (because you know, rehoming because its a bad fit for the family is a big problem in the dog community) or we get incidents where the cat ends up living outside because the dog will terrorise it.

Adopt don’t shop is a mantra that people love to use… but it’s something that gets my hackles up because I see cases like this weekly.
Sometimes buying a well bred dog for a breeder is just the best option for a family because it’s a more ‘’predictable outcome’’ that the dog suits their lifestyle. You don’t get a wildcard because the rescue, conveniently, left out important details and now you are attached to the dog and you’re stuck with it.

09/05/2024

Chelsea is a one year old cane corso. This breed is known for their independence so getting her to focus proved to be a challenge at first but once we got on the same page she became so eager to make eye contact and follow my lead.

09/03/2024

We are expecting a litter of German shorthair pups end of the month!

These will be hunting and family dogs. Priority will be given to hunting homes.

We have a couple spots left until her x ray on the 19th to confirm how many.

Please share with anyone you know who would make a great home. Litter will be ALC registered, Sitka is fully health tested, NA perfect score. Sire is has an amazing disposition and amazing grouse dog out of Crosswind genetics.

08/23/2024

Beautiful night to work on some fundamental work

08/04/2024

This is how boarding at East Olive Training is different!

Finn was here as a puppy for fundamental training and his owners have done a fantastic job keeping up on his manners!

07/26/2024

The attached outdoor run is complete! 10x30’ with a potty area and shade! Faux turf for easy sanitizing, French drain for clean up. Wood posts, covered fence and rebar for re-enforcement

07/25/2024

When the puppy makes your large breed dog look little 😂

07/09/2024

Riley went home today. For a week while her family was busy we worked on foundation manners and curbing those naughty puppy behaviors 🐕

06/16/2024

Koda has been a pleasure to work with! During his stay we molded his focus and patience as well as curbing a lot of unwanted puppy behaviors. He’s about 18 weeks old

05/27/2024

Mr. Beau was here over the holiday weekend.

His owner is a busy momma so we did a groom on him while he was here! First picture is before.

As always he was his happy, goofy self 🥰

05/18/2024

Maggie was all tuckered out after her home training visit today!

Such a cutie 🥰

04/25/2024

I don’t know what’s better…that he’s a Dalmatian or that his name is CARL!! 😍

04/23/2024

With summer approaching and you’re planning vacations, remember to reach out in regard to boarding needs! There may be time in June or July with limited availability

04/22/2024

Isn’t he cute!?! 🥰