Train My Puppy, Please. Watch Out For Scammers.

Shea Quinn is a full-time professional dog trainer, located in DeKalb, IL.   In approximately 4 months of seeking a local trainer, hiring then terminating a trainer, then seeking another trainer, Shea is the only full-time trainer that I’ve met.  He has been the most helpful although he has not personally met my puppy. His patience and advice to me is greatly appreciated.  This post includes an interview with Shea. Of the ten or so dog trainers that I’ve spoken with or hired, Shea is the only one who did not attempt to b.s. me.

The following is pertinent parts of my experience with dog trainers.

In August, a friend posted an inquiry on a website for a dog trainer for my puppy, Gracie.  Shea phoned me the next day.  He gained my respect by giving me respect.  I had spoken with a few other trainers who I think I intimidated.  See, I’m a senior citizen now, but got my first dog in 1959.   I was a daddy’s girl and as my dad trained Roscoe, I was right by his side.  Roscoe was my friend, protector, and playmate.  He was a Boxer/German Shepherd mix and lived so long that I forgot he was going to die someday.  Roscoe lived long enough to see my son born.

I developed a love for dogs and often went to the library and checked out books on dog training.  I’ve had dogs for approximately 64 years of my life.  Miss Z was the first who had professional training to learn to walk on leash at Dave’s Doggie Den, and that was in calendar year 2010.

My Miss Z went to the Rainbow Bridge in November 2021.  I was unsure if I had the energy to raise another puppy.  Along with that, because of the surgery I had due to cancer, (all tissue was removed down to my breast plate), my upper body strength is not what it used to be.  My physical therapist said that my weight limit when using both hands is 25 lbs.  Well, I’m a big-dog person so if I got another dog, I was going to need help training, especially in walking and not pulling on leash.   I’m not a professional dog trainer. I know my limitations.

Gracie

My friends and family encouraged me to get another dog and in June of this year, I brought Gracie home.  I figured I would hire a trainer to help me beyond the basic commands.  Gracie grew fast.  She went to sleep one night as a 20 lb. puppy and woke up the next morning weighing 50 lbs. and 5 feet in length.  Okay. I’m blowing it out of proportion, but she is growing really fast.

I had planned taking Gracie to the same trainer I had for Miss Z, but his classes are in the evening.  I don’t drive at night.  Then too, it turned out that Gracie has salivation anxiety each time she was put in the car.  Notice I said “put in the car” because she would not get in the car on her own.   I called her the Ghostbuster puppy because she slimmed all over her front paws and legs.  Even her eyes ran with slime.

Her obedience training was hindered in August when I developed edema in both feet.  No.  It’s not my heart.  I walked for 4 hours in the wrong shoes.  For 3 weeks, I could not get shoes on my feet.  My home care assistant took on the project of teaching Gracie to get in the car and ride without slime.  Now, we can get her in the car and she barely salivates.  However, getting her back in the car after she’s been out is a problem.  She plants her feet as if in concrete and has to be picked-up and put in the car.  I cannot physically pick her up.  Once in, she does not salivate at all on the trip home.

My friend who posted the inquiry for a dog trainer was trying to help me.  I had spoken to some trainers but they only talked about training to sit, stay, lay, come, and heel.  What about counter surfing?  What about jumping up on visitors?  What about learning to place?  And, what about getting Gracie’s paws out of the concrete setting?

When Shea phoned me, I was very impressed with his knowledge and his understanding of dogs.  I was going to find someone to drive the hour to Shea (because I’m only able to drive for about 20 minutes before my arms tire out).  I was willing to live without my Gracie for a month (sniff, sniff), so Shea could work with her.  However, I got a phone call from another trainer who is local and come to my home to train.  I hired him and 2 weeks later, terminated him.  He only worked with Gracie for about 3 hours.   I’ll save you the nightmare for why I terminated him, but I will say that after I did, he scrubbed his ad on Bark.com, scrubbed his website, and deleted his Facebook Page.  Being suspicious, I did some research and found him on the Illinois Sex Offender Registry. It confirmed my suspicions about him.

I had been thinking of how I could get Gracie all the way to DeKalb, IL for Shea to work with her.  Then on Tuesday of last week, I made contact with another local trainer.  I told him the main issues including her jumping on people.  She thinks that anyone who comes in the door is her playmate. Pete came to my house on Thursday.   Pete made it clear that he was coming to discuss his policies and was not going to work with Gracie during our meeting.

When he arrived, Gracie was in her crate, wagging her tail and whining, wanting to get out and meet him.  Immediately, Pete said that Gracie was “vicious and aggressive”.  He assumed I never owned a dog previously, had not taught Gracie anything, and did not know how to establish myself as leader.   He continued referring to Gracie as “he” as if I did not know my puppy’s gender.

Pete knew nothing of Gracie’s interaction of people, what she already knew, and what she needed to be taught.  I pulled out my cell phone to show him a video of Gracie going through her training exercise when she was about 11 weeks old. His response?  “Why am I watching this video? “

My answer?  “Because I feel you are putting me on the defense as if I’m inadequate and incompetent and that Gracie is not highly intelligent. You don’t seem to care what I say, so I want to show you.”

He watched the video then said, “She was a puppy.  Do you have any recent videos?”

Gracie, the Fur-rious 8 month old puppy

Gracie is still a puppy, and the video was made to send to my friends and family who are happy to see me with a puppy.  I did not do the video anticipating that I would need to prove anything to a condescending a-hole to avoid being insulted by his assumptions in less than 30 seconds of entering my home.  He asked me to show him anything that Gracie had learned and I put her through sit-stay, turned my back and walked across the room, then called her to me.  The ignorant trainer’s response?  “I’m surprised she did that.”

There was nothing I could say nor show him in real-time that changed his attitude.  That was it.  I was finished, but Pete wasn’t.

Pete took out a prong collar that was big enough for a horse and put it on Gracie.   He told Gracie to heel.  The next thing I knew he was lynching my puppy.  Gracie was afraid and rightfully so.  So was I and my home care assistant who was present. Gracie’s back legs were dangling in the air.  She was twisting her neck trying to get loose.  I called out his name, and he let her down and before I could say anything else, he said “heel” and hung her again.   As I made a step towards him, he let her down and before I could say anything, he said “heel” again and hung her again.

After getting him out of my house, he phoned me saying that he’s just getting started in business and was sorry for his behavior.  (He’s 71-years old, retired, and figured he would go into the business of dog training/consultation because he’s had dogs since the age of 18.)  He followed that by telling me when I give Gracie a command, to make my voice strong.  (He still had to attempt to exert authority after saying he was sorry.)

Wait a second.  Let me think.  Seven obedient dogs, including two mixed German Shepherds, a hard-headed Basset Hound, but I don’t know how to speak a command?

That evening after phoning me, he texted me about coming up with a procedure to “desensitize” my puppy.  I did not respond until the next day.  I told him that I could not get the vision out of head of him lynching my puppy.  No, I was not going to work with him.   In his reply, he said that I told him Gracie doesn’t bite, but then said that he lynched Gracie because he thought she was going to bite him because she jumped on him.  (Clearing my throat and sighing.) Jumping on people is one of the issues I want addressed in training.

Pete is in the wrong profession if he can’t teach a puppy in a prong collar to not jump on him and lynches her instead.  Actually, had that collar been the right size, he might have seriously, physically injured her if not killed her. If he was truly afraid of being bitten, he should have stopped after the first time rather than putting her in a position of death two more times.  He appeared to enjoy using his strength to put my puppy and myself into extreme emotional distress.   He did it compulsively and so quickly that I felt helpless.  That man should not be advertising as a private dog trainer or any other type of dog trainer.  In my opinion, what he did constitutes animal cruelty.

The Training Academies

Before last week, I received phone calls from places calling themselves dog academy, or training academy, and fill-in-the-blank academy.  These organizations are like temporary personnel agencies.  They have you agree to their services, then they seek a trainer in your area to take the assignment.  One said that they had a trainer 90 miles from me who will pick-up Gracie and take her back for boarding/training.  They rely on a questionnaire rather than my talking to the trainer.  I would not meet that trainer, nor know the environment she will be in.  They actually wanted me to pay them $4,000.00 to give my puppy up to a stranger.

The difference between them and temporary personnel agencies is that these dog training academies/agencies require full payment upfront.  One has a 30-day refund policy if they cannot find you a trainer.  As I told the rep, 30 days is a long time in a puppy’s life.  What if I found a trainer on my own during that time while needing the money they are holding?   Are they going to refund with interest?  Nope.  That’s not their policy and my finding a trainer other than through them is breach of contract with no refund.

I asked if they found a trainer who comes to my home to train, why couldn’t a pick-up the phone and give them my credit card info then?  Nope.  Their policy is that they are paid in full before they seek a trainer.

Oh – and they can arrange to finance their extravagant fee.  They finance through a company that according to the Better Business Bureau, has received 4500 total complaints in the last 3 years and 2,025 complaints closed in the last 12 months.

I then phoned Shea.  I shared with him my experience and that there is information the public needs to know about so-called dog trainers.  I asked if I could interview him for this blog post and he agreed.

Xena: “Shea, tell us about yourself.”

Shea: “My name is Shea Quinn.  I am a husband to my wife Jessica, and father to my son Abram and daughter Georgia.  We have another baby on the way.   I am dad of two working dogs.  Bugsy is a 3-year old Yellow Lab.  Pumpkin is a Boykin Spaniel.  She is a pheasant and duck dog.”

Xena: “Are Boykin Spaniels a common breed?”

Shea: “They are not common.  They have a good nose and were bred specifically to retrieve in water.  They hunt more like a Labrador than other Spaniels.  Boykin Spaniels are usually a bit more sensitive, almost human like.  You have to prioritize their emotional state more than you do with a Lab. “

Xena:  “How long have you worked with dogs?”

Shea: “I’ve worked with dogs on and off for 10 years.  I started business a year and a half ago.  I find enjoyment training and wanted to work for myself.  I also saw a need.  In the dog training world there’s a lot of b.s.  I want to give it to people straight.”

Xena:  Based on my experience, I agree that there is lots of bull crap in the dog training world.  In the year and a half that you’ve been in business, how many dogs have you trained?”

Shea:  “For board and train, approximately 40 dogs.  I take up to 3 dogs at a time.”

Xena:  “So, along with your family which includes little ones, and 2 dogs of your own, you also handle up to 3 other dogs.  They must make good foot warmers in the winter.”

Shea: (Laughing)  None of them sleep with us.  Each dog has their own kennel. I rotate dogs throughout the day.  For instance, one will be in the house with me for an hour.  Then I train another dog and continue the rotation.

Xena:  “What motivates you?”

Shea: “My business and personal standards are intertwined.  I take into consideration what the dog needs.  Each dog is an individual.  I ask what I can do to get the best out of this dog.

Xena: “What is the most important quality that dog owners should look for in a trainer?”

Shea: “Whether or not the trainer is interested in having fun with your dog.  The more particular you are with your trainer, the better off you can be.  Some of it depends on what you want your dog to do.  Basic skills are going to be the same for all dogs.  Specific skill sets is what I like to concentrate on.  Some skills are non- negotiable.

Xena:  “What are those skills?  Let me guess.  Sit, stay, come?”

Shea: “The non-negotiable skills are to come when called, sit when told and not jump on people.”

Xena:  “Jumping on people is an issue I have with Gracie.  That brings me to another question.  I found that one trainer I had was not interested in my lifestyle.  He thinks it is okay for dogs to jump on people because that means they are friendly.  Well, some of the people who come to my house are not friends – they come on business, visiting nurses and occasional repair people.   How important is it for a trainer to know the environment and purpose for the dog along with the owner’s lifestyle?”

Shea:  Extremely important.  For instance.  I am training a German Short Hair Pointer.  The owners are afraid that they might be evicted because when leaving the dog alone, he howls.  I’ve only used a bark collar twice, but this is the solution I’ve decided to use.  I am able to tailor the training to their specific needs.  The bark collar when trained properly, teaches the dog that it can’t excessively bark.  It acts as an e-collar.”

Shea, having fun dog walking.

Xena:  “What if a trainer cannot train beyond the basics?  Should they tell the dog’s owner upfront?”

Shea: “Yes.  I’m an open book about my abilities and how I train.   When looking for a trainer, dog owners should ask if the trainer has more advance skills.  The most important thing owners can do is play with their dog and teach them the word ‘no’.   Trainers should be of character to have fun with the dog because training should be fun.”

Xena: “How far have your clients come for your services?”

Shea:  “The farthest a client has driven is a three and a half hour drive from Wisconsin.  That client has a mixed breed Australian Shepherd.  I also had a client come from Iowa.  I’ve had inquiries from Indiana.”

Xena: “Would you like to share your charges?”

Shea:  “Sure.  When starting the business, I determined what to charge by first looking at what other trainers charge.  My prices are fair in the market and fair to myself.  My prices are reasonable without putting the dog owner into debt.  My board/training for one month is less than $3,000.00.  I want my training to speak for itself. The quality of my training is most important.   Most of my business is by word of mouth.”

In closing, people, if you seek a dog trainer, don’t let them fast-talk you.  It’s important to listen to them, but they need to listen to you too.  Since pet stores and other stores allow dogs inside, every dog owner wants to bring their dog with them when shopping.  I do too, and that means having a well-socialized and obedient dog.  I’m currently working with Gracie to stop jumping.

I’ve learned to distract her by showing her the light switches by the doors that go out to the backyard.  Instead of jumping on me, she now jumps on the wall and lifts the light-switch with her nose.  She also jumps up to put her paw on the switch to turn it off.  She would make a fantastic service dog.  After all, German Shepherds were the well-known breed trained as guide dogs.

I’m thinking that the proper way to train her is to give her a job to do.  Let’s just hope that if the day comes when I take her to Pet Smart, that she won’t turn-off the lights.