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Captain Log posted:"Bring me Solo and the Wookiee. They will all suffer for this outrage."
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Sep 3, 2010 00:18
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| # ¿ May 8, 2024 05:56 |
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I've read through this thread with great joy and amusement. My sister has two Pomeranians, which are about as primitive as any toy breed ever could be. One is a total head-case because of neglect and literally no socialization, but the other is the purest snot-nosed primitive prick you can imagine. He does the whole "I heard you call, maybe I'll come, maybe I won't" thing, as well as vindictive peeing. Until I met Lenny, I did not know dogs were capable of peeing simply to piss you off. Lenny looks straight in your face with an expression of pure disdain and pees on the floor. He's housetrained and definitely knows better. Romeo, the psychological shut-in, who cannot have my pizza.  Lenny. He doesn't much look like a standard Pom, but he's cute when he's not being an rear end in a top hat. And now, a question! I was looking through an interesting magazine the other day, and they were spotlighting a breed I'd never heard of, the Klee Kai. Is this a legit breed, or was it just this one woman trying to size down a husky? It's not recognized by the AKC, but neither was the border collie until very recently, so that doesn't mean much. They're kind of...odd-looking. FAKE EDIT: Urgh, the original breeder's website grosses me out. On it, she says that it was all for the purpose of her "dream of recreating one little miniature husky." So, no, it's complete aesthetics and no real purpose at all, then.
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Jan 4, 2011 22:57
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a life less posted:I think you might be shoe horning yourself into a corner if you set out to focus entirely on primitive breeds right from the start. Once you make a name for yourself you might have people searching you out for their Huskies, etc, but until then you're going to have loads of people asking you about their Shih-poos and Heinz 57 Mutts. This is half true. From the dog training standpoint, it seems perfectly logical - help all dogs, get more experience, more experience = impress more clients, etc. But from a marketing standpoint, one of the very very best things you can do as a solo business owner is to find a niche and cater to it. If you try to be all things to all people, you will blow your marketing budget faster than a 14 year old boy with his first Maxim. If you develop your niche and market specifically to it, you become not just a generalist, but a specialist, and people want to work with specialists. Specialists get a name for being experts at what they do, they get more direct recommendations from people in that niche, and people are willing to pay more for a service from a specialist.
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Apr 20, 2012 20:47
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WolfensteinBag posted:Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking, too. You'll know when you hit upon it. I wrote lists of words and variants forever trying to find the right name, hoping it hadn't already been registered. When I found the right one, it was like hearing a tiny gong or something in the back of my head. I tried it out on people I knew, and everyone (with one exception because he did not know it was a real phrase that people use) liked it, so I jumped right on it; and voila: You Sly Dog Training was born.
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Apr 25, 2012 20:09
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So...thanks to one of my bosses going on week-long medical leave, I am going to be bringing home a 10-ish week old Akita puppy for board-and-train for three weeks. Any insights into specific things I should focus on? We're definitely going to go heavy on socialization.
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Aug 13, 2012 05:03
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Whoooo waaaaants an Akita? Training is sleepy work.  Good thing I'm so cute! Lucy and Neige are...not the greatest of chums yet. Lucy has a playing style (and since she's a puppy, a lack of finesse) that Neige isn't so very fond of, and since Neige is a corgi and not an uber-sophisticated primitive dog with a billion body language cues, her "no thanks I'm done" signals look a lot like "rar bitey face let's play!" They do best in short sessions with lots of room to maneuver, then plenty of breaks when things get a little snotty. She sleeps in her crate quietly though, so thank goodness for small miracles. Also learned "down" pretty quick, and her "leave it" is already getting better. Yeah, there was a reason I picked the breed I did to own. No offense primitive dog lovers!
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Aug 23, 2012 17:55
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Lucy has gotten so much bigger in the last two weeks, and now she and Neige get along sooooo well. This client went from nightmare to joy, and I'm so glad. But where is the photographic proof, you say?   She took my stick!  This is basically my favorite photo of anything ever.  Bitey-face!  Look how good we are. I think I'm going to miss her when she goes home next week. She's learned so much and now she actually has some impulse control and social skills and a good wait and excellent greeting manners. She's a Very Good Girl. 
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Sep 5, 2012 20:14
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WolfensteinBag posted:She's so cute! Have you met her owners? If so, do they seem like the types to keep up the training? Would be a shame if all your work went out the window. I have, and the owner in part called us because she wants the dog to be a hospital therapy dog. Lucy was bought for the family by a friend because they wanted to give a puppy to the owner's little girl, who had leukemia. (  ) Unfortunately, the little girl passed away about a week ago, so now the family has decided that the dog will give comfort to lots of terminally ill children since she can't be with the little girl. It's a completely heart-wrenching story all around, and I've done a lot of tearing up thinking about how Lucy will go home and her little girl won't be there to greet her... Lucy really is the right temperament to be a therapy dog. She's very chill, very affectionate, and she's got an excellent "settle." She took to clicker training like a fish to water, and since she spent the first few weeks at home going to and from the hospital, she's already very well socialized. I think Lucy and her family are going to do well together, and it's good for them to have a living, breathing, very fluffy reminder of their daughter, who was taken from them at 6 years old.And now if you'll excuse me, there is some dust in my eye...   Two lovely doggies.
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Sep 6, 2012 17:43
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I couldn't have your job, I'd be too worried about stuff like that or just loving the dogs too much!
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| # ¿ May 8, 2024 05:56 |
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Saint Darwin posted:Well hell. The girlfriend has her heart set on a corgi. Don't do it, save yourselves!
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Feb 20, 2013 06:15
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