Originally Posted by echoemb
I also work with dogs and I had a woman follow me into Petsmart one day all the way from across the parking lot to tell me that I was training my puppy to heel all wrong. I needed to put a halti on him and they work great, etc, blah,blah,blah. That is fine if you have a pet dog but I am training obedience and seeing as they don't allow those in the ring I don't use them as I feel they are a crutch. My method works, it just takes awhile. And again just like your quilt police people are extremely rude any more and seem to think they need to mind everybody's business but their own.
I trained my Standard poodle myself. I read everything I could get my hands on then went to work. He is so well behaved, calm and gentle. But I have had people tell me that I need to take him to puppy training classes to do it right. I have a day care and I know how to teach. I just needed to know how to do it with dogs. They are not the same as children except for the patience, persistance attitude and expectations. Now when people ask me where he was trained and I tell them at home by me they are surprised. Training a dog is not hard once you know how they think, what they understand and what they need. I can take him anywhere and he always behaves and listens. I didn't train him to heel with a halti either. And he does fine. I have signed him up for Therapy dog training. I think we will both like it. I am also looking into dog training school.
I have found the same thing with some quilters. What class did you take to learn that. I didn't. Oh if you had you would have learned to do it easier, better, the right way etc. We need to learn at our own pace and in our own way. Not everyone can afford classes they are expensive. If it is the class or the fabric, the fabric will win every time. Classes are a lot of fun but I have found most of them are more of a social event than a learning experience. You do take something away but you can only learn so much in a short time.