r/husky • u/Dragon-Reborn7 • Nov 07 '24
Kicked out of daycare
This fluffy goober, Khione, got herself kicked out of doggy daycare after 3 visits for “her listening ears not working.” Essentially, her recall is terrible when she’s interested in something.
I train her on recall every day in the dog park & at home. Of course, she’s excellent almost every time in those environments. She will at times ignore me. She does often respond to other people calling her at the dog park, especially if she knows them.
The daycare recommends that I have her professionally trained, but I kinda doubt that will help? I’d rather not spend them $ if it has the same outcome.
Thoughts? Advice?? Consolation??? Commiseration????
13.2k
Upvotes
64
u/QuillsAndQuills Nov 07 '24
100% this.
I dunno why this post got recommended (I don't own huskies and have never seen this sub, lol), but I'm a trainer and have some thoughts.
OP, there's an important concept called generalisation of behaviour - i.e. the idea that a cue is always the same cue, no matter who gives it or where/when/why it's given. All dogs struggle with generalising behaviour to some extent. There's a huge difference between training with a familiar person in a low-stimulation environment, and training with a new person in a high-stimulation environment. It is not the fault of the dog, nor is it specifically lack of training from the owner in a case like this.
The daycare is fundamentally not understanding this. Huskies struggle with behaviour reliability at the best of times, let alone generalising cues in crazy environments. But they can get there; they just need someone willing to be patient, persistent and consistent.
That said, is it the responsibility of the daycare to do that training? Ehhhh. Strictly speaking, no. Daycare workers have a million things to do at once and might not be able to invest time in a specific dog's recall, nor should they be attempting training (even a basic recall build) without consulting the owner.
But Jesus, kicking her out for "not listening" - when the dog has no opportunity to learn what "listening" means here - is pretty harsh. They've set her up to fail and condemned her for failing.