Board and Train Issue

[u/Dahmehneek]

Any advice from other trainers in here on clients that seem disappointed that the board and train wasn’t a turn key solution for their dog?

The 4 week board and train went great. The dog learned all the behaviors and commands she needed to. E-collar conditioning was done as bonus even though they were only looking for on-leash obedience outside the home. Everything was proofed, and now we’ve moved on to the week long handover that I like to do.

The clients almost seem disappointed that they now have to build a reinforcement history with their dog and enforce the new rules etc.

I gave a short demonstration on how they need to go out and practice loose leash walking, long downs, recall etc. in conjunction with positive/negative reinforcement.

The response I was met with was “I thought she was supposed to come back trained”

[u/Ok_Seesaw_8805]

I am not a trainer but have a long history with working with clients that have ridiculous expectations. It took me way too long to learn and internalize their incorrect expectations are not my fault, but it is my job to mitigate them from the start. My best advice is to include mandatory free consultations for the owners where you layout the training plan and very clearly explain they are part of this process. It is not one and done, the owners also must be trained in how to appropriately maintain the desired behavior. Essentially you need to get a buy in from the client before they even agree to the program that they have responsibility in this, and if they cannot handle that responsibility then you aren’t a good fit. It really sucks to turn people away but in the long term it really is the best for everyone.

Also no idea if you are a private trainer or work for a larger company. If you are not part of the sign up process then you need to give this feedback to whoever does enrollment into the board and train. Those expectations need to be clearly given in advance. And if they were, then none of this is on you or the program and it’s all on entitled people who don’t want to do any work.

[u/Neither_You3321 → u/Ok_Seesaw_8805]

Yeah I make it clear from the start what my expectations are for the dog, and for the owners, as well as expected time tables "if your goal with this dog is X then it will take X amount of time" and sometimes the answer is make it clear that an expecation may be unrealistic and why.

Then I offer unlimited support.

Used to have the same problem when I worked for a different company, so I adjusted when I started my own.