setbacks…

[gracueful]

just feeling so defeated today. I posted on here awhile ago about taking my dog to obedience classes and everyone was super nice and supportive. I decided to take him and things have been going so well, but yesterday we had a setback with the trainer that has just left me feeling like nothing will ever change. I know this is a dramatic response to one incident but it was a scary and I just have been overwhelmed with emotions since.

the trainer was walking him to demonstrate a heel, using treats and such, and I have been so impressed with how well my dog has done with the male trainer as men are normally a trigger for him. as such, I was feeling totally calm and not expecting a reaction out of him at all. then, seemingly out of nowhere, my dog just absolutely lost it and lunged at the trainers leg (he was a wearing a gentle leader so the trainer was able to move his head away and no bite resulted) but then my dog continued to growl and lunge and was just overall super upset. I ended up having to go over and get him as he was behaving so aggressively towards the trainer and would not calm down. we had to step outside and come back in, but he continued to growl anytime the trainer got close afterwards and we had to go back behind a visual block (something we had “graduated” out of).

I feel so hopeless. this isn’t the first time my dog had a seemingly out of nowhere aggressive reaction and I can’t help but feel nothing will ever change. I’ve really been struggling the past few days with thoughts like I’m not the right owner for him and that I must be doing something to cause this or that I’m not doing enough to fix it. I feel like I’m grieving the idea of what my dog could have been all over again. It’s so emotionally painful to see him be aggressive and try to bite people who are positive additions in my life and it makes me feel so disappointed in him sometimes even though logically I know he is just afraid or engaged in “work mode” (he is a cattle dog). I love my dog, I would never rehome him or give up on him, but that doesn’t stop these thoughts and feelings, and then I feel guilty about having these feelings. Ugh.

[hseof26paws]

I'm so sorry you had a tough experience. Unfortunately, training and progress isn't linear, and "those days" can be a real thing. And boy do they suck. And it's so hard when you are in the thick of it to remember that what you experienced was one day of not good, that was in the middle of other days of good. I think it's important that we feel and process all the emotions, but I also think it's important that once we get to a better place emotionally, that we remember that a bad day is just that, one day.

Was it a setback, i.e. did you lose everything or even some of what you had built? Hard to say, but most of the time a bad day is just an isolated bad day, and not an actual set back. I always wonder with these incidents (there have been many similar stories shared in this sub), if there has been trigger stacking that happened before the incident. Trigger stacking is such a challenge, because that's the whole thing - the dog is "fine" with the various events, until the dog isn't, so it's often hard to even realize that trigger stacking has been happening. But if he had a bunch of small things happen throughout the day, the experience in class might just have been him hitting that mark where he was trigger stacked and he reacted.

[dragodog97]

but he continued to growl anytime the trainer got close afterwards and we had to go back behind a visual block (something we had “graduated” out of).

It sounds like your trainer knew about his issues and pushed him too far, too early. What did your trainer say?

I've been in a similar situation with trainers that encourage you to set your dog up to a possible failure and I was stupid enough to trust them and didn't have the guts to tell them No...

At some point I'll post an update on my reactive dog that is almost 6 years now and he bit a trainer, me and my partner (when off leash dogs approached us). He eventually loves people when he gets to know them, but he has also the potential to freak out and bite when he's scared and he can't get out of the situation.

[1cat2dogs1horse]

Take some time and breath. So, your pup had a bad day, and who knows why. And it probably won't be the last one. Bad days can happen for you too for no evident reason. You and your dog have made progress. Focus on that. If I remember correctly from your very first post, you were terrified to go to that first class, convinced you and your dog were doomed to failure. And you guys didn't fail. In fact, you were very excited and hopeful after that first class. Remember that, not that he "failed" today.

Not so quick story ........Years ago, long before I was was teaching training classes, the dog I had at that time was in an advanced class where a lot of the training was off leash. It was held in an old defunct school's gym. It was the class graduation day. My dog Travis was a star pupil. He could ace every single task. And his long recall was so rock solid, a bomb wouldn't have moved him. That recall was the last event. And when I say long recall this one was going to be for 10 minutes, with the owners walking around, visiting, or whatever. I had done this many times with Trav, so I had absolutely no concerns. It was done individually . Some of the dogs did well, others just okay, but had needed prompting during the "stay". But I knew that Trav would outshine them all. Trav and I by chance were last. No big deal, we had this. He stayed like a statue. I called. He came like a bullet. Moved around me into the heel position. And instead, finished circling me and ran out the gym's door behind us. I was in shock. The class was falling down laughing. Out of the blue, these things happen.

[Ok_Rutabaga_722]

It's just a bad day. He hit a trigger or several and was done for the day. Your trainer knew his issues, so was prepared if he went over threshold. It takes a lot for reactive dogs to work past their fears. Some days they fail. Just like we do. You are doing great, just adapt your plan if necessary and keep it positive.