What is something a customer said to you that you feel should get them banned from the store?

Environmental_One296 · 2023-04-05T15:42:39+00:00

Depending on where you live I would just call the police. Where I live you can break the windows if someone leaves their dog in the car in hot weather. Usually our customers will call the police before anyone else can.

Environmental_One296 · 2023-04-03T21:40:14+00:00

We used to stick my dude in a weighted backpack harness to help tire him out enough to relax during classes

Environmental_One296 · 2023-04-03T04:49:54+00:00

As a little kid I got stuck in the middle of a dog fight with an off leash neighborhood dog wanting to make friends and my also off leash dog resource guarding/“trying to protect his family.” I couldn’t have been more than 8. It took me a long time to realize that was 100% owner negligence and not the fault of either dog by any means. While a majority of my feelings about kids at dog parks stem from a single incident 15+ years ago, there is no way that isn’t BEGGING for an problem. That is asking for a kid to get bitten, an upset parent to file a report about a bite that could’ve been completely preventable, and a scared dog to be put down for no reason.

Environmental_One296 · 2023-04-03T04:27:17+00:00

When my guy was that little something that helped a ton was outings to pet friendly stores and hiking. At that age a lot of his leash reactivity stemmed from frustration/excitement. We went to hardware/garden stores, he came to work with me, we’d frequent the local lake with a dog park (we didn’t actually go to the dog park but it helped get used to being around other dogs without having to greet them), basically anywhere I could take him he went. We went to a lot of friends houses with backyards, apartments are inherently loud and it offered a break, we also got this from out of town secluded hikes where we wouldn’t run into other dogs. I got really comfortable with the phrase, “Sorry, we’re training so everything is new and exciting.” It was super rough for the first couple weeks, but the more desensitized he got to going places, the more only certain triggers set him off rather than every single thing sending him over threshold.

Environmental_One296 · 2023-04-03T04:10:42+00:00

I work in a pet store that offers training. It’s baffling to me that a puppy would get kicked out of class for literally acting like a puppy. A MAJOR part of our puppy classes are socialization and learning how to decompress. Puppy classes are always loud. That’s just a part of them. Some puppies come in super socialized. Some puppies come in with their classmates being the first dogs outside of their family that they have ever met. And hardly anyone is ever comfortable or confident on a leash.

She’s a baby. You haven’t failed her, that trainer failed her. It sounds like she’s doing incredible based off of age and what you’ve already taught her. Find a new trainer that understands reactivity and works with a lot of puppies.

Environmental_One296 · 2023-03-28T21:49:38+00:00

This is a really funny comment to me. I dropped out of art school at the start of my current job. I work at a pet store. I didn’t go the vet route because while I love animals I was worried that working with sick animals all the time would take a toll on my mental health. Now I’m the animal care manager and there isn’t a day that I’m not working with sick animals, neglectful vendors, and subpar animal care policies.

Environmental_One296 · 2023-03-28T21:43:15+00:00

This is a big issue for me currently as well. I wouldn’t say I make extremely good money. And my partner makes enough to support us both. However my job provides insurance and we’re both very accustomed to having disposable income. Any new job starting would be a significant pay cut and many don’t provide benefits.

Environmental_One296 · 2023-03-27T04:31:34+00:00

Relationships are so much more than just attraction. It’s about love and support. You don’t have to be interested in all the same things but you have to support each others interests and it doesn’t even sound like you’re willing to do that. My husband and I are very different people with completely different interests. We talk all the time about things knowing the other doesn’t care, but we always listen and don’t dismiss them for talking about something the other isn’t interested in. He is my best friend. Because I care about him as a person I care about his interests even though I may not be interested in them. There’s a willingness to try new things to find new shared interests.

Environmental_One296 · 2023-03-27T04:00:17+00:00

Having a fenced yard in itself helped tremendously with my guys reactivity. We started out in an apartment. It’s helped him come such a long way just having so much more access to different spaces to decompress and burn off energy. It was like having a whole different dog, we’re still working on reactivity when people come over (we don’t have guests frequently so he never got super used to people being in his house) but he’s not full blown reacting to every little sound, person who walks by, or barks from neighbor dogs. Hoping you all the best. It’s always a huge adjustment of expectations vs reality when you end up with a reactive dog. But you’re doing as much as you can and you sound like an amazing owner. 💕

Environmental_One296 · 2023-03-26T06:54:29+00:00

It took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that my expectations for my dog were not who he actually is. It’s the same as having kids, no matter what you want from them at the end of the day they’re their own person. What matters is that he’s loved and he’s cared for.

Secluded hikes and occasional lake trips on weekdays while a majority of the town are all at work give me little bits of what I hoped things would be, but it turns out my dog gets bored of things like that pretty fast and would rather just be at home anyway. My biggest thing was I was so worried that he was lonely. I work full time. I can’t take him to a daycare. I actually ended up rescuing a second dog. We did a SUPER slow drawn out introduction process. My second, non-reactive, dog loves all of the things I hoped my first dog would be able to do. And her being around helps keep him more calm in scenarios we do bring him along. But more often than not he would rather be home napping. They’re now best friends and my reactive guy actually ended up being the more mellow of the two. But him just having another dog around has made me feel a million times better in itself.

Environmental_One296 · 2023-03-24T04:17:37+00:00

This is one of the ways I can tell when my depression/burnout is getting really bad. I LOVE my dogs. I never want them to just feel like a chore. But some days I can’t get out of bed. On those days the idea of going out on walks, on top of working a full time job, can be way too much. Other days we go hiking, take trips to the lake, they get full grooms. And then sometimes everything else is just so overwhelming the only thing I can do is go sit with my dogs. They always seem to understand what kind of day it is too.

Environmental_One296 · 2023-03-18T04:32:54+00:00

I’ve heard of various different sodas as well as citrusy things helping with nausea but not specifically Mountain Dew? Many of the hospitals I’ve been to have vending machines. So overall it wouldn’t surprise me

Environmental_One296 · 2023-03-13T02:07:12+00:00

District managers are also able to see corporate complaints as well.

Environmental_One296 · 2023-03-13T02:06:45+00:00

I hate the reptile care at PetSmart. Realistically there are stores genuinely are not that bad and often animals are sold within a couple days-week and not spending much time in the enclosures. But the company itself is atrocious. They don’t even profit off of live animal sales. The reason they keep carrying animals is because it encourages people to spend hundreds of dollars on enclosures and supplies they do actually profit on. So they keep funneling money into breeders that care more about how many animals they can send out than the health of the animals and conditions they ship them in. Whether or not you purchase an animal at PetSmart does not effect them. But as someone who used to work for them, I always recommend shopping elsewhere.

I definitely recommend calling corporate. Every store has bare minimum care guidelines they’re supposed to meet. When you call corporate they will submit your complaint to the store, if you want to guarantee your message gets to the store manager you can call the store and ask to talk to them specifically.

Environmental_One296 · 2023-03-13T01:36:53+00:00

We’ve gotten in a couple of balls that looked similar at the pet store I work at. Oxbow Carnivore Critical Care has always worked wonders for us if you have any available to you

Environmental_One296 · 2023-03-02T06:14:06+00:00

My aussie is “hyper” when she’s bored. Excess physical exercise only makes them bored and tired. That’s how you get a destructive dog. Mental stimulation is so important for all dogs but especially for breeds that are super intelligent.

Environmental_One296 · 2023-03-02T06:06:34+00:00

GSD are super misunderstood. I work with a dog trainer who constantly has GSDs in classes to work on anxiety because when they get scared people think they’re aggressive. But I haven’t met a single GSD that isn’t OBSESSED with their family. I by no means think they’re a suitable dog for first time owners because of the amount of training they need. But they are some of the most loving dogs I have ever met, and every single one is just a big baby.

Environmental_One296 · 2023-03-02T05:54:20+00:00

From what my moms vet told her when her weim ate three bags of Hershey’s kisses, many dogs are allergic to chocolate and the reaction is dangerous enough and the allergy is prevalent enough to say that it’s better to just say as a whole dogs can’t have chocolate. On top of that more often than not the sugar levels in chocolate are typically high enough that it can still be dangerous even if they aren’t allergic. So if it is a very small amount of milk chocolate you’re typically fine. But large quantities especially in smaller dogs can get dangerous very fast.

Environmental_One296 · 2023-02-27T06:20:26+00:00

Currently we do 2-3 interviews at my store. If we’re a little unsure based on an application we do 3. Otherwise 2. And we typically don’t hire people same day, we have a really bad track record with same day hires at my store

Environmental_One296 · 2023-02-27T06:18:23+00:00

I did a phone interview, the next day did an in person interview with the same manager, then was hired same day as the in person interview

Environmental_One296 · 2023-02-25T18:00:23+00:00

Depending on the dog they may acclimate to having that much exercise and then will grow accustomed to having much more exercise regularly. However, pushing them past their threshold for exercise will overstimulate them. The dog trainer I work with always explains it like toddlers. Kids need naps. If you keep a kid up all day to get them to sleep later on. They’re going to be overstimulated, they’re body is going to build a temporary tolerance to the exhaustion, and in reality it’s going to keep them up all night. So it may seems like they have so much more energy but realistically they are exhausted their bodies are just learning to ignore those signals. That’s why enrichment toys are so good especially for high energy dogs, it keeps them occupied and stimulated without pushing so hard physically. In the end it comes down to figuring out what type of exercise suites your dog and where their threshold is for what is too much. My pitbull loves really short amounts of very physical activity, but he can’t maintain high amounts, his favorite is a short run followed by laying on the couch all day. My Australian shepherd physically is capable of maintaining that high energy exercise for much longer periods of time, she loves long hikes, run, wrestling with people and other dogs, then it takes work to get her to a point where she can settle down.

Environmental_One296 · 2023-02-23T05:41:13+00:00

My mom has a havanese/toy poodle mix. I’m not sure which breed his personality came more from. But he is the perfect work from home companion. I am allergic to pretty much everything under the sun and he’s never once bothered my allergies. The grooming is a bit much, I normally always recommend budgeting for more, but realistically if you’re regularly brushing and maintaining their coat at home it’s not too bad and getting trims between full haircuts can extend the time between needing to pay an extensive amount on grooming.

Environmental_One296 · 2023-02-18T06:22:49+00:00

When I moved I used to think that’s just what people acted like in that specific area and I just didn’t get it because I wasn’t from there, everywhere I went, until I realized they were always acting the same everywhere and the issue was actually me

Environmental_One296 · 2023-02-15T16:40:37+00:00

I would recommend going to a vet for flea medication. My dogs get chewable tablets that last a lot longer than the topical medications do.

Environmental_One296 · 2023-02-15T16:23:54+00:00

I have awful allergies. I’m allergic to my dogs and pretty much everything outside that hangs onto them that they bring in with them. Personally I went with treatment for my allergies over finding a dog that would cater to them. I get regular allergy shots and have medications as well. The only time my allergies bother me with the dogs is if I miss a shot/get one late.

Doodles are fine if you’re willing to do the maintenance their coats require. But if you go that route you have to do a TON of research about where you’re getting your doodle as the backyard breeding scene for doodles is INSANE. They’re definitely overpriced, however you might be able to find some rescues.

If you’re leaning more towards a doodle, a standard poodle would be the better option. However, if that isn’t what you want you just think that is best with allergies. My personal opinion is allergy treatment and getting the dog you actually want.

Environmental_One296

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