[dolaBeetCeage]

OK, so as most of you have known I have acquired & am training a GSD (Greta) to be my seizure service dog. Well, my husband told me of another guy he knows who has a service GSD so I decided to go meet him & his dog. WHAT A MISTAKE!! Lord have mercy. Where should I start??

We didn't even get in the door good & the first thing he did was say to his son, "So what do you think? You'll be getting a puppy off this one (meaning Greta)! I mean hello?? He didn't even ask me if I wanted to breed Greta! Furthermore, privately owned service dogs aren't for breeding & by law have to be altered!

When he got a good look at her, he got all excited about her, talking about how she would throw white pups (Greta is cream & black in color). I told him I didn't support the white GSD since all the specimens I had seen were substandard & the color was a DQ by standard. He replied "Do you know what I think about the standard?" Then he held up his index finger & thumb into a zero sign, meaning he thinks nothing about the standard. So I asked him what he thought about the German standard, which also prohibits white. He said the first few GSDs that were registered were white. I saw there was no point in arguing with him, so I left it at that.

He then went on to tell me (in a very condescending manner) that I should have trained Greta in German. I asked him "Why? We live in America & we speak English in our household." And what really tickled me was that HIS dog was trained in German, but didn't listen half the time. lol.

His son said "Well, if someone tries to get the dog off them & you use German commands, the dog won't listen to them." I replied "If you have a well trained dog, they will not listen to a stranger's commands anyway." The son said nothing, but gave me the stink eye.

I added I did train my Doberman in German, but had to go back & RE-train her in English b/c my husband did not know German nor did he have the inclination to learn. The fellow replied "Well, you post a list of the commands in the house & he (my husband) can either learn them or don't." Once again I saw no point in pursuing what was obviously turning into a pointless conversation so I left it at that.

Then he showed me his dog - not impressive by any means. Good conformation from what I know of GSDs. He had nice red & black pigment but he had smutty facial markings, a VERY dry & bristly coat, a tail that curled slightly to the left & I noticed when the dog moved he had a slipping hock on the left side. Nothing I'd breed to even if I WERE into breeding GSDs.

But what REALLY burned me up is that he has this dog registered & represented a service dog when he is anything but. he is only represented that way so his owner can take him everywhere with him.

The dog is intact (service dogs have to be altered) & his owner is not disabled in any way (save for the fact that he's weird). I even inquired (politely) as to what disability he was trained to assist with & was told he was in training to be a "drug dog." Drug dogs do NOT qualify as assistance dogs!!!In fact, the dog doesn't even wear a service dog vest but rather he wears an old, ratty police K9 vest that was likely given to him!!

GRRR!! The last point REALLY irks me!! Sheesh. This guy & his son are really a couple of pieces of work. I guess these types of people aren't limited to APBTs.

He asked me if I wanted to do some training with him. he said he can't find anyone in the area he's want to train with. he said "Well, you have my cell if you want to get together." I hope he is not holding his breath waiting for a call!

Sorry, I just had to share that. Thanks for letting me vent.

Blessings ...

[unatkot]

Wow! I don't know whether to laugh or slam my head into my desk. I love the German vs English commands thing though.

I bet my neighbor yesterday I could not only take his Rottie off the porch and walk him in a heel while he was calling him back but get him to ignore the recall and sit and lay down for me only using German commands (he is trained in English). He offered me 20$ if I could do it because the dog won't let anyone handle him (ego talk) but I told him I didn't want to rip him off.

Took the dog (moved his choke chain high up on his neck) who wagged his big butt like crazy and off we went, he heeled perfectly (he pulls my neighbor down the street every day), put him in a sit and down and he acted like his owner didn't even exist. I laughed so hard. Now he looks at me like I am a fairy princess with magical powers.

I told him it's because his dog is German so he already knew what the commands meant. The dog wouldn't leave me alone the rest of the night coming up to lick my face. My neighbor was mortified at his traitorous dog.


Sounds like you need to stay the hell away from that idiot though and his fancy training methods and expertise.

[Ifroham4]

I bet the police would be mighty interested to learn that a private citizen is not only training a dog for narcotics detection (and probably has no affiliation with a proper training business or LE) and that the dog wears a Police K-9 vest.

I adopted a dog several years ago from someone on CL. She was OBESE (they free-fed her a 46% protein kibble!) and they told me, "she's not so flashy in her obedience anymore, but she's a good dog." (They also lied to me saying she was 5 y/o when a check of her tattoo indicated....9 y/o.)

When we got home, I thought, "let me try something," and I started giving her commands in German. She would snap right to what I asked. She wasn't "flashy" because she didn't understand English (Belgian import originally.)

This guy sounds like my future FIL....it has nuts....it's purebred....let's breed it! (Luckily my future FIL's nutless wonder won't be producing anything...ever.)

[dolaBeetCeage]

Yeah, this guy is weird with a capital "W." I won't be putting him on my pen pal list, that's for sure. lol.

That's like after he lectured me on why I should train in German, he gave his dog a command in German. His cell happened to ring right after that & he started speaking to the the person in a GERMAN ACCENT!!!! Rolling Rs & the whole bit. And it was a poor mimic of the accent to boot. When he snuck a peek at me & saw I was looking at him like he was a loon & was NOT impressed, he stopped.

But I will contact our local LE to see their take on his dog. I have been seriously pondering contacting the gov't office of the ADA as well since falsely registering & presenting your pet as a service dog is highly illegal. People who begin using with fake service dogs will make it very hard for those of us with legitimate disabilities to have them.

Blessings ...

[unatkot]

It's definitely illegal to even buy a K9 police dog vest without giving a badge number too.

[tramdoctorsss]

Yikes! All I can think...YIKES! Creepy guy and dog stories just give me the willies.

[dolaBeetCeage]

It's definitely illegal to even buy a K9 police dog vest without giving a badge number too.

I'll definitely follow up on that. IDK if I'll get any results though. We live in a small town with a "good ole boy" system & if he knows an LEO who gave him the vest (which is likely how he got it - looks old & ratty, likely one they were going to discard) they'll do nothing.

I called the ADA today & the ditz I spoke to said there is nothing they can do when I know there IS, misrepresenting your pet as a service dog is a federal offense!

Blessings ...