Our dog is a hyperactive lab mix who is nearly uncontrollable at times. We’ve found the best way to train her is to exhaust her. Agility classes or jogging usually allow us to have a great dog that we can then work with to shape into the dog we want. I’d love to get more involved with the clicker, but can’t seem to get the hang of it. Anyone willing to give me a simple rundown? Izzy is conditioned with it so she knows it’s a good thing, but I’d love to work on her leash reactivity with the clicker. I can’t seem to hold the leash, the cheese, the clicker, my keys, poo bags, etc. and get it done right. I think I need a fanny pack! Haha.

I’d suggest that the reason the man brought up the fee was because he was expressing something about himself and his priorities. His financial situation was secure enough to afford a purebred dog. And he could afford to live in the NY metro area and vacation in the Finger Lakes.

To him, $200 a session was expensive because he didn’t value the service and not because it was overpriced.

I want to take up something you quote him as mentioning, and that one of the commenters also mentioned: the fee charged by the first clicker trainer, $200. The feeling seems to be that this is high, and that the trainer who charged $85 and stayed for 2 hours AND gave unlimited support afterward was a more generous and better person.

I won’t say what I charge per hour, but it’s a lot closer to $200 than to $85. That fee covers not only the visit, but also my travel time and the considerable time I spend developing personalized training and behavior plans for my clients, as well as between-meeting support. I also read a lot of books (and academic texts cost a lot of money) and attend a lot of seminars with a view to making sure that I’m as up to speed on the science of dog behavior and animal learning as I can be. I give discounts for shelter dogs and I also do free or very low-cost training for a local program geared to keeping animals out of shelters. When a client hires me but can’t afford to work with me on a regular basis, I gladly steer them to free and low-cost resources.

If I charged anything remotely like $85 an hour, I couldn’t stay in business.

Oh wow Vicky. That was awesome. I need to take a lesson from you and Pamela.

Me too Julie!

Actually, you handled the situation WAY better than I would have handled it. Sadly, I’m more the passive-aggressive type when it comes to outdated training methods. I would have given him the stink-eye and then said something totally lacking in political correctness or tact or maybe kindness. To be honest, I wish I could be more like you. Demonstrating in a non-judgmental way is a far better approach. I am hoping that what you did and said resonates with the man and his family.