Spirit Ranch Training

I took my dog to this business for an evaluation because I was concerned about him becoming territorially aggressive towards people who entered my home. In particular I was worried about fear aggression and territorial aggression in my rescue puppy and wanted to make sure I did all in my power to address any issues before deciding whether rehoming was necessary, or even whether euthanization had to be considered. After seeing the website for Spirit Ranch and speaking to them on the phone, I set an appointment for an evaluation of my dog. They advertise themselves as having certified animal behaviorists who can rehabilitate aggressive dogs. I should have turned around the moment I entered the door. My first interaction with the owner was when she began to scold me because she thought I was late for the appointment, and when I disagreed and showed her my watch (I was actually 2 minutes early), she argued and insisted on going to check another clock (on her computer). When she realized she was wrong, she didn’t apologize for scolding me.
Then, the owner of the business, in order to «evaluate» whether my dog was aggressive, locked him in a wire cage and tormented him by rattling aluminum bottles on the cage, shaking the cage, hitting the cage, and picking up the front of the cage and dropping it with my dog inside it. My dog cowered and whimpered in the far corner of the cage, but did not growl or bark. He finally reacted to her when she laid her hands on me — and for good reason, IMO. He wanted to protect me from the lady who attacked him while in the cage. His reaction consisted of him barking at her from the cage when she touched me. IMO, her «evaluation» was nothing short of abuse — taking an animal you are concerned has fear/​territory aggression, caging it, and attacking the cage (and then, in his eyes, his owner) is NOT the way to assess an animal who may be aggressive or have fear aggression — a caged animal being attacked without a mode of escape will likely become aggressive. Wouldn’t you?
Also, her website makes various claims that are simply not accurate. For example, the website claims they use a foundation of positive reinforcement. Concerned by this language, I called to ask for clarification of what they meant and I was told they use solely positive reinforcement techniques, but this is untrue. She sprayed a bitter apple spray directly in my dog’s face and mouth when he barked at her after she attacked his cage and then put her hands on me. This is punitive behavior modification, not positive reinforcement.
I learned too late that in Oklahoma pet training is completely unregulated and «certification» can be claimed regardless of whether the person attended a certificate program (a training class and receives a certificate from the class attendance, which can be as little as 2 weeks of training) or has gone through a certification process where hundreds of hours of training are required, past clients are interviewed, participating in training-​related events with a dog they have trained is required, their knowledge is tested at length by an independent third party subject to industry standards, and maintaining their certification requires 36 hours of continuing education every 3 years. (The Association of Professional Dog Trainers has a website that discusses these things — just go to their home page, then to «pet owners» and «how to choose a dog trainer» and then finally, «trainer certifications».)
Also, although the owner of this business claims to be a certified animal behaviorist, by industry standards, this is not accurate. Also too late to spare my dog from her torture, I learned that in the pet training industry, it is generally accepted that someone who is an animal behaviorist actually possesses a graduate degree from a university. However, because the industry is unregulated, a «certificate» without that training background can be obtained. The owner of this business uses the term animal behaviorist, but to my knowledge, her credentials do not include a graduate degree. I discovered that Oklahoma has no true animal behaviorists with the required graduate degree, although Tulsa does have an animal behavior specialist who has a bachelor’s degree to back up the title (All Things Canine is her business if you want to take a look).
BEFORE YOU CHOOSE A TRAINER, ASK THEM FOR A COPY OF ALL THEIR CREDENTIALS SO YOU CAN DETERMINE WHERE THEY RECEIVED THEIR CERTIFICATION. IF THEY WON’T GIVE YOU THEIR CERTIFICATIONS, RUN. COPIES OF CERTIFICATIONS ALLOW YOU TO ASSESS WHETHER THEY WENT THROUGH A CERTIFICATE PROGRAM OR WHETHER THEY WENT THROUGH THE MORE RIGOROUS 3RD PARTY OBJECTIVE CERTIFICATION REQUIRING LOTS OF HOURS AND CONTINUING EDUCATION. There are a lot of good trainers with solid certification in the Tulsa area — this is not one of them, IMO. As someone who did not know all this information when I started, I can only hope it helps you before you make the same mistakes I did.