An interesting phenomenon I have noticed for years doing dog training evaluations:
It isn't unusual that one person in the home is the problem. It isn't the dog, it is that one person stirring up or even unintentionally causing the problem.
There are ways I can test for this, from what people tell me they are doing to “asking” the dog who the problem is.
Good evaluations are evidence based. I can test assumptions.
My main webpage photo is of me dressed up as Sherlock Holmes. I am inspired by that fictional character. Here are some of the maxims of Mr. Holmes:
"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth".
"You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear".
"There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact".
"It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important".
"The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes".
"To a great mind, nothing is little".
"It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data".
"I never guess. It is a shocking habit—destructive to the logical faculty".
"You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles".
The problem with a lot of dog trainers is they come in with assumptions about all dogs, and start applying their philosophies on the dog without doing a lot more background work and testing. The dogs get trapped in their remedies and the perps get away with what they have been doing, and the problem will crop up again and again. How many times have I heard someone say that on the first appointment, the dog trainer will show up and start in on correcting the dog right there, leaving the dog trembling and cowering before that first appointment is over... that isn't the way to do it folks. Or the dog is enrolled in their board and train program, not identifying that someone in the home is the problem. Do you want someone to "break" your dog and not address the root causes?
Those poor dogs…
Plan accordingly.
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