I wanted to come back to this after I had a good night's sleep. At first, I couldn't reconcile the:
Quote:
Yeah, Jim, seriously you may be tempted to lecture but our job as photographers is to deal with the dog the way it is. Most owners don't understand the training issues and most think their pet is perfect the way it is.
and
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I feel that in my venue, I'm in charge. I get to order the owner around; I get to tell the dog/cat what I want from them. And, most importantly, I'm qualified to do so. I've trained hundreds of dogs over the years. I've handled -- in the ring -- several dozen more. So when I give a dog a command on my set, it is to be obeyed. And most owners know it.
sentiments, but now I think my wording my have confused the issue.
I'm not talking about telling someone their dog is a brat for sure, but I'm also not talking about letting the dog run crazy during the session.
I did a lot of informal training of SPCA dogs and still do a lot formal training of my own. Outside of the extreme "you need professional help" cases, I can train most dogs for sit, down & stay for long enough to get a good image if time in the session permits. I can even do it without it looking like formal training to the owner if I really need to.
If the dog thinks it is having fun, that's pretty much all that matters (in a simplified way of course 
)
But say I have good images of my own dogs in great poses and the owner asks about how to get them trained to be such great models. I could then whip out the card of a trainer that I know. Hopefully there would be some reciprocity, but if not, it really is not hurting me at all. Plus, next time around I might end up with a CGC in front of the camera 
