Tough Love
For those of you who don't know who Gus is, he is a little schnoodle that Lucas and I adopted about six months ago and had some problems with. If you haven't read my blog post on the dark side of adoption, let me catch you up to speed.
Gus was very over protective of his territory and was prone to growling and the occasional nip. We tried to muddle our way through his problems but eventually decided it was too much for us to tackle alone and we called in a trainer. After following the training regimen that the wonderful trainer gave to us, I am so happy to report that Gus is a completely different (and better) dog.
It was a lot of tough love at the beginning of Gus' program. No one was allowed to touch him or talk to him and he wore his muzzle every time he set foot outside of his crate. He was never allowed on furniture (still isn't) and wore a slip-knot leash for discipling from a distance. Initially I was worried he wouldn't catch on quickly and his life would be harsh for a while. He's surprised me, however, with how rapidly he learns and, even though we've had our fair share of peaks and plateaus, he has come a long way.
Originally Gus wouldn't move for you. You moved for him. Now, as soon as he sees you walking towards him, he's out of your way. He knows any sign of aggression at all means an immediate collar tightening and hasn't growled at me in weeks. For comparison, the previous record was a couple hours so this is huge. I no longer dread having people come over and having to explain his growling to them. His barking has gotten so much better but that is still a work in progress. He's down to about one bark every time someone comes in whereas he was at about fifteen before we started training.
While it's great to list off all of the things he now knows how to do, my favorite part of all of this is that I now love my dog. I know it sounds awful to imply that I didn't before we started training but I think it's hard for a lot of people to wrap their heads around how difficult it is to even like an animal that is only interested in showing signs of aggression towards you. Now though, I receive many more hugs than I do growls and I'm very excited to see just how good Gus can be.
Gus was very over protective of his territory and was prone to growling and the occasional nip. We tried to muddle our way through his problems but eventually decided it was too much for us to tackle alone and we called in a trainer. After following the training regimen that the wonderful trainer gave to us, I am so happy to report that Gus is a completely different (and better) dog.
It was a lot of tough love at the beginning of Gus' program. No one was allowed to touch him or talk to him and he wore his muzzle every time he set foot outside of his crate. He was never allowed on furniture (still isn't) and wore a slip-knot leash for discipling from a distance. Initially I was worried he wouldn't catch on quickly and his life would be harsh for a while. He's surprised me, however, with how rapidly he learns and, even though we've had our fair share of peaks and plateaus, he has come a long way.
Originally Gus wouldn't move for you. You moved for him. Now, as soon as he sees you walking towards him, he's out of your way. He knows any sign of aggression at all means an immediate collar tightening and hasn't growled at me in weeks. For comparison, the previous record was a couple hours so this is huge. I no longer dread having people come over and having to explain his growling to them. His barking has gotten so much better but that is still a work in progress. He's down to about one bark every time someone comes in whereas he was at about fifteen before we started training.
While it's great to list off all of the things he now knows how to do, my favorite part of all of this is that I now love my dog. I know it sounds awful to imply that I didn't before we started training but I think it's hard for a lot of people to wrap their heads around how difficult it is to even like an animal that is only interested in showing signs of aggression towards you. Now though, I receive many more hugs than I do growls and I'm very excited to see just how good Gus can be.
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