Thank you! I it went very well. That is...he still barked and carried on at all the dogs and people in Petsmart. But, we were able to break his barking cycles and get him to be quiet. I learned that I need to up my treats...find the things that he finds the tastiest and offer those only when we are going to be in an area with a lot of distractions (like training sessions at Petsmart, out on walks around the neighborhood). The trainer is so nice and patient. I'm so happy I found her to work with us. The sessions are an hour long, and we go 4 times. We are going every other week, which I think is good. I need the extra week in between to work with him at home. It is hard work and she said that it will take a long time to get him over this. She described him as very "reactive". Which I think describes him well. One annoying thing, is the people in Petsmart. It still amazes me that a dog can be crouched down and barking aggressively and people will still insist on staring at him, and reaching toward him trying to pet him. I mean geez, can't you see he's scared to death and you need to just BACK OFF! The trainer was very good about telling people in no uncertain terms that they cannot come near him because he is in training and is very nervous. It was really annoying though. I also have really enjoyed having someone tell me how to put all the steps together to train him to do the basic obedience commands. He learned "sit" a long time ago, but I could never get him to sit until I gave him a release command. Now after our first session he is able to sit until I give him the release command. It was a really great experience and I'm really looking forward to our next session in 2 weeks. This is such a nice change over our first experience with a different trainer 8 months ago!
__________________ Kristina
Mommy to Sebastian  |