Love More. Bark Less.

Name: Rudy

PET PARENT’S PEEVES: General disobedience, recall issues, excited behavior, jumping on people.
Sometimes, I can feel the frustration of the pet parent. Some people are great at communicating with people and have an ability to command perfection in multi-million dollar projects. It can certainly be frustrating when that same person has a difficult time in getting their fur baby to not jump on guests.
This is a prime example of the effectiveness of being able to reach your dog on their level. The dog will ignore or reject frustrated energy because in a predatory pack animal’s world, any energy outside of calm assertiveness can equal danger. This can lead to a dog creating its own boundaries and limitations. Only by reaching them on their level will you stand a chance of rehabilitating any unwanted behavior. Use my point system in every interaction to maintain the alpha position.
I demonstrated how to maintain a calm demeanor and different techniques of claiming guests and setting boundaries. I believe Rudy too was probably born towards the beginning of his litter mates.
So as a reminder: when you end up with an alpha prone dog, it is important to set rules, boundaries, and limitations early on so they don’t start setting their own. When a dog sets its own boundaries and limitations, it gets challenging and dangerous because we bring them into our human world. They don’t know that running in front of a moving vehicle is dangerous or ingesting a pill from the floor could be deadly.

There is always hope to rehabilitate any dog. It truly depends on the owner’s commitment to change their habits. Any behavior is okay ON YOUR TERMS.

Love More. Bark Less.

Name: Wilbur (chocolate) Archie (tan)

PET PARENT’S PEEVES: Intermittent disobedience, random barking, potential distrust.

The very minute I entered the home, both dogs were jumping at/on me. I was being claimed by them and there was a total lack of respect for my personal space. This is essentially dogs being left to determine their own boundaries. If this behavior is left un-checked, it most likely will evolve into resource guarding or aggressive behaviors anytime you disagree with their behavior.

Because dogs are predatory pack animals, they live by rules from their alphas. If the human doesn’t assume the alpha position, the dog will since in their mind an alpha presence must be identified for safety reasons. This is one reason that reaching dogs on their level is critical.

I demonstrated ‘follow through’ discipline with setting boundaries and the toys. The owner also practiced with the dog’s toys by taking them away and giving the toy back only when the dogs exhibited calm submissive behavior/ energy. Its important to remember that ANY behavior is okay if it is on YOUR terms.

There is always hope to rehabilitate any dog. It truly depends on the owner’s commitment to change their habits. Any behavior is okay ON YOUR TERMS.

Love More. Bark Less.