Havi has a pup friend that has been in training with Shelby since he was a small little pup. Although we portray Havi as the perfect pup, she is far from it. We never truly trained her. She was good at being "our pup" (rarely destructive or anxious, a good cuddlebug, and good on the leash). But Havi has some serious leash aggression issues, as members of her pack walk can attest to!
We invited Shelby over for a two hour introductory lesson, where Havi proceeded to jump on her the second she walked in the door....
I am not going to bore you with all the details, or let out all of Shelby's secrets, but Havi and the Grad Students learned a lot! Havi reinforced her sit and down, she learned look, touch, she taught us how to properly feed and treat Havi, and then we went on a walk to work on Havi's aggression! We were left with handouts, homework, and a tired pup! We even passed some pups on our late night walk and Havi concentrated on her looks and touches instead of being aggressive towards the pooches. Havi loved every second, and Dental Student and I found ourselves working on our own tricks all night.
The best tip Shelby gave us, is that just because Havi should be an ambassadog for her breed, that is a lot of pressure to put on Havi and us! She noted that she brings her own pup with issues to her training classes, and the most important thing she hopes to teach everyone is that every pup is always learning!
 |
| Tired Havi |
Contact Information: Shelby Semel, ABCDT, Positive Dog Training/Behavior Modification
Disclaimer: We received this introductory training class free of charge. We chose to review the product because we were so satisfied with our training session. Dental Student (who was never a big fan of trainers) suggested we use her to "brush up" once a month...
Want to join our pack walks? Please sign up through our MeetUp Page to join the Big Apple Pittie Pack!
Sounds like you and Havi learned a lot! Izzy and I are always learning something new to work on...hence our nosework session last night!
ReplyDeleteThat's great! Sometimes a little time with a pro is all it takes. Bravo for noticing that Havi needed a hand becoming that great ambassadog, and for finding the right trainer to help!
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome! We just enrolled Turk in a training class to brush up on his skills and to work on his aggression towards fosters. In one session it has already made a huge difference! Sometimes you just have to know when to call in reinforcements!
ReplyDeleteWe hired a trainer for Corbin shortly after we adopted him. It changed our lives!
ReplyDelete-Corbin's momma, Jenn
I love what she said about the pressure of being an ambassadog. I think we all want our dogs to be those ambassadors for their breeds or for all dogs but some just take a bit longer to get there and that's A-OK. Kudos to you for taking the opportunity to get a little professional guidance! And our Maggie is doing awesome getting over her leash aggression issues - I know you'll be there soon too!
ReplyDeleteAwesome post - we may have to schedule a session with her since G is moving to a new place soon and has to be on her best behavior! :)
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Glad to hear things went well with the trainer. I know the leash reactivity can be overwhelming but once you have tools to work with it does get more manageable!
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome that you are already seeing improvement! We always thought Reese was a "perfect dog" too, but when we brought McMuffin into the mix we realized we had been slacking with his training and needed to kick it back in gear. I like the idea that every dog is always learning.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to runningwithsquirrels, after we added a new dog to the household, we realized that there were some gaps in our first dog's training. We're considering having a private session with a professional trainer to help us deal with our first dog's overexcitement and make sure the two dogs get along. What made you guys decide to find a professional trainer for Havi? Also, did you find that having previously trained Havi yourselves, it was more difficult for everyone to adjust to the trainer's methods? This second reason is the main reason we're dragging our feet on finding a trainer.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the questions! We decided that (1) we may want to foster one day and (2) that Havi just still had a lot to work on when comparing her with other pups in her Pack Walk. We did see some differences in what the trainer did versus us, however Havi was able to pick up on the new things and therefore we did as well. Dental Student was not a big fan of her coming but when she left, he was very into everything she said and has been practicing a lot! Let me know if I can help with anything else!
DeleteGreat job! For sure, dogs are always learning ... we just have to make sure we are teaching them things we WANT them to learn! Way to go, Havi & Students!
ReplyDeleteSounds like it was a great move for you guys to make. We need major training refreshers
ReplyDeleteStop on by for a visit
Kari
http://dogisgodinreverse.com
Reggie and I worked with two trainers in Brooklyn. Both were positive reinforcement advocates. I wanted to work on recall for when we had off leash hours, but mainly Reggie had a lot of barking issues when I first got him so we worked on that a lot.
ReplyDeleteI think they really ended up training me more than Reggie! :)
Dog is awesome!!!
ReplyDelete