Training Tip from Andrew: Sometimes it takes a village to fix a dog. Now that it is spring time, I suddenly see dogs throughout my neighborhood that havent been walked in months apparently. Some of them are good and some of them are on the other side of the spectrum with owners that have to hide behind cars to avoid embarrassing outbursts. As a trainer, Im often handling dogs with issues and theres lots of issues that are difficult to fix, if not impossible to fix, on my own. For example, I cant teach a dog not to be leash reactive if Im sitting in a room by myself with no other dogs and no other people. Often times, Im forced to use strangers from a distance to try and help dogs work through their issues. At DogDayz, the situation is better. I get to sit in the lobby and meet most of the handlers of the dogs here and some of them have been willing to use their gifted dogs to help out dogs who are struggling. This is really when the magic happens. Even in recent memory, we have had a dog really struggle just being in a class without going ballistic - but instead of kicking the dog who needs class out of class, we rallied together as a group and watched the dog get 100x better. As humans, part of our psychology is to be judgmental which is ultimately unhelpful. What I would encourage you to do, especially if you are the owner of a perfectly behaved and balanced dog, is to offer your help to your friends and neighbors who may be struggling. If you see a reactive dog, maybe offer to walk alongside the reactive dog while it calms down. If your neighbors dog barks at you every time you walk by, work with your neighbor and see if they are willing to let you go up and give him treats. The only other choice is to let your friends and neighbors suffer by themselves while they try and solve a problem they dont have the ability to solve on their own. Sometimes, its only with the help of others and constant practice that we can make dogs live happier, more socialized lives. Andrew@dog-dayz
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 16:35:32 +0000
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