Felix is such a special guy. He is an adult bully breed dog and his owners are dedicated to helping him overcome his reactivity to strangers and other dogs. He is here for 10 days of obedience training and some redirecting when he reacts inappropriately to someone.
When it comes to his obedience he had a very normal first day. We introduced Heel/Autosit, Implied Stay, and Come. He gets Heel and he walks very nicely on a leash. When another dog is around he will lunge but he is very easy to correct back into a Heel if he is wearing an appropriately fitted prong collar. He doesn't get Autosit yet. He will sit when told to but it is not automatic. He kind of gets Implied Stay but really would rather bounce after you. Recall (Come) is a bit of a mess. He definitely goes in the right direction but he typically takes a flying leap into your chest. We are working on fixing this with praise and discipline to make it worth it to him to sit nicely when he gets to me. Right now he is rewarding himself with the fun of body-slamming his trainer. However, we must remember that it IS only day 1.
Behaviorwise he is doing better than expected. When his people left he was very defensive. We (my husband who helps me walk and exercise the dogs, and I) decided that instead of making him feel cornered in his kennel and trying to leash him while he felt loomed over we would let him into the large training room and allow him to come to us. It was a risk because he could have gone into attack mode so we waited for him to calm down before we let him out. When we let him out he explored the training room but would bark at us with defensive body language if we approached him or talked to him. My husband and I sat down quietly and waited for him to approach us. After about 7 minutes of barking, sniffing, and exploring Felix seemed to decide my husband was an okay guy and went over to say hello. He let me leash him and we took a walk, after that my husband and I were in the "Felix Club" and he has been very friendly ever since.
Dogs are another story. We have been able to walk him with Bubba Lee the other dog here for training but Felix will go from walking nicely to lunging at Bubba with very little warning. Felix might not get to the point that he can be trusted with off leash play time but he is already improving on leash walks.
Tomorrow we are working on everything we learned today and we are introducing Down and possibly Place Mat. Overall he is right where I like them for day 2 or even 3!
When it comes to his obedience he had a very normal first day. We introduced Heel/Autosit, Implied Stay, and Come. He gets Heel and he walks very nicely on a leash. When another dog is around he will lunge but he is very easy to correct back into a Heel if he is wearing an appropriately fitted prong collar. He doesn't get Autosit yet. He will sit when told to but it is not automatic. He kind of gets Implied Stay but really would rather bounce after you. Recall (Come) is a bit of a mess. He definitely goes in the right direction but he typically takes a flying leap into your chest. We are working on fixing this with praise and discipline to make it worth it to him to sit nicely when he gets to me. Right now he is rewarding himself with the fun of body-slamming his trainer. However, we must remember that it IS only day 1.
Behaviorwise he is doing better than expected. When his people left he was very defensive. We (my husband who helps me walk and exercise the dogs, and I) decided that instead of making him feel cornered in his kennel and trying to leash him while he felt loomed over we would let him into the large training room and allow him to come to us. It was a risk because he could have gone into attack mode so we waited for him to calm down before we let him out. When we let him out he explored the training room but would bark at us with defensive body language if we approached him or talked to him. My husband and I sat down quietly and waited for him to approach us. After about 7 minutes of barking, sniffing, and exploring Felix seemed to decide my husband was an okay guy and went over to say hello. He let me leash him and we took a walk, after that my husband and I were in the "Felix Club" and he has been very friendly ever since.
Dogs are another story. We have been able to walk him with Bubba Lee the other dog here for training but Felix will go from walking nicely to lunging at Bubba with very little warning. Felix might not get to the point that he can be trusted with off leash play time but he is already improving on leash walks.
Tomorrow we are working on everything we learned today and we are introducing Down and possibly Place Mat. Overall he is right where I like them for day 2 or even 3!
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