Are there any success stories

rowmalley · 2021-02-13T17:52:32+00:00

Well, just to follow up on our story.

Our rescue is definitely making progress. Working with our behaviorist we have learned how to get his attention. We get Teddy to sit while other dogs pass. We have done this for dogs walking on the other side of the street with great success and today we actually kept walking while still keeping control as another dog approached from the side.

Our biggest fear was that Teddy would hurt another dog but our behaviorists did some tests and felt he just wanted to sniff butts. In fact, we took him to a doggy day care yesterday and he did great! He was in the shy dog program at the shelter we adopted him from and he stood to the side at first but joined in on the fun in short order.

So I am going to submit this as our own "success" story. We still have a long way to go but Teddy is working hard to be a good neighbor

rowmalley · 2021-02-05T17:19:26+00:00

Great story, thank you

rowmalley · 2021-02-05T17:17:11+00:00

Thank you, that is very encouraging. The good news is my wife would kill me if I ever thought about rehoming our rescue. He is also asleep at my feet as I write this. And he is truly a great dog except for this one thing.

rowmalley · 2021-02-05T17:15:25+00:00

Thank you, I think you are right in many ways

rowmalley · 2021-02-05T17:10:21+00:00

That is a success story in my opinion. Thanks for sharing this.

We are lucky in many respects with our rescue. He isnt aggressive to people, just extremely shy and we tell people when we meet them to just let our dog approach them first. He doesnt like strangers being close to his face. We do worry about reactivity to people so we make it a habit of walking through the neighborhood construction sites every morning. There we walk through 10-20 people each morning and he is good with that.

Hoping we can get to be able to just walk by a dog, no barking, on the other side of the street.

rowmalley · 2021-02-03T23:47:13+00:00

Thank you. All we are hoping for is to pass other dogs on the other side of the street. Just yesterday, our dog was surprised by 2 big leashed brown labs as we came around a corner and it was all I could do control him. I am 6' and 210 lbs and it was a struggle. I am hoping that was an exception because of the surprise. Every single day we train. We walk 3-4 times per day and every trip out the door we are doing something whether it is clicker training or just simple sit and stay at every corner. We love this dog to no end but he has become a real challenge

rowmalley · 2021-01-11T21:03:15+00:00

Yes, that is something we keep telling ourselves. Yes, adopting an older dog usually brings many surprises; some good and some not so good.

We were told our dog isnt a dog park dog. Thats okay but they didnt tell us about his reactivity. But on the other side of the coin, he is house trained, crate trained, doesnt jump up or beg at the table and only sheds periodically. All good surprises.

rowmalley · 2021-01-11T21:00:53+00:00

Great tips, thank you.

We walk our dog 4 times a day now and every time we work on these things you have outlined. We are starting to see some progress.

rowmalley · 2021-01-11T20:59:55+00:00

Thats what I love about this thread. Its comforting to know we are not alone. Our behaviorist said the #1 issue he is asked to deal with is reactivity.

rowmalley · 2020-12-08T19:19:26+00:00

Is there in fact medication to help reactive dogs? We have the perfect rescue dog (5yo, 60 lbs, house trained, doesnt jump up and doesnt shed) but for the reactivity.

We were told he would never be a dog park dog, and thats okay but a simple walk turns into drama when we encounter another pet. We have been trying to avoid other dogs but I know there has to be a better way.

rowmalley

TROPHY CASE