Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeSid
How involved did you have to be in the professional training? I've known folks that just sent their dog away for a couple weeks but I was never sure how well that worked. I didn't get to see the end result. I would think the dog would have to learn inputs directly from you for it to be effective.
We've considered this route. We had Bullmastiffs for 25 years and they are pretty easy to train and very smart. Almost effortless. The most recent fella in our house is a rescue from Texas. He's like a cross between a Coyote and a Whippet and he's pretty anxious. It's, well, a completely different breed. Professional training might help him.
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keep in mind we just had a come to Jesus meeting with an animal control officer. we were desperate. we chose a boot camp for Hank. they took one look at him at the half day evaluation and said they will need to work with him for a bit. the nuclear option. we dropped him off and then look on his face was downright comical. it was WTF..where are you going?!! we left him for 6 weeks..maybe 4? I think 6.
they asked me one real question. "what do you expect from Hank when we are done?" I replied. "I simply want to go to a beer garden, sit down with Hank, have a beer without drama."
she smiled and said, "oh we can do that easily, that's it?"
Me: "..you take a personal check? or Venmo?"
it was profound. Hank had structure. routine. he was with other dogs. he learned to walk next to horse riders. full immersion. my wife and I picked him up with instructions to dress comfy and to budget the entire day. we got trained ourselves hard. we would have him heel and dogs were running and fetching around us. they rang a doorbell and hank would just low growl..they told us to keep working with him. I could point to a rug and say, "place!"..he would trot to the rug and lay down and not move.
I did go to a beer garden, had a beer. zero drama except the nervousness I was feeling.
I can jog past other dogs and he sticks to my side. he will heel without a leash.
when we dropped hank off that day..the shelter was full house. there was zero barking. none. dogs just laying around, playing, no barking. they only housed trained animals. Hank sniffed a bunny. I was sure that bunny was dead meat.
I would say Hank is 80%...90% with me. if he stresses, I say, "down". hey lays down and won't move unless I release him. he may tremble at the big Great Dane walking by, but he stays put. he trusts me to have his back, I think.
my wife did the unthinkable. she told Hank, "down"..and she pulled out this Dremel tool thing and trimmed his nails. pre-training that wouldn't have played out at all. now it is a regular thing.