Let’s celebrate complicated dogs and the humans that love them
What is a complicated dog? A dog who may overly react (lunge, growl, bark excessively) to other dogs and humans. Even those dogs we love, that have bitten another being.
Ann has given Harley and our family a beautiful gift! From the time Harley was a puppy loud unexpected noises and fast unexpected movements would scare him and make him run away and then bark at whatever it was. At about 12 mos of age he began to react to every human and every dog while we were in the car, out for a walk and especially around our home. It got so bad that we worried he might bite someone which was so hard for us because he was so sweet and cuddly with us! While I was able to make a little progress with him, things were still escalating and I was beginning to feel frustrated and hopeless so I called Ann. Upon her first visit Harley did his usual crazy routine of barking, jumping and escalating his behavior to an uncontrollable level. With her extensive knowledge and patience she was able to assess his behavior and work out an easy to follow training plan that included positive reinforcement, behavior modification, and management of his environment. She also suggested that to build his confidence we should consider trying her K9 Nose Work classes. After 6 weeks of classes and implementing her suggestions for Harley, I can see a huge difference in him. He is calmer and has begun to redirect himself or look to me for direction when he becomes unsure or scared. While we still have work ahead of us especially where other dogs are involved, he loves the K9 Nose work classes, we can now go on walks with minimal to no reactivity , and we’ve slowly been able to have people over without the ensuing craziness. Ann has given us hope and confidence through helping us to understand what was driving Harley’s behavior and how to work with him in order to bring out the best in him!