Well we had the bump that I had talked about in Gigi's home return. Owner is more experienced in some important areas due to practice, practice, and more practice. The detail work of leash handling et is hard to get owners to get used to as if it is second nature. Timing and consistency are so key in a case like this. Actually for any dog, but when you have an unstable dog due to neglect and lack of education, you want to move forward at a good pace. Or at least move forward .
Dogs who have a dominant streak like Gigi are not bad, they have no idea that they should not be in charge. This is especially true if there life was very limited early on. It's a great recipe for disaster in a dog like this.Gigi's owner has started his private lessons after the follow ups now. The understanding that things need to go in steps and at a certain pace for Gigi are being acted upon now. The owner is also now being able to read Gigi much better. Between that and the better handling, we should start to see some results in Gigi's biggest problem.That is walking by a dog on a city street without reacting at all. We want her to start to become comfortable with that, and sure that she is safe when she walks past a dog. She still does not feel that way. And it would be great if her relaxed tail would start to show up in the city. That day will be a major victory. Keep your fingers crossed for us.
Gigi has been able to walk with the owner's dad's dog, and lie about three feet from him without being out of control. The other nice victory would be for her to start to accept the dogs her owner knows as acceptable to her.
Oops and one more thing, and a warning about anyone letting their dog deflect or bite on the leash. This can turn into something else entirely once you are doing close work with a dog like this. In Gigi's four to five years she has learned that lunging gets her out of what she does not want to do (or away from a dog), chasing, and deflecting (not due to her current owners, but due to her past owners). Once that work becomes close up, in her mind, legs and hands are fair game too. Part of getting this to extinct is just getting her more comfortable with situations that put her into a panic. Gigi does not think of doing these things unless she is panicking. The other part is handling the leash and her correctly to stop her panicks before they start. This also eliminates the likely hood of deflecting. Yelling at her more excites her to increase the confrontation, so with a dog like this you want to be very business like and calm. When she does the right thing, and especially if she does not try and deflect, you want to point that out to her with much praise. Gigi just was never taught that it's not okay to do these things.
It's not that she can't learn. She is a difficult personality in a dog with her stubborness combined with cuteness. She is also dominant and bossy by nature.She is a tough balancing act for a novice training owner. You need to push her towards the distractions, but not too fast or too much before she can handle what she was doing before. You need A LOT of practice around things that will cause her to not want to perform well. And you need to be able to read her well. It's a tuff job for the owner. Gigi, however, is well worth it. And if we can all stick this out, will be a great dog in the end both in the house and in public. Again cross your fingers for us.
Dogs who have a dominant streak like Gigi are not bad, they have no idea that they should not be in charge. This is especially true if there life was very limited early on. It's a great recipe for disaster in a dog like this.Gigi's owner has started his private lessons after the follow ups now. The understanding that things need to go in steps and at a certain pace for Gigi are being acted upon now. The owner is also now being able to read Gigi much better. Between that and the better handling, we should start to see some results in Gigi's biggest problem.That is walking by a dog on a city street without reacting at all. We want her to start to become comfortable with that, and sure that she is safe when she walks past a dog. She still does not feel that way. And it would be great if her relaxed tail would start to show up in the city. That day will be a major victory. Keep your fingers crossed for us.
Gigi has been able to walk with the owner's dad's dog, and lie about three feet from him without being out of control. The other nice victory would be for her to start to accept the dogs her owner knows as acceptable to her.
Oops and one more thing, and a warning about anyone letting their dog deflect or bite on the leash. This can turn into something else entirely once you are doing close work with a dog like this. In Gigi's four to five years she has learned that lunging gets her out of what she does not want to do (or away from a dog), chasing, and deflecting (not due to her current owners, but due to her past owners). Once that work becomes close up, in her mind, legs and hands are fair game too. Part of getting this to extinct is just getting her more comfortable with situations that put her into a panic. Gigi does not think of doing these things unless she is panicking. The other part is handling the leash and her correctly to stop her panicks before they start. This also eliminates the likely hood of deflecting. Yelling at her more excites her to increase the confrontation, so with a dog like this you want to be very business like and calm. When she does the right thing, and especially if she does not try and deflect, you want to point that out to her with much praise. Gigi just was never taught that it's not okay to do these things.
It's not that she can't learn. She is a difficult personality in a dog with her stubborness combined with cuteness. She is also dominant and bossy by nature.She is a tough balancing act for a novice training owner. You need to push her towards the distractions, but not too fast or too much before she can handle what she was doing before. You need A LOT of practice around things that will cause her to not want to perform well. And you need to be able to read her well. It's a tuff job for the owner. Gigi, however, is well worth it. And if we can all stick this out, will be a great dog in the end both in the house and in public. Again cross your fingers for us.
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