Shana Summer 2016 Update

Shana and her little "brother", Ziggy

I last blogged about my own personal dog, Shana, this April 2016.   We have been doing a ton of work since then, and it is paying off in spades.  Shana is becoming more confident and happy around strange dogs, her training is going great (when I work with her of course), and hence bringing Shana out in public is becoming a lot less stressful for me.   Not to mention, being on the right track training wise with Shana's training plan, which I measure through her progress and behavior, has me a lot less stressed.   I am much happier because I see that Shana is becoming much happier with her confidence and becoming less stressed.

As a dog trainer, it is a hard thing to realize you probably made this problem for your dog, and you need to figure out how to fix it.   It's taken a lot of trial and error in the previous two years to figure out the right training plan for her to fix this (I go over those highlights in my April 2016 blog).

Here are some brief video highlights of successful training moments:

1)  Finding a strange dog or a dog she hasn't seen for a year in the dog room used to mean a melt down no matter what.  Now we were able to walk into the room without any drama, bullying, or protest.



2)  I have just started to be able to use Shana s the "non reactive" dog in the room while walking clients through their dog's similar issues.  A small dog barking at her, is not something Shana would have tolerated calmly in the past.  Not at all.



3)  Walking on the beach  leashed or loose dogs at a much farther distance used to be very stressful.   Now we can get much closer, but I didn't want to intrude too much upon the family enjoying their leashed puppies the other day:)  It was a good enough practice for Shana, who was (though not showing it on tape) not totally unconcerned.



Plus many other good things have been going on as a result of our training plan.   These by far are making our life much easier and more fun.

Shana has a lot of will and energy, and refocusing it in a way that is mutually beneficial has been an education to say the least LOL.