How is everyone doing? That's great. I'm good too. Yup. Super fantastic.
What's that? You want to know why? Well I will tell you. It's because I am the proud owner of a lovely young
He's being such a super star. Certainly not guarding the car, his crate, or food, or me. No no, not my boy. He's an
Ok ok, you may have picked up on some sarcasm. Honestly Reckon has been a HUGE pain in the ass. It started with guarding the kitchen, and then moved to throwing himself from inside his crate at the other dogs in the car. Any dog. Then it transferred to just picking on certain dogs outside of the car. Then he decided nobody else could say hello to me. Asshole.
It got worse and worse with stuff he considered "his" property. And I was done. Finished I tell you. Like, in tears done. Where had my friendly puppy gone?!
He was/is still fantastic with other/strange dogs, it just seems to be dogs that I work with. Yeah, that's a problem.
After phoning around to different trainers and crying on friend's shoulder (sorry Em), I opted for Susan Garrett's Ruff Love program. Basically he's crated or x-penned unless he's with me. No group hikes, no getting on furniture, no biting, and getting him to work work work.
Sigh. It's exhausting. I'm out the door walking him by 7:15, go to work, and then come home and take him out again. He's doing really well. No problems staying by himself during the day. And I've noticed slowly but surely his work ethic is increasing. I think. He's starting to pick up on the game of playing fetch, so we're working on that.
I kept having flashbacks to Beezer's adolescents. And I could NOT do that again. Hell no, I don't need two Beezer's on my hand. Being in a jumpy state of mind around your dog is no fun.
We still have a looooong way to go. I hope to eventually introduce him back into the group hikes. And hopefully, maybe get him back like he was before. Perfect:)
And the cherry on the cake would be to increase my value in his eyes. Be the cookie as Susan would say.
I won't say it hasn't been hard. It sure as heck is. But it'll be worth it right? Right?!
On a more positive note, Reckon has been doing EXTREMELY well in his French Ring training. Chrystal has noticed huge improvements. :)
We have homework every week, which we incorporate into our daily walks. His bite is much more confident, but his sit has gotten a bit lazy. And quite frequently when he doesn't feel like doing obedience, he just won't. Arrrrgggg damn teenagers. Keeping his attention in the heat is difficult too (yes, summer finally decided to stick around for more than 2 days). The Ruff Love program should help with FR training too.
No matter how exhausted I get. It's all going to be worth it.
Yes, I said that before. If I repeat myself enough times, they happen. And post-it notes around the house make it happen faster. Fact.
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