We recently decided to hire a dog trainer to help us with Loki, and well, Juju could use some training too. We didn't agree about the dog behaviorist. I thought the dog behaviorist was fine, but Yun didn't care for her and moreover, felt that she was way too expensive for what she provided. It was hundreds of dollars for a consultation. From what I had gathered her services and fees were market price for a dog behaviorist.
Anyways, given that obedience training is always suggested as a way to help an aggressive dog, we thought a trainer might be a good alternative solution. This time, I let Yun do the research and pick one out. He found someone to do a set of private lessons for us at a reasonable price.
Today was our first session. She was a tall, mild-mannered lady. (We're short people, so everyone seems tall to us.) Actually, she sort of reminded me of our dog walker. She went over some basic commands, like come, sit, down, focus, and settle. We signed on for a set of seven sessions in total. It's not so much that we don't know how to train our dogs, but rather that having the structure will help ensure that we keep up with the training. Also, she'll help us do exercises outdoors where there are more distractions.
The source of Loki's problems is anxiety. He is a very anxious and insecure dog. I'm hoping that the obedience training will give him more confidence and trust in us. Surely, it won't hurt. And as an added bonus, Juju will get some training too. We never taught her anything other than her name, come (which isn't reliable), and sit.
Loki is one very lucky dog in that we have the resources to hire all these specialists for him.
5 comments:
question for you, because you've been through it and I'm about to embark on it :
For a dog like Loki (unsure, low confidence) - are there certain methods of training that are just wrong or detrimental to him?
We talked to three trainers about Kiba and all of them want to implement some sort of physical aspects into training (either with head collars, corrections, etc).
I'm thinking that anything physical will just make the dog even more nervous?
What kind of training helps the dog trust more?
Have you found that to be true with Loki?
@Jen -- Every dog's situation is different. I don't know the source of Kiba's aggression. I do know the source of Loki's and that is anxiety. He is a very insecure dog. Because of that, I strongly believe that anything negative like head collars or corrections would only exacerbate his aggression. Besides, he already has collar issues, so we avoid any negative associations with collars.
In the beginning with Loki, we had a series of bad training (i.e., too much dominance training and implementing some of the things we saw on Cesar Millan's show). Since then, we've done only positive training. I'd like to give a glowing success story, but I can't so far. Loki still has a ways to go and more progress to be made.
Nevertheless, I wouldn't ever want to even begin to try anything negative with Loki. It's just something that I don't even consider.
I wish you guys all the luck and I hope this will help! Your furbabies really are lucky... many other owners would have given up. I look forward to hearing how this will work out. My shiba is always timid and insecure as well, but is more on the submissive end. (When babies grabbing her or strangers petting her, she just sits there and takes it and has a look of "are you done yet!?" on her face.)
I would love to hear how the obedient training works out for Loki! I have thought about enrolling Mac into an adult obedient training class but I have been procrastinating for the past year... I will get to it eventually!
Thanks for taking the time to discuss this. I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic. If possible, as you gain expertise, would you mind updating your blog with more information? It is extremely helpful for me. Thanks!
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