Most clients that I get are reactive cases, pretty much every client I get has issues with walking their dog.
What I am doing with Ruby is what I teach pretty much every client for walking. There is more that goes into it like specifics for your exact case, but this is the basic foundation.
For dogs who are reactive it is so important that they learn how to walk well with you first, before you even begin tackling that reactivity. If they canāt simply follow you, how are they going to take your direction when there is an actual trigger present.
These 180 turns and backpedaling is how I get the dog into a follower state. This is how I would begin the walk, get them in tune with me. When there is a trigger, the dog likely will amp up and will could start rushing the boundary, switching sides, etc. go back to basics and work on what the dog knows. Since we have already taught them how to follow us, we just start doing that again and showing them even in these areas where itās more distracting, you still follow me.
In the video I am changing direction at random to challenge Ruby to stay focused on me and not the dog. If she were to get fixated (head up, ears forward, eyes staring) I would interrupt that. We donāt want to allow that state for long or else there will be a reaction, we will allow the dog to build and build. So I would definitely change direction then to break that focus.
Giving space in the beginning is really good, that will definitely help your dog. Then gradually get closer and closer.
This is just one step to getting over reactivity. Relationship changes must be madeāthis is step one to beginning to guide your dog. Each case is different so the specifics on what I would do with every dog varies. Some I may turn into quicker, some I may be pairing ecollar, some I may be walking really slow etc.
If you would like more precise help please feel free to reach out! My email is [email protected]. I would love to help you guys!
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Hereās a video a made a couple months ago and forgot to post!
Axel is super insecure when people come over. He loves people but his association with them arriving is very negative. I talk about how I was actually the one to create this negativity by using the ecollar to addressing when I shouldnāt.
Super valuable lesson, donāt correct every behavior you dislike. There is a time and a place to correct. Here Axel didnāt need correcting. He needed his association changed to a positive one. Right before this video I did some conditioning with the doorā¦ watch till the end to see something crazy that happened!!
Great lesson and extremely thankful for God for this moment. Iāll be honest, I was not consistent with this. Consistency is the most challenging part for me. Recently Iāve been working a lot on creating calmness on a much lower level than ever before. And focusing a ton on walking. I havenāt added more things to my list to work on.
Donāt overwork yourself and remember itās always progress over perfection. Weāve progressed a lot with the current things Iāve been working on. So it may be time to revisit this issue and make it one of my priorities for training.
I thank God for showing me this video right when I needed it. I believe heās saying itās time for me to start working here again. Right before I looked at this video I was wondering what I should be doing. Weāve been at our cabin the past two weeks, unable to go back home because the passes are closed due to snowstorms.
So I havenāt been able to do my normal routine. Have felt a little unproductive with Axel and was looking for something I could really work hard on with him while we are here for another week. I believe this will be it š
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Great first session with Teddy!
His owners contacted me because he sometimes would act weird around certain dogs. He would crouch down and refuse to keep walking. Then on occasion, would charge the other dog.
This was present often with the harness. So they switched him to a prong collar and the issue wasnāt there as much.
When they showed up, you could see how long we tried to see his worst behavior š he was on his A game. All these guys needed were minor tweaks. Also, Teddy only exhibits the behavior when itās a new dog. After he gets to know them he is fine. We could. See that at the end of the session, so I tried as much as I could to challenge him.
We also switched them to a slip lead instead of a prong. I will use prongs at times but not often. The goal for me is to get them back onto a slip lead as soon as I can. The slip lead communicates at a much softer level. My goal with dogs is to communicate as softly as I canāthat is something I am learning a lot about.
Teddy and his owners did great using the slip lead. They still were able to influence him.
Very cool to work with a dog who is already pretty balanced. His energy was great, a super chill guy.
Ruby also got to learn a lot from this session. Sheās becoming more of the dog I need her to be to help train dogs. Way to go Ruby!
Fenna is one of my walking clients, since the first day I worked with her I noticed her fear of cars. Sheād dart away from them even before they got to us.
Personally I havenāt worked with a case like this. The closest thing is my dadās dog Honey who is scared of cars going by too. However, I donāt really work with herāI focus on my own dogs normally.
So this was a great learning experience!
The beginning videos were taken weeks ago if not a month ago. The last two videos was this week. She has made tremendous progress.
Going into this I was thinking I had to use food. I didnāt have access at first, so I used what I could. I experimented, seeing what worked for her.
I needed to shorten the leash so she wasnāt able to choose flight easily. Before I gave her lots of leash because sheād just trek behind me. All I did was pass car after car after car.
I rewarded with praise and affection when she did a great job. I found a very busy road so we could continually work through this the entire walk. That worked very well for her! Some dogs I may not do that with, I may work up to it more. We did work up to it a little bit, but it was more me figuring out what I should do for her.
I didnāt need to use food here. I thought I would. And it could be a really great thing to add just to build the positive association.
Very grateful to have this experience! Thank you God for helping me along the way too and for providing this opportunity to learn. Love working with these guys!
Hope this was helpful for you guys š
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Iāve been meaning to get videos of our encounters with the deer here.
Our property here has no fence and there are tons of deer. We often see a bunch running around here and it has always been a fear that our dogs would chase them. Especially Ruby.
When Ruby was young,4-8 months she would take off and run away. Sheād do zoomies and then boom be gone and go explore the rest of what she saw was her territory. We thought sheād go crazy if she ever saw a deer.
Luckily it never came to that and we did a lot of recall training with the ecollar. But more importantly relationship building. They listen not because of the ecollar but because of the relationship Iāve built.
This video is more tailored to Axelās reaction. Ruby was perfect and was just observing. Axel was very unsure and insecure. So you get to see how I worked through this. No corrections.
I know some people correct every time the dog looks or fixates. I donāt do that. I will address when they decide to take action and move forward. Here if we correct this state we suppress the insecurity. It will make things way worse. It does not fix the association and the underlying issue.
So instead I focus on helping him work through the stress. This will go away by me tackling more areas where he is insecure. There are many, it is not just with the deer. The name of the game is consistency. Stay consistent, work on the areas where he is insecure at least 3x a week and Iāll see a lot more improvement.
This improvement has been slow because I lack consistency on my end. If I want to help Axel get better, I have to get better myself š
Here is one way you can bring guests into your home.
Itās very important that you practice this regularly, that is how the dog will understand what it means when someone comes through the door.
I actually have these guys putting their dogs on place now when inviting people in. They have two labradoodles. Handling two on their own is a little hard so I said for now they could crate one dog and work on the other separately. That can be helpful.
I advise using a leash because the dog could bolt out the door. And it makes following through much easier for the handler.
Hope this helps!
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Here is the video of Lulu you all wanted to see.
The beginning was Luluās in the reaction with Ruby by accident. She pulled her owner to me and Ruby reacted. I wanted to see how Ruby would handle this so I allowed the excitement from Lulu.
We have been working on a slip lead for a few sessions now. However my client needed something stronger to help her get more physical control of the dog. Eventually we replace that physical control with a better relationship (based on trust, respect, and love). So we switched to a prong.
Using the prong we have to use very minimal pressure because itās a powerful tool. I started off with Lulu and working on her impulse control. Addressing when she decided to move forward on Ruby.
Then I walked the dogs together and achieved calmness. And ended with the owner handling the impulse control and walking her. Fantastic job, both of them! Ruby too!
This was in the middle of our packwalk. We wanted to take a break in the grass but decided to do more mental work.
Axel has a hard time staying especially when itās a more intense situation. He can stay on place just fine. But when there is no boundary and the environment is more intense, it is harder for him.
We worked on waiting for him to calm down on his own. But eventually we needed to get back home before it got too hot for them. So we had to wrap up our training session after about 15 minutes.
This was such a great experience very for all of these dogs. Guinness and Ruby were excellent. Also really cool to have Ashley help me. This pack has two leaders for sure šŖ
I suggest practicing this and figuring out what level your dog is at. Axel wouldnāt be able to handle me working with other dogs here. Thatās where I want him to be so he can help on sessions more.
Figure out your dogs level and work to increase it. Every dog owner should be practicing this. Works impulse control, helps you become more of the leader, and helps calm the dog significantly.
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Cooperās owner reached out to me because Cooper was reactive to dogs and would pull a lot on the leash.
In the beginning of the video we get to see what the ownerās normal walk looks like. I had Ruby placed off to the right so when Cooper and his owner went left, Cooper would see Ruby.
Ruby reacted to seeing Cooper, but Cooper didnāt care. He was a little alert but then kept going with his owner. You can also see all the tension that was on the leash. This is why we have to learn how to use these tools properly.
Ideally for me, I donāt want to have tension if any when walking a dog. My goal is for them to be following me with a loose leash, I donāt want pressure on them unless Iām communicating for them to do something.
Many times I start off with longline work to help get the dog following the owner. Cooper was very good at this and sensitive to the pressure, so we didnāt do it for long.
Bella, the 10yr black lab was also very helpful for us. She was a pretty balanced dog. Perfect for us to follow and use for Cooperās reactivity. Fun fact, we never even saw Cooper react š him and his owner did fantastic!
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Axel has a pretty bad association with me being in a vehicle or getting in/out of one. Everyone says he has FOMO (fear of missing out š).
All joking aside, this is not a good relationship. Thereās a lot of anxiousness built up. When I take Axel off-roading, he would come straight to my door and look as if heād jump up. Then he would pace in front and may cry or bark. Here I am making him give space while I get into the razor.
See how hard it is for him to detach? Definitely something I have to work more on. It is really unhealthy.
The basic idea here is I move into his space so I claim the razor. If he moves forward I move into his space again and make him back up. Making him stay. I donāt necessarily want to give any commands, I just want to use energy and body language with him. This makes the activity way more mental.
However there are still things I am figuring out. I did get frustrated at the end which is something I need to work more on. But I stayed there until we got the results I wanted and were able to run them.
Some things Iām trying to understand are, should I wait until he sits or lays down? Am I walking into his space enough or should I continue walking until he turns around (did it a couple times)? Should I use a touch correction ever and when would that be? Was I not consistent in some places? Did I give any mixed signals? Should I give a command to lay down instead (would that make it easier for him)?
Will be sending these questions to some trainers and seeing what I can improve on. I practiced this in other areas and he did really well. I think consistency is key here, doing this when I donāt plan on running them.
Excited to see where I can grow with this š
At the beginning, Honey didnāt understand what the leash pressure meant. By the end she was walking great with me.
Honey was never taught how to walk nice on leash. She pulls a ton. I found that doing a ton of 180s and random turns helped her walk with me. She had been exercised before, then we did this for about 5 minutes, then I took her on a nice long walk.
During the walk she was pretty good at staying with me. She would try speeding up sometimes and thatās when I would hold pressure upwards to get her to slow down and relax. That was pretty much the only thing I needed to do for Honey because I already prepared her for the walk.
I helped her release excess energy and then I helped her understand the leash pressure. She did fantastic!
This is definitely something I recommend for people just starting out with the slip leash, or teaching the dog not to pull. If your dog is a big puller you can do this for 5-15 minutes before your walk and it should help them stay with you. Follow you. Hope this helps!
If your dog is off leash, you must be able to control them in every way. They must listen especially if they are going towards something such as a dog or person. A great way to start practicing is with the animals in the environment.
Obviously you should also be able to interrupt prey drive too. Before this video Axel was close to a heron and he was unsure as is. Then the heron flew away and Axel charged. This was because he was already not feeling secure with the heron and then the heron did a big movement that startled him.
I personally donāt want my dogs chasing after animals unless I instigate it. I must control that. Every dog owner should especially if your dog has high prey drive, is a power breed, or has reactivity.
I believe the act of chasing prey is okay for them to do, it is a natural behavior and I donāt want to suppress it. However, I must have it under control. Otherwise someone could get hurt.
At the beach there are train tracks and if I wasnāt the leader of my dogs, they very well could run away from me and go onto the tracks. Then get hurt. Thatās even more likely if they are chasing something. If youāre really the leader and fulfill their needs, your dog wonāt run away. Youāll be able to interrupt the prey drive as well.
So if you allow your dog off leash, I encourage you to work on this too. This will help you pas wither dogs and people off leash as well. If youāre just starting off you may want to have your dog drag a long leash. Or see how they are on a normal walk. If you canāt interrupt the prey drive there, good luck trying when they are off leash. Work your way up to this š
Axel and I were charged by two reactive off leash dogs at the beach.
Axel is a reactive dog, used to be aggressive, and I donāt walk him with a muzzle anymore. So this was an interesting situation.
Had a German Shepherd and some small black dog come after us. In the video I talk about how I successfully made them get away with just my energy and body language, while managing my dog who was reacting as well.
I really hope this helps you all! This is a common thing we encounter nowadays so itās important you know how to protect yourself. Your energy is number 1! That is your biggest weapon and first line of defense.
You have weak energy? You may be done for š¬ I see many videos of people and their dogs being attack because of irresponsible owners. But many could be stopped if you knew how to use your energy and body language. Instead of grabbing your dog, running away and screaming.
Hopefully this is helpful and I will definitely get my encounters on film one of these days! This could easily have resulted in a bad dog fight, especially there being too large dogs involved who are both reactive and insecure.
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I wanted to tell you guys this story because it is beneficial in many ways.
You guys can see my dogs are far from perfect. You can see the mistakes I made, worst was not fulfilling Axel and instead putting my emotional wants first.
When these events occur, we shouldnāt be upset. It is our fault first of all, but itās also a great opportunity for us to learn more. Become a better leader. If we mess up, then we see we made a mistake and figure out what we should have done instead.
This issue with the fence fighting shouldnāt just be addressed at the fence. The walk will be the biggest factor in resolve this issue. Axel is still insecure passing dogs, I have to show him everything is okay š also getting him with other dogs is a must for him to get over the insecurity. He needs that socialization.
Understanding how to handle the immediate issue is important. But donāt get caught up here, youāll only go so far. The whole entire relationship needs to be evaluated, especially what the walk looks like.
Exercise is another vital component of the relationship. Itās important to fulfill them everyday. But we must see if our exercise is structured or filled with excitement. Some excitement is fine, but there needs to be rules, boundaries and limitations. This is how you develop great communication with your dog plus create calmness.
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Axel used to continually push the boundary on the walk, but this leash work really helped!
Axel used to be extremely focused on moving forward. He would barely apply tension on the leash, so he wasnāt pulling, but he would always apply that pressure. You could do a leash correction and he would go back to your side, but after a couple seconds her apply that pressure again.
I drained Axelās physical energy beforehand with a 20-30 minute bike ride. In the bike ride, I start and end slow but I will do periods of fast paced sprinting to get his energy out. Then we did this longline work.
Typically you want to use a long leash, hence the name long line. However in this video I just decided to use my normal leash.
There are many different maneuvers youāll do.
180s
Left & right turns (hard turns or wide turns)
Back pedaling
180s:
Give all the leash and allow the dog to go ahead of you. Right before there is tension on the leash, turn all the way around and start walking. Do not wait for the dog, just immediately walk and donāt do this movement slow. Them hitting the end of the leash will give the dog a correction (that they did to themselves).
Left turns:
In this case, my left turn is cutting axel off. Whenever you cut the dog off you want to hold the leash short, then step with your opposite leg. So in this case the right leg. If the dog is too far ahead of you, it will be hard to do this, so I would recommend turning away from the dog or back pedaling.
Right turns:
In this case, right turns are away from Axel. when turning away from the dog, give them a ton of leash. This way you donāt give a correction immediately as you turn, they have time to see what youāre doing and make a decision.
Hard turns:
This is just a very quick turn and helpful for keeping the dog really in tune with you.
Wide turns:
Exactly how it sounds, you gradually turn to one side instead of a very quick movement. This wonāt have the dog as engaged as a hard turn, but
Challenging Axel in a new way. He has to stay laying down while Honey tried to find the ball. They take turns doing this. If Honey canāt find the ball Iāll send Ax up there. He is better at getting it than she is. Iāve taught him to use his nose a lot, while Honey is always using her eyes.
Also very happy to get these two out together. Not only do these guys need good exercise (Labradors are working dogs), Axel is getting in some good socialization.
For those that donāt know, Axel used to be an aggressive dog. He got into many dog fights and broke a dogās jaw. The underlying issue was insecurity. So bringing him around other dogs has been challenging for me, I have to get over that nervousness. Exposing him to dogs is the only way he will find peace and become balanced again. You have to go and face those fears, you cannot avoid them if you want to get rid of them.
Searching for the ball is engages the nose, which an aggressive dog will not use. Aggressive dogs use their eyes and ears. But Honey will often bump into Axel and get into his personal space. She will shove her face right where his is. She will charge after him excitedly and try to take the ball.
I do not prevent Honey from doing these behaviors. I want Axel to be exposed to all of this. He is doing fantastic and will not react to this! We were playing ball at the river and eventually he had enough of Honeyās behavior. So he bared his teeth, growled, became stiff, and gave a side eye. She immediately gave him space.
I am a huge fan of allowing the dogs to interact in this way. Of course I am pack leader, I must observe and regulate what is happening. If Axel became nervous and Honey was way over powering I would step in. If Honey only pestered Axel I would also regularly step in.
You donāt want the dogās relationship to just be corrections. Some are good, but they should also be able to exist together like in this video.
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I wanted to show you guys another type of walk that I do. The dog does not have to walk next to you to be following you.
Notice this whole time Axelās ears are back and his tail is in a normal position (normal is different for every dog). I also had some people disagree with Buksie being in a follower state, and saying he was more anxious or in a state of indecision.
So I wanted to provide a better example of a follower state for you guys. Yes Buksie was most certainly anxious, thatās his first time walking with other dogs and not being able to attack them.
But, here is my boy Ax, displaying the same body language but he is in a calm submissive state of mind. He certainly is not anxious. If ax was he would be whining. If he was unsure his tail would be all the way up and his hair may or may not be raised.
Also Iād like to point out, that just because your dogās tail is straight up, does not mean they feel unsure. This differs for every dog. Iāve seen dogs, including Ruby, who are confident and very proud of themselves. They will have their tail raised. But thy are also still in a follower state too.
Also all that the follower state means is that they are paying attention to you. Notice how when I stopped Axel came back and waited for us to continue going. He is not leading the walk, I am and heās following my direction.
Lastly, leading the walk is not a bad thing. This is the perfect time to help the humans become the pack leader. Why do we want that? Because most people have forced the dog to do that. Thatās when dogs develop all these behavioral issues. Almost all dogs are not meant to lead, let alone lead in a human dominated world.
Becoming the leader is you guiding and protecting your dog. Making sure they feel safe and secure. You would never force your kid to navigate through life on their own. Thatās what we are doing with our dogs when we are not their leader. People simply just donāt know how to do this.
Being the leader i
Some of you asked, what are ways you can exercise an old dog? ā£
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A lot of times you canāt do extremely vigorous exercise with an old dog. What I would do is make sure to give plenty of mental stimulation, but also continue going on walks if you can. ā£
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One of the best ways to challenge your dog mentally is with their meal. You can hide their food so they have to use their nose to find it. This is something I recommend for every dog owner, but it is a must for owners with blind dogs.ā£
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In the video I am hiding treats, but you can also just hide the dogās meal. If your dog loves their toys but shouldnāt play fetch, trying making them stay and hiding their toy. Then have them find it when the dog is calm. This way the dog is also being mentally stimulated. ā£
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Mental challenge isnāt just about your dog using their nose. Itās also about structure. Teaching your dog to stay on place or in their crate for periods of the day is very beneficial. Especially after going on a walk. ā£
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Lastly, just implementing various rules. One of my favorites is the door open doesnāt mean go through. You can do this at any threshold. Another is no dogs on furniture unless we invite them. Also not allowing the dog to be in our space during dinner time. We have our dogs go on place. ā£
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I hope this is helpful! If you have any other ideas feel free to share šā£
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Introduction with Honey and the pack šÆ
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This was the first night Honey was here. We had previously gone on a pack walk with the dogs. Whenever you introduce dogs together always go on a walk first. Then you can do some meeting in the yard too (which is what the video was).ā£
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Ruby was let outside in a not so great way. She was just let out and didnāt have to wait to calm down or anything. She came to find us and was already at a high level of energy. So when she went to investigate Honey, she was at that high level of excitement. ā£
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I tell people, excitement isnāt welcome in the animal world. Itās seen as weakness and this is one of many reasons why we shouldnāt teach our dogs to live in excitement. Well Honey knows how Mother Nature works and she wasnāt please to be greeted with that level of excitement. ā£
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So she growled and bared her teeth at Ruby. I didnāt correct, I looked to see what was happening and saw that Honey was correcting Ruby. I am pack leader so itās my job to keep the peace and advocate for everyone. So I advocated for Honey and made Ruby go away. ā£
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This was days ago, now Honey hasnāt growled at Ruby or shown teeth in awhile. I actually showed Honey that if she feels uncomfortable, just move away. I did this by bringing Ruby to smell her (this time Ruby was very calm) and Honey showed teeth again. ā£
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I got in between and moved into Honeyās space and made her walk away instead. After that when Ruby came to smell she rolled onto her back and showed her stomach. I have also corrected Honey when she was on leash and growled at Ruby. After that she hasnāt corrected Ruby for sniffing her. ā£
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She has corrected Ruby for trying to get her stick though š it was really good. ā£
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It depends on the situation. ā£
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We allow our dogs to bark but they cannot get aggressive. In the video Ruby was getting to a high intensity so I disagreed with her. ā£
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Low level barking (spaced out barking) and growling is fine. Walking the fence line and following people is fine. But once the dogās tail starts going fast thatās an indicator that they are very intense. ā£
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We like the alert barking and the guarding. We donāt want them to go crazy though. Thatās why we interrupt them when they get to that level and we bring them back to calmness. ā£
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It is also important that when you allow your dog to do something, that you can turn that behavior off. ā£
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This sort of expectation takes lots of consistency to build. Whenever the dogs are outside I need to keep an eye on them. That way I can address the situation whenever I need to. If the dog is allowed to practice a behavior you dislike, itāll be very hard to break that habit. Thatās why consistency is needed. ā£
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If you donāt want any barking I suggest addressing the dog as soon as they start growling, raising their tail up, or staring intensely at a target. Correct here before they actually escalate to the barking. ā£
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How do you handle barking? ā£
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