Working on recall with Boson tonight. He is starting to enjoy engaging with me for training.
After much trial and error, I finally found a treat Boson is happy to work for (deli turkey). He is making huge improvements in just a few days with heel work, "this way" (loose leash walking), and building confidence working with me.
meet Boson he is doing our 4 week board and train program. Boson has separation anxiety both from his owner and his fur brother Charlie. Our goals foe Boson is off leash reliable recall, heel work, loose leash walking, and confidence building. In this video it was one of our first training sessions away from Charlie and just being away put him over threshold to not want to accept treats, he was also nervous of Boutica and Boston. the "fight" you can hear in the back ground is Boutica and Boston in the outside pen. Boutica was teaching Boston some manners. (Boston is Bouticas puppy he is about 7 months old and came back to us because of a lack of job in his original puppy home. He will be joining Phoebe working on the farm where she was placed after fixing her resource guarding issues.)
After changing tactics because Phoebe was just struggling to much we have made amazing progress! Phoebe was admit she would not eat from my hand. This was making it very difficult to reward her and to work on her resource guarding issues. I found something Phoebe couldn't resist canned chicken. Here is a video of Phoebe truly showing what she is capable of. Before I started working with Phoebe you would lose a hand if you made any attempt at picking up or moving her away from her bowl if there was any food in it. In this video not only can I back her off the bowl and pick it up to add more canned chicken to her kibble I am even able to briefly pet her. NEVER attempt this kind of training without a professional! A large part of what makes Phoebe so dangerous is she does not give clear warning signs before a bite like most dogs her warning signals are subtle, there is no growling or teeth showing. For Phoebe before she gets ready to bite the only signs you will see are a bit of whale eye (the white of the eye showing) and a tight face. Phoebe may even give a slow tight tail wag before a bite this is why you can not just look at a wagging tail as a sign of a happy dog. When trying to figure out how a dog is feeling you must look at the whole dog. In this video Phoebe is the most relaxed she has been since arriving at the farm. we received a lot less whale eye and her face is much more relaxed.
The first session with the prong collar for phoebe does show improvement but you will also see her attempt to bite me in this video. I am still working with phoebe on understanding sit means sit. She wants to be in charge and not take direction. This need to be "the leader" stems from a lack of trust with humans. In order to gain Phoebes respect and trust I need to show her that I can handle any situation, that I am in control, and that I will not ask her to do anything that will put her in harms way. A dog looks for the same leadership qualities that people do. When you think of a good team leader or someone you respect usually that person has clear obtainable boundaries and standards they are trustworthy, in control of their emotions and the environment around them and they give you a sense of security that they will handle the problems so you don't have to. What this means when it comes to Phoebe is that I will hold the boundaries that I set such as waiting until a break command when I ask for a sit, when I place her food bowl down, or when we are crossing thresholds. I also need to show Phoebe that she does not need to protect herself from the other dogs I will do that for her. The biggest thing we are working on right now is that her food will not disappear in my presence if I take her bowl I will only be giving it right back with extra good stuff in it.
First session with phoebe
For Those that have been waiting to hear about Phoebe here is that post. Phoebe Is a VERY stubborn dog that has never been told no in a meaningful way. When I first picked up Phoebe true to her Great Pyrenees personality she is very stressed being separated from her home. Great Pyrenees take longer to settle in than most breeds because they are usually home bodies. The past few days have been extremely stressful for her. I am trying to her feel better but with this dog it is extremely important to set clear boundaries and hold them. So far Phoebe has lost bowl privileges and must eat from my hand because she guards and gets very aggressive around food. when I first got phoebe she would sit on command but as she realized I hold her accountable if she doesn't the first time I ask. The sit command has become a battle of wills. The first video was not supposed to be a training session. My original plan was to do a deeper evaluation around the other dogs. When it became a battle even getting her out of the kennel it quickly became a real session. After that session later that night as I was trying to leave the kennel I was working on the boundary sitting while I leave she got EXTREMELY aggressive. This is when I decided to go up with gear and use a prong collar. We will be working very carefully with her to help her understand humans are not mean but that bad behavior will not be tolerated.
Ulfr is working hard on obedience in order to start showing with Hallie next year. Ulfr is a potential candidate for a big program we have coming up soon! Here is a video of some of his first lessons on a leash. Teaching a livestock guardian breed is very different from most dogs, they are a lot more stubborn, less bidable, and often times less likely to want to work for someone they prefer to work WITH them. Ulfr is food motivated that does make it easier than most. It did take the past 3 months of building a bond and relationship with Ulfr in order for him to accept treats from my hand. In this video we get to see his progress even if it is slow. He was less responsive than usual because Obi was running around loose and Obi makes him more nervous as they don't always get along with Ulfr being intact. At the end you can see me just doing some tricks and basics with Hallie for fun.
