There is a misconception I hear often that "strong-willed", "powerful" breeds with prey drive or chasing behavior need "strong leadership" which is a euphemism for heavy-handed punishment training which includes the use of electronic collars, prong, pinch or choke collars, some form of physical control or discomfort or pain, without which the dog won't listen.
This is my dog who is learning to come away from things he wants to chase. The cat is bold and continues taunting him. Even with his trigger fully present, with his brain in high arousal, with no way for me to physically control this dog, he makes the choice to come away with me instead of continuing his argument with the cat.
This is because we have built those skills of disengagement and thinking through things even when in high arousal first, and I have a strong relationship with him. No tools needed, just games, fun, food and toys! If you can reach your dog's mind and teach him to regulate his emotions, you won't need physical coercion. It's that simple.
Sammy is a former resource guarder. He guarded food, treats, toys, his bed and spaces in the home. This meant that no one could move freely in the home and he spent a lot of time in his pen.
Outside the pen, he used to be anxious, hyper vigilant and bit family members 4-5 times a week. All his family wanted was for him to relax and spend time with them so they could love on him. But he was a bundle of barking, lunging and nerves, unable to settle outside his pen.
After multiple trainers and a veterinary behaviorist and hardly any progress, it would have been easy to give up, but his family continued looking for a kind solution. They found me and here is where we are after a few months of work.
Sammy is playing with a cardboard tube filled with food that he's later going to have fun shredding. He's tossing it around and having fun. Coincidentally, this was happening while his guardians were in their Zoom session with me.
No more fear of losing his precious food toy, no more anxiety, no more resource guarding. Just joy, fun and relaxation.
In other sessions, Sammy has chosen to lie between his guardians, something they had dreamed about but never thought possible.
Only kindness, fun, food, games and toys were used to achieve this result. No pain, punishment, prong/choke/shock collars or methods that would cause fear, intimidation or suppression of behaviors were used. Sammy and family live in Pennsylvania, I am based in California. All sessions were online, I have never been in the same room as Sammy.
A sound understanding of dog behavior, a good training plan and dedicated guardians mean a happy, calm, relaxed dog who has stopped biting and resource guarding.
Sammy came to me with severe resource guarding issues. He resource guarded food, his bed and spaces that he associated with food. He would run up and bite family members when they moved into areas that he considered important which included the kitchen, dining and living room. No one in the home could relax around him so he spent a lot of time in his pen.
His guardians describe the "miracle" they are witnessing with Sammy relaxing and not feeling the need to resource guard and them being able to enjoy his company for the first time.
Sammy and his family are on the East Coast, DoggEd is on the West Coast. Like most dogs I work with, I will never meet Sammy or be in the same room as him. All training was done over video conferencing. A good training plan and dedicated guardians have turned Sammy's and their home life around.
Kodak came to me with several issues but the one that concerned his guardians the most was his resource guarding. He often resource guarded toys from other dogs at the local dog park and that he caused several hairy situations.
Here's Kodak as he's going through my program, doing great as the visiting dog chews on his toy.
In his guardian's words:
"We started working with Mayuri primarily for Kodak’s resource guarding. After playing games for a couple months, I feel that Kodak’s confidence has gone up. Just now, he allowed his friend Kaya to chew on one of his favorite tennis balls for quite a while. He was able to stay calm and when Kaya was done chewing the toy, he took the ball gently and relaxed back on the couch. If this happened last year, the situation would not have been so calm."
I'm so proud of the work these dedicated guardians have done with Kodak. No prong/choke/shock collars or any other techniques that could cause pain, fear, intimidation were used. All of this was achieved with fun, food, toys and play!
This is why I do what I do and LOVE it!
This dog and guardian have struggled for a while getting a harness on. We started with consent behavior training so the dog could opt into wearing the harness. The dog not only caught onto the consent behavior, but he used it to ask for his collar to be put on him as well.
I'm so proud of this dog-guardian team!
Can a dog who's worried about the following things make progress towards becoming a service dog navigating public transportation? My answer was No.
Mango struggled with
❌ Going into her own crate, even with her favorite bed, blanket and treats
❌ Noise sensitivity to the point that any noise startled her and sent her into a barking fit
❌ Worried excessively about strangers and would whine, jump, bark and be unmanageable around new people
❌ Throwing up repeatedly in moving vehicles and whined and shook with fear
It took us time, a year's worth of work, dedicated guardians who followed instructions to a T and a lot of hope. Even though I started this journey with them telling them in no uncertain terms that maybe she would task at home but never become a service dog capable of moving around in public confidently, Mango surpassed all our expectations.
Watch the video to see where we started and where Mango is now.
She has now travelled in cars, flights, trains and buses with zero issues. This is why I love the work I do!
I am going to add this disclaimer below every post about Mango: Does this mean any reactive dog can become a service dog? I do not believe so. Mango's case shows what is possible with guardians that are committed and a dog that was struggling with the human world and needed the right direction. No pain, force, intimidation, or tools like prong / e-collars giving shock, "stim" or vibration, bark collars, pinch or choke collars were used in training Mango. All training was done with kindness, food, toys, games and love.
From stranger anxiety to calmness
Mango showed several undesirable behaviors around strangers:
❌ Running up to or pulling towards people
❌ Whining and crying loudly to get to them
❌ Jumping on them
❌ Sometimes snapping at strangers if they pet her
❌ Other times going on her back and exposing her belly
❌ Getting especially amped up if the people had jackets or masks or backpacks (this one is especially important in context with the video)
Other than the occasional snapping and her fear of masks/backpacks, her guardians believed all of the rest was because Mango was so fond of people. What I saw was a dog that was worried about people in general and did not know how to disengage from them.
Her going on her back wasn't to ask for belly rubs as much as it was a sign she was too close to the scary person and didn't know what to do so she surrendered and tried to convey that she wasn't a threat. To please leave her alone. Except that was having the exact opposite effect. A scared Mango was being pet by the strangers she was worried about and her fears were worsening leading to more jumping at people and vocalizations.
We worked over many months on teaching Mango how to stay calm and ignore strangers, even the scary ones.
I still did not think she was going to be a service dog because this was our biggest hurdle. What completely changed things for Mango and gave us all hope that maybe she might be able to navigate public spaces without anxiety was incorporating techniques that helped her feel safe and in control in otherwise stressful situations.
I couldn't be prouder of this video where people with masks, backpacks and jackets are boarding the flight, while Mango stays calm and doesn't even seem to notice them.
I am going to add this disclaimer below every post about Mango: Does this mean any reactive dog can become a service dog? I do not believe so. Mango's case shows what is possible with guardians that are committed and a dog that was struggling wi
Mango was very worried about kids. Their loud, joyful shrieks would make her anxious and she would bark or try to give chase.
This was a very concerning set of behaviors. We worked on calmness and teaching Mango that she was safe around children.
At the time we started training, I did not believe that Mango would get to the stage where kids could pass her closely and she wouldn't react. I told her guardians yet again that she will probably never be a service dog in public and only task at home.
Sustained efforts and following the training plan got Mango to the point you see in the video.
Here she is in a park doing great as kids passed her doing all the things that used to previously worry her.
I am going to add this disclaimer below every post about Mango: Does this mean any reactive dog can become a service dog? I do not believe so. Mango's case shows what is possible with guardians that are committed and a dog that was struggling with the human world and needed the right direction. All training was done with kindness, food, toys, games and love.
I am so grateful that I work with amazing guardians and dogs that frequently surpass even my expectations of what may be possible for them!
Baxter is a little guy with big feelings about many things. He had attacked kids, resource guarded from doggie friends, barked at every noise and been difficult to walk.
We have worked on his impulse control and self+regulation skills and I got this mind-blowing video yesterday.
Let me set the stage, the guest dog is chewing on what Baxter considers an extremely high value fight-worthy chew. Instead of doing his usual thing of intimidating the dog by getting in his space, barking at him and basically forcing him off the chew, we have this! Baxter is sitting politely and struggling with his choice of doing nothing. But doing it anyway! There was no human instructing him what to do, there is no barrier separating the dogs, there is nothing on Baxter save his flat collar for anyone to control his actions, these are choices Baxter is making.
I am beyond proud of this client-dog team! What a phenomenal result using just kindness, games, play, and rewards. No fear, pain, intimidation or force or any tools like prong, choke, shock collars were used to achieve this result.
All training was done over the Internet. I have never been in the same room as Baxter.
Indigo came to me with reactivity to dogs, especially little, white, fluffy ones which her guardians jokingly called "snacks" 😆
After working with DoggEd, Indigo was recently at the vet's office and while she was curious and alert, she self-regulated so well! Her guardian followed up with a reward for her good decision.
Not just that, there's even more evidence that Indigo now knows to stay calm. Here's what the guardian reported:
"The vet said dogs are usually scared when they come in and it shows in their heart rate. But hers was still normal! Not just cool on the outside!"
Indigo's guardians have done such a great job with her and I couldn't be more proud!
This is my former squirrel chaser. If he saw a squirrel, he lost his mind and went ballistic chasing, lunging and trying to jump up on the tree (with me holding on the leash for dear life). Today morning, a squirrel waved at him 😆 and he walked away politely when asked. 🎉🎉🎉
All this with games, fun and kindness!
Raya's wearing a hood to protect him from foxtail grass seeds.
