Have had a dog trainer in for Jess

[ElleBelle]

Hello all, havent been on in a while.
We've had Jess for 7 months now and its been very hard.
She has many issues that we have tried to deal with, we have had little improvements with small things but not enough.
We've reached a point where life just seems so stressful with her..and we have been patient and we have tried.

Her main problems are,
lead pulling, barking and lunging for other dogs, constant barking in the garden,jumping up and barking at the window when people walk past, chasing my beloved cats..and even going mental when I just call a cat, also barking/whining etc in the car, and things like nicking food..which we have made progress on.

Anyway we had a one on one trainer come last weekend, and he agrees shes not a bad dog, she just has bad manners around the house.
He stopped her barking in the garden by shaking a bottle with coins in and a firm 'no'. I realise some of you may not agree with this method but it worked, and that same afternoon, after he left we had a lovely day in the garden with her being calm, whereas before we would of eventually resorted to locking her in the house. When she does bark just a firm 'no' will stop her now. We were told to work on her leave it command which she already knew but wasnt 100% on and also her stay command. She has done soooo well at this.

He came for the 2nd session yesterday, and he took me and Jess for a walk, now I havent walked her for months as it became to much for me to handle (my other half Andy walks her only). He straight away had fairly good control of her on a harness, but it soon became apparent to him how bad she was with other dogs when we came across one, she immediately lunged for it and barked her head off, and the trainer said there's not control over her when she does that. He then put a canny collar on her and the difference was quite amazing, of course she tried to get it off a few times, but didnt take her long to get used to it. I walked her by my side the whole way to the park, and if she went a little ahead I just had to give the lead a small tug and she stopped straight away...Im still gobsmaked that she walked to heel almost for the entire trip
We also came across another dog the opposite side of the road whilst I was walking her she saw it,went to go for it, and I was very quick to react and just pulled the lead and firmly said leave it, and she stopped instantly..the trainer was very impressed with the way I handled it :-)


We've orded a canny collar which arrived today, and Im actually looking forward to taking her out on my own later with it...something I havent done for a few months, fingers crossed she can be as good as she was with the trainer....typically though we only came across two dogs that day, bet I'll come across loads later
Has anyone had any experience with the canny collar, Ive put it on her at home and walked round the garden with her but the nose slip can easily fall off, Ive made sure the plastic buckle is under the chin?

The trainer says he thinks one more session just on recall and thats probably all we'll need, as the at home stuff we can work on ourselves, we just need to be firm and persistant.
She doing very well with her stay commands..pushing her luck a bit in the garden now, but I dont like to over use the bottle as I dont want her to get used to the noise.

Now for the major issue the cats...wish me luck

[wildmoor]

good luck
sounds like a good improvement, keep working at it daily, be firm but fair

[GV9297]

Well done - it all sounds good.

Keep going - although there will be good days and bad days you will get there x

[Heather]

glad you're seeing an improvement with Jess- with regards to the canny collar I don't really understand how the nose slip falls off- I tried one with Kira ages ago but I don't remember having any problems with it, so sorry can't help there.

[Stuart]

I am sure with continued training things will only improve,.well done.
I wasnt sure what a Canny colar looked like, so googled it, and it seems that they are very simular to the Gencom that I have for my dogs, they look to work in the same way..and I must admit they are great

[lauraburns]

As Gail said, you will have good and bad days with her. Firm but fair training on a daily basis will keep her improving! Well done with the progress you have made so far, she will get there eventually!

[raffaella]

Hello..
I have the same problem with Maya regarding barking at other dogs when on walk..I bought a canny collar 2 weeks ago and she is doing great on it,I have much more control on her and as soon as we approach a dog I say "quite" and reward her ..the first 2 days I think I wasn't putting it on her properly then I watched this video on youtube YouTube - The best collar to stop dogs pulling on lead - The Canny Collar ..hope it helps..good luck !

[ElleBelle]

Thanks for all your comments, Im am very happy with her progress.

And I took her for a walk on my own last night...for the first time in months and Im still a bit gobsmacked at how well she did. She stayed by my side the entire time!! she started going a little in front towards the end, but with the new collar, I was still in control and she wasnt yanking my arm off.
We didnt see any other dogs though, one was barking in a house window and she started barking and waving her head around a bit , but calmed down very quickly when I told her to, and she chased a bike, but again the control is there to stop her quicker.

The nose slip fell of a few times, I think its cos you have to be sure your holding the lead short but loose, but I just stopped her and put it back on..

She's doing well around the house aswell, but yes she slips back sometimes and Im just trying my best to be patient and persistant.

[Heather]

sounds like your doing everything right - keep up the good work and that's such good news that you managed to walk her on your own!

[LOVEGSD]

Great to hear you are seeing differences, keep at it and I'm sure all will come good...xx