Update - Fearful Frenchie

[Mpup]

Hi all.

Just a quick update on Molly and her fear/aggression issues. We hired another trainer and started from scratch with a fresh perspective. Our new trainer gave us a few very simple tools to start with and we have had great progress so far!! appicon

We spent the weekend getting her outside and even had a fun day at the beach. Walking by several dogs, bikes, rollerbladers without incident - it was so amazing. I was beginning to feel like she would never be o.k. outside, but turns out that the best thing we can do for her is be strong, confident leaders and get out there and work on things.

Thanks for all the support!

[el scrubbo]

Great news! :D

[slakker]

Maybe we'll see you and your beautiful pup at a local dog park yet! :) appicon :p

[Chris&Eti]

Thats great news. Especially since you've been getting no results for 3 months with the previous trainer and the new one is already creating a difference. Do you mind sharing what the training methods used were? Fear based aggresion seems to be not that uncommon a problem-it would be great to learn more about effective solutions for this.

[lanakack]

Happy to hear thisappicon Just goes to show a change was needed and good. And that you know your dog better than anyone.
Lana and JJ

[Mpup]

For us the key seems to be getting things right inside the apartment BEFORE we attempt to go outside. To start, the trainer showed us the techniques she wanted us to try when Molly reacts to the door buzzer, then she went down and rang the buzzer and left us to handle things in the apartment.

So - buzzer rang, Molly freaked out, ran towards the door barking - as soon as she did this, we corrected her with a loud "growly" sound and clap of the hands to get her attention - she was very confused by our behaviour and stopped barking. As soon as she stopped-we praised her like crazy. We practiced this several times and by the third time we couldn't get her to have any reaction at all to the door! She just sat and waited for us to handle things and looked completely bewildered. We continued practicing with the trainer knocking at the door and noises in the hallway, etc. using the same verbal "attention getting" techniques and LOTS of praise.

It was a dramatic change in her body language and overall appearance in this first session - from ears up, crazy eyes, lunging, hackles etc. - to looking at us for what comes next. I think we had become background noise to her and we just needed something different to get her attention. It sounds too easy, and might not work for some dogs, but for whatever reason, she just "got it".

We continued to set up scenarios and gradually progressed to walking on the leash INSIDE the apartment - for the first time, I can only assume because we had changed her mindset a bit, she didn't pull ahead as much and we used the same techniques when she pulled out in front and praised her when she was beside us, she quickly started falling in step beside us and allowed us to have a "loose leash" scenario for the first time ever.

After spending a good amount of time on this, we moved into the hallway, same thing, made sure we all had it perfected before going outside. I expected everything to fall apart outside - but it didn't. She continued to listen to us and stick beside us when we made our "noises" to grab her attention. We watched her body language very carefully and as soon as she alerted to a bike, or dog we made our ridiculous noises and brought her attention back to us. We were asking her to focus on us - letting her know without question we would handle things. It was hard for her, I could tell, and she has had slip-ups, but such a HUGE improvement so far. Whenever she manages to pass something scary without a fuss - we praise her like we've just won the lottery - and for us, we have!

We have a long way to go still and only time will tell, but a good start for us nonetheless. I know things will get better with time and persistence.

[imogene]

So - buzzer rang, Molly freaked out, ran towards the door barking - as soon as she did this, we corrected her with a loud "growly" sound and clap of the hands to get her attention - she was very confused by our behaviour and stopped barking. As soon as she stopped-we praised her like crazy.


I am so glad you are having success appicon. It totally sounds like you are on the right track. Oh and thanks for sharing - Belzie has gotten pretty fierce about guarding the door when the bell rings or she hears keys- so I am going to try that exercise with her to see if we can get her to tone it down a bit. I don't mind her barking to let us know someone is there, but the growling and excessive barking and the hackles up is something I can do without :)

[bulldoggin30]

Thanks for the detaols Mpup! You sound like Ceasar Milan! :lol: