C.A.R.E.™
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The Runaway Harley !!!
Harley
Meet our new friend Harley. He is a beautiful 5 year old Siberian Husky owned by Bill and Mary. Apart from being the top dog in the house he has a few issues that need to be ironed out. First of all Harley pretty much does what he wants when he goes for a walk, he walks in front and can't be trusted off leash. Second he likes to bolt through the door when given the opportunity and go for a walk himself. Third issue is that he has an old grudge with an old friend of ours :)
So ! .... Where do we start ? Well first and foremost after talking to Bill and Mary we identified some of the key areas that needed to be worked on, we grabbed the leash and headed out the door !!!
Harley wanted to exit first so that was the first thing to address. Remember, you lead and he follows. Don't get me wrong, I've had some clients pounce through the door like the house was on fire, this was not the case with Harley. Even though he has these issues he has always been very gentle on the leash so all we did was to address the aspect of leadership. Harley was the top dog in the house and we needed to change that around immediately. Harley walked like a champ down the street like he'd been in the heel position all his life. He kept the right pace for Bill and hardly reacted to other dogs when they barked at us. Again when we return to the house you lead, he follows. Bill enters before the dog and that establishes leadership. You do have to keep it consistent though. Any lapse in structure and the dog will revert to his old tricks, so it's very important to implement what we learned on this day .... every day without fail !
It was the same with the running out the door. Whenever someone would answer the door, the dogs crowd the door and Harley makes a run for it. Claim your space ! Once you do that you make sure the dogs stay outside of the boundaries that you have set for them. If you don't lead they'll take over, it's not to spite you, it's hard wired pack behavior.
So then our third issue. Our old friend Judas and Harley have a history together. They have fought over a female canine before, and can't be walked together. These are two dominant breeds so you have to play this one very carefully, we don't want a fight on our hands. It's been a few weeks since we walked with Judas, but it didn't take long before he was walking side by side with Harley.
Let me make this perfectly clear, the reason I was able to get the dogs to do this was because I was the dominant one and the dogs knew it. We tried a few exercises with Bill and Mary to get their confidence up and we will return to see how they are doing in a couple of weeks. Remember to always lead your pack and be true to your best friend. Discipline is not punishment, you have to establish trust as part of being a leader and the foundation for that trust is consistency.
Stay tuned for an update !
Meet our new friend Harley. He is a beautiful 5 year old Siberian Husky owned by Bill and Mary. Apart from being the top dog in the house he has a few issues that need to be ironed out. First of all Harley pretty much does what he wants when he goes for a walk, he walks in front and can't be trusted off leash. Second he likes to bolt through the door when given the opportunity and go for a walk himself. Third issue is that he has an old grudge with an old friend of ours :) So ! .... Where do we start ? Well first and foremost after talking to Bill and Mary we identified some of the key areas that needed to be worked on, we grabbed the leash and headed out the door !!!
Harley wanted to exit first so that was the first thing to address. Remember, you lead and he follows. Don't get me wrong, I've had some clients pounce through the door like the house was on fire, this was not the case with Harley. Even though he has these issues he has always been very gentle on the leash so all we did was to address the aspect of leadership. Harley was the top dog in the house and we needed to change that around immediately. Harley walked like a champ down the street like he'd been in the heel position all his life. He kept the right pace for Bill and hardly reacted to other dogs when they barked at us. Again when we return to the house you lead, he follows. Bill enters before the dog and that establishes leadership. You do have to keep it consistent though. Any lapse in structure and the dog will revert to his old tricks, so it's very important to implement what we learned on this day .... every day without fail !It was the same with the running out the door. Whenever someone would answer the door, the dogs crowd the door and Harley makes a run for it. Claim your space ! Once you do that you make sure the dogs stay outside of the boundaries that you have set for them. If you don't lead they'll take over, it's not to spite you, it's hard wired pack behavior. So then our third issue. Our old friend Judas and Harley have a history together. They have fought over a female canine before, and can't be walked together. These are two dominant breeds so you have to play this one very carefully, we don't want a fight on our hands. It's been a few weeks since we walked with Judas, but it didn't take long before he was walking side by side with Harley.
Let me make this perfectly clear, the reason I was able to get the dogs to do this was because I was the dominant one and the dogs knew it. We tried a few exercises with Bill and Mary to get their confidence up and we will return to see how they are doing in a couple of weeks. Remember to always lead your pack and be true to your best friend. Discipline is not punishment, you have to establish trust as part of being a leader and the foundation for that trust is consistency.
Stay tuned for an update !
This site is dedicated to Dylan, a true 'best friend'