Laurel from Tempe, AZ called us about her Silver Labrador, Germie. Germie had a big issue walking on leash around other dogs. Laurel said it felt like he was going to pull her arm right out of its socket. Germie would lunge, bark, whine and stand on his hind legs to get to another dog. Germie wasn’t aggressive, but was reactive because as a puppy he had an uncomfortable experience interacting with an overzealous dog who scared him. Germie, from that point on, was afraid of any dog, whether calm or over-excited, coming near him and Laurel. He learned very quickly that sounding scary and looking scary were the best ways to get people and dogs to stay away from him. While Germie felt like he had the situation under control, Laurel felt completely the opposite.
Laurel signed Germie up for our Boarding School program to not only help with his leash walking skills, but also to help him socialize better with other dogs. We were able to schedule Germie’s stay when we had Nike, my Siberian Husky and another calm, relaxed dog, an Australian Cattle dog named Stormie. Germie was nervous at first, but quickly started to realize that not all dogs were a threat. Nike and Stormie helped to teach Germie about polite dog to dog greeting and then after only a few days taught Germie how play can be a great way to understand each other and build confidence. Germie also learned how to walk well on leash where he didn’t need to over-react to other dogs as 99% of the time they didn’t even want to engage with him anyway.
After Germie’s stay we did several follow ups with Laurel to make sure she felt comfortable and confident on how to use the new tools [i.e. collars and leashes]. She also learned to understand when and where to say commands and how to stop Germie’s over-reactions [if they happened] quickly, calmly and quietly.
Now Germie and Laurel have been able to take long, happier walks around their neighborhood and we’ve been told they are planning a couple of trips up north to get out of the valley for a little while. We cannot wait to see what kind of adventures they get into because we know it will be really a great experience for both of them.
