JJ

JJ is an eight year old Shepherd / Lab mix. His family was beyond frustrated with his behavior, but at his age were not sure how much could be done to change it. Their home has a lovely walking path next to it, which serves as a real trigger for JJ. Whenever anyone would walk past with their dog, he would run out the dog door and charge the fence with aggressive barking, running back and forth. He was not good about stopping or coming inside when called. When on walks, his family would keep great distance between JJ and other dogs as he would also lunge and bark in that situation, making walks very stressful. He also had a high prey drive and would pull strongly towards bunnies, foxes, and coyotes. All his antics were making walks no fun for his family. In addition, JJ liked to jump on people, bolt out the front door, and not come when he was called. His mom wrote “Most mornings, I start my day with unease because I don’t know how JJ is going to behave when we go out for a morning walk.”

Helping JJ to see that he didn’t have to guard his people or his home was key to changing his behavior. He was lacking leadership and direction and without those two key ingredients in their relationship, JJ was making all his own bad choices. Training for JJ involved our Large Field Socialization program to help him feel more confident around other dogs, and teaching him to turn over the keys to his behavior to someone else. Once JJ was shifted into follower mode, it was easy to guide him away from his prior bad choices. When he was ready to graduate, his entire family was taught what JJ required to stay in a behaviorally healthy state of mind. They are doing a fantastic job of providing the structure that he so badly craved.