I'm just wondering what people's experiences are with seeing behaviourists for particular issues with their dogs. I've contacted one to see if he can help with Shadow's issues meeting other male dogs and I'm hoping that we'll be able to have a session or two with him to work on it when we're back in the UK. We are making progress ourselves, but I think some professional guidance would give us a bit of a shove in the right direction. So, any stories on how you've been helped by a pro?
I went to 'mutts need manners' / 'dog communications' when Charlie came back off rest for his first operation. I am also really lucky in that my two dog walkers also go to this place, and consult other behaviourists for clients. So I had 3 sources of advice. I went when I was a bit concerned about Charlie dashing up to dogs, lying down when he saw dogs approach, and going a bit stiff when meeting a lot of dogs. I had three sessions with mutts need manners, the first more useful than the next two. I mainly used the sessions to talk through my concerns, and us all watch Charlie interacting with other dogs and I could point out the things that were concerning me. It turned out that the advice was that Charlie didn't have many issues, and actually having him attend the classes there - as an intact dog around a lot of neutered dogs - probably wasn't going to help him and might actually cause some problems. I still did find the advice and sessions very helpful though, although working with my two lovely dog walkers, with packs of dogs they put together around Charlie, and getting out and about on the Common 'in real life' was the really invaluable thing. Plus, they also were able to point things out like me getting tense and so on, and they also know Charlie really, really well - it was just fantastic. I'd say this was all I needed, and was a fabulous help.
I recently had a 121 session for Juno to help with her lunging towards other dogs. My session was really helpful and confirmed my own thoughts on her behaviour but it's the additional help and suggestions to practice day to day that I found most helpful. Juno may not yet be perfect but we have come along way in a few weeks. Our extra benefit is that we now have play sessions with Susan and her dogs at her local park which Juno loves. Juno even did a great recall at distance from another dog which had come into the park with it's owner.
I was thinking about your question in a bit more detail, @snowbunny, I don't think I got any kind of 'magic bullet' out of any of the advice. I think what I got was: a bit of education through discussion; comfort about some things being normal; and a second pair of eyes/viewing things with better perspective. I think this all helped, but then I went away and worked things (of course). So...I think it could have been easy to have been disappointed, but I wasn't. It helped, and I felt it was £s fairly spent.
It's important to be clear as to what you are expecting to get from the session and to have had a good discussion with the behaviourist before making the appointment. I also had to complete a questionnaire (about 6 pages) to ensure that no relevant, or irrelevant, information was missed. My session was certainly worth the money
For me, I'd like an experienced set of eyes looking at Shadow's body language, talking me through it and giving advice on when, and if, I need to step in. It would be good to get it on video to watch in slow-mo, too, but it's clearly not appropriate to do this with a random dog on the street!
If you are expecting to have Shadow work around other dogs on the day, it's perhaps to be very clear about that upfront. Otherwise you might be better off taking video. Charlie was with other dogs on the day, but just bitches (based on my questionnaire answers), and then later other teenage male dogs - same with the trainer I went to see. It took a while of assessment before the trainer/behaviourist was happy for Charlie to interact with other dogs they provide or had in the class. That's understandable, I think.
Absolutely understandable, and I've asked in my email to the guy I've found. Maybe I'll start wearing my GoPro on every walk on the off-chance he might meet a male dog. He was actually a star this evening - I saw a male dog at a distance. He has met it once before and didn't have a problem with it, but that's not always a guarantee. It's quite a fearful young boxer cross - tends to repeatedly run at us, barking, so I thought I'd use it as a training opportunity. I clipped Shadow onto his lead, but kept it long and just asked him to walk to heel (we were walking in the same direction on the path, with us in front) as the other dog ran up and down the path between us and his owner, barking at us. Shadow kept looking over his shoulder, but I was streaming treats and they were more interesting. His body language was alert but relaxed. Eventually, he was happy enough to keep with me without looking back at the barking dog at all, and I could reduce the frequency of the treats, to one every five to ten seconds, rather than streaming. I doubled back on a higher path and let Shadow off lead. I worked on "bimbling" with both him and Willow, clicking and chucking treats around when they were close to me. Shadow was well aware of the other dogs (there's a bitch, too, but she's far too old and fat to be interesting), but stayed beautifully in about a ten-foot radius of me - just having a bit of a look down the hill every now and again. So, training is going a long way, even with limited opportunities, but I'd still like to address the issues he has when he actually meets other dogs. SWMBO isn't going to be around when I'm in the UK, so I figured I might as well spend the time I'd have with her, working on other things. I would imagine having an initial consultation just chatting and the behaviourist observing how I handle Shadow in everyday situations, and then, hopefully, a follow up or two in the same week where we can do some more practical work.
Whoop, he's happy to do some sessions with his two male dogs, Dexter (a Border Collie) and, funnily enough, Shadow, who is a German Shepherd. I'm a bit nervous about that one, to be honest. I've never had any bad experiences with GSDs; in fact, we've met a couple of lovely ones, but there's something about the way they look that speaks to some hidden part of my brain and makes me a bit trepidatious, which could definitely translate to W&S if I'm not careful. Anyway, having talked to the guy on another occasion, I'm happy that he's 100% force free and all positive reinforcement so it could be very interesting.
