A Tale Of Two Siblings
I did a wonderful in home training on Thursday after school with a new client. His dog was dropped off several months ago at the fabulous local shelter that I work with. We figured out months ago that this dog is a full litter mate to another dog whose owner I had been coaching. The outcomes of Coaching these two siblings ... could not possibly be more different!

The dogs in question are American Bulldog crosses and are currently ten months old. Their temperaments are really quite similar, one is male, and one is female. The male had the advantage of being purchased directly from the "breeder" (very bad backyard breeding situation from what I have been told) while the female puppy was the pup who was abandoned at about five months old and thankfully found her way to the shelter.

Let's call owner number one Suzy and the dog Jack and owner number two Bill and the dog Ellen. Both people are absolutely lovely and so are the dogs.

These are the traits these litter mates share: very persistent, quick to go into high arousal, high predatory chase, love mouthing/biting/tugging, very visual, biddable, capable of self modulating WHEN the rules are clear, sociable - Ellen needs more time than Jack to get to know a new person but quickly becomes very interactive, both dogs go into higher arousal with touch.

When I worked with Suzy, I told her repeatedly how brilliant Jack is and she could see that! No question she loved him. She was having a lot of trouble with Jack mouthing and biting her. I made a number of recommendations, nothing I suggested seemed to work. I really felt sorry for Suzy. I tried giving her a variety of training tools. The more I spoke to her and the more I saw her with Jack the more certain I became that Jack needed to be in a new home. Suzy was afraid of Jack. Jack was mouthing Suzy. When this behaviour started Suzy was simply not capable of telling Jack to knock it off! It was evident, even to Suzy, that he thought the biting was a huge game. I wanted to teach Jack how to tug and retrieve as an outlet for his high arousal and a way to teaching him self control, I also wanted Suzy to be able to tell Jack in no uncertain terms that this behaviour was unacceptable. When I worked Jack, he responded brilliantly to the training and he understood that mouthing me was not on the menu. When Suzy tried .. no luck. Her body language screamed of fear, "just don't bite me!" She was saying in every fibre of her being. I racked my brain for a training solution but in the end, with reluctance, I recommended that she let me and my extra-ordinary friend at the shelter help her to find Jack a new home. Suzy was pretty determined to keep Jack. She had had dogs all her life and did not want to give up on Jack. In the end, she did find Jack a new more suitable home. Jack and Suzy are both wonderful beings but they were not a wonderful combination.  

Now on to Bill and Ellen. Bill is a very young man, quiet with a calm assertive body language. Ellen does mouth occasionally, but not the way Jack was. Ellen is a wild banshee like her brother. Much like her brother, she responded splendidly to training using a tug toy and a retrieve. Trainers like me who enjoy dog sports and training adore temperaments like this, dogs who just won't quit but there is no question that they are often a disaster in the average person's home. Bill has gaols for Ellen, he'd like to certify  her as a search and rescue dog. Bill has the skills on the human side of the leash to do this work. Based on what I've seen of Ellen, I'd say there is a  pretty good chance that in Ellen, he has a dog who can do the work. Bill took to the training techniques I showed him like a duck to water! I am really looking forward to seeing them again.

Bill is new to dog ownership and dog training but there is no question in my mind that has the temperament to not only do a great job with Ellen but to have a lifetime on learning from dogs.