I just had to share this as it made my day.
Only Three Days of Training! (Watch The Video)
Dog Training- Two Female Dogs Together
Two female dogs lounging together
Two Female Dogs- Aggression Problems
At my Utah dog training company we get several clients per year who have two dogs, sometimes two female dogs other times two male dogs, who are fighting in the home. In most of these cases we actually find that the dogs were getting along for months or even years at a time. In most of these cases there was some sort of ‘aggression trigger’ that started one initial fight. These triggers have been varied, it could be a fight over food, over a toy or over and object in the yard. In other cases we’ve seen it happen when two dogs were hooked together.
Regardless of how it started we often see that the initial fight quickly leads to other fights and other problems. In many of these cases we’ve seen how the relationship between the two female dogs was one where there was an obvious dominant dog and an obvious submissive dog…but now the submissive dog is no longer willing to take the domineering attitude from the more dominant dog.
In any case, this is a common scenario that we run into several times a year. There can, at times, be variations with some of the variables. It’s not always two female dogs or two male dogs, perhaps it’s a mixture, or perhaps there are three dogs, but often the other elements remain the same.
The Case Study
While this is a common scenario we see in our training company in Salt Lake City, it’s also a common reason why dog owners invest in our dog training DVDs. One such person is Tiffani in Illinois. She invested in our training DVDs but also ordered our dog training with Skype.
A few weeks ago she and I got to work through Skype. She told me a similar story to one I’ve heard many times. She has two female dogs who aren’t getting along and she’s even had to resort to keeping them entirely separated throughout the day. I wanted to take a minute to share this blog post on exactly what protocol I take when dealing with aggression under one roof:
- The first thing we need to do is start getting the relationship in order. Whenever I see dogs fighting in the same home I also see dogs who aren’t terribly respectful to the owners. These things go hand in hand. In order to solve relationship issues obedience training is the name of the game. If a dog listens to obedience commands it means that the dog is putting the owner’s will first. The more that occurs the more we see the calming influence of the obedience enter into the dog’s life.
- The first obedience item I recommended is proper leash walking. When I say ‘proper leash walking’ I refer to a dog who is paying attention and walking right next to the owner’s side. This has a huge effect in getting a dog to see the owner in a leadership role. In fact, focused walking tends to have what I call a ‘collateral effect’. The better the dog walks on leash the better behaved overall the dog becomes…even with behaviors that aren’t even related to leash walking.
- When we’ve got two dogs in the same home fighting we need strategies for even getting the dogs near each other. I had Tiffani start working on the ‘place’ command. We need to teach the dogs to be in the same room and under control.
Aggression Case Study- The Current Results
We’ve only just started the process but so far so good. You can see in the upper left hand corner of the article how the dogs are lying in ‘place’ close to each other. This placing in the same room will be big in helping the dogs learn to re-acclimate to each other.
Additionally Tiffani tells me, “We went on a walk this morning and we passed a dog for the first time without any noise or reaction – Yahoo!” Previously, before working on our ‘crazy man method’ for teaching proper leash walking her dog would ‘flip out’ when she saw other dogs.
She also says, “Thank you so much for working with me, it is great…. I don’t think I can ever get too much teaching in this area as I have realized that I need more work on my timing and praise. I was correcting a lot of the time but forgetting to praise when she did it right. I’m growing with her.”
The reality is, folks, that there is no need for lots of trial and error. Anything you are dealing with has already been dealt with. I wanted to share this brief case study as two dogs fighting in the same house can be a very stressful thing to deal with. We’ve got a long way to go with Tiffani and her dogs but in short order, with the right tools, the right techniques, and some good work from the owners, we’re already seeing nice results.
You can see this, too. There are always formulas and protocols to work on whatever issue you are dealing with. The key is finding the right techniques and getting to work. I encourage you to set aside any excuses that you may have previously had in not getting the right results with your dog and getting to work! Happy training.
Success Story From Peru
Peru Dog Training
Picture From www.AventuraCanina.com/
I love the success stories that come in. I especially enjoyed this recent one as it came in from a different corner of the world, Peru. Most of the dog training DVDs we sell go out to the United States, Canada, UK, and Australia. It was a pleasure, recently, to see our DVDs head down to South America.
Allow me to share a bit of the story of Alvaro.
Just a couple weeks ago I got an email from him saying-
“Señor Brown,
Se que hablas un poco de español, asi que espero no tengas ningún problema con este mail.
La Oli, mi enamorada y yo queríamos agradecerte por la ayuda que nos brindaste con tus videos. Adquirimos Curing Dog Aggression y hemos estado trabajando por 2 meses con Oli y hemos hecho grandes progresos. Todavía falta pulir algunas cosas, pero la mejora es increíble… nunca pense que podría llevarla a la playa rodeada de gente y que se quedara tranquila en su sitio (foto adjunta).
Creo que el mayor problema de la perra es que todo le da miedo y antes de racionalizar lo que esta pasando se lanza… sobre todo con gente y perros. Su dosis de adrenalina es mas importante que cualquier cosa. Con tu método de obediencia hemos logrado que procese su miedo de una forma mas pasiva y ha empezado a darse cuenta que sus miedos son infundados. Es una batalla constante (la adrenalina es una gran adversaria) pero con cada error que Oli comete es una oportunidad para corregirla y mejorar.
En tus videos no hablas mucho sobre perros adrenalizados, pero escuche el programa de radio que hiciste con otro entrenador y fue de mucha ayuda. Si tuvieras mas tips sobre el tema sería grandioso.
Muchas gracias y saludos,
Alvaro”
Translated this means:
Mr. Brown,
I know you speak some Spanish so I hope you won’t have a problem with this email.
Oli, my beloved dog, and I want to thank you for your help you gave us with your videos. We bought Curing Dog Aggression we’ve been working with Oli for 2 months and we’ve had huge progress. We still need to polish some things but the improvement is incredible. I never thought I could take her to the beach and have her surrounded by people and that she’s stay calmly in her spot (photo attached).
I think the biggest problem is that everything makes her afraid and before rationalizing what’s going on she lunges…mostly with people and dogs. Her adrenaline dosis is more important than anything else. With your method of obedience we’ve achieved that she processes her fear in a passive form and she’s begun to realize that her fears are unfounded. It is a constant battle (the adrenaline is a big adversary) but every error that Oli commits is an opportunity to correct and improve.
En your videos you don’t speak much about adrenalized dogs but I listened to your podcast that you did with the other trainer and it was very helpful. If you had more tips that would be wonderful.
Thank you very much,
Alvaro
Previously aggressive towards dogs, now playing with them.
My response was to make a quick video over at my Spanish language dog training site. The gist of my advice was that he needed to focus on control exercises. Training exercises like training a dog to walk on a loose leash and training a dog to come when called serve a huge function in getting a dog to pay attention to you rather than the pay attention to the dogs and people who the dog is normally aggressive towards.
I was thrilled that just a short time later Alvaro sent me some pictures of a recent outing that he went on with about 40 other dogs and their owners.
Where just a few months prior his dog was acting aggressively to people and dogs now he was able to go on a big excursion with plenty of distractions.
He sent me some pictures through Facebook with the following note:
Ty Brown, 2 meses después de empezar el programa logramos una calatita con increíble confianza en si misma, enfocada en “trabajar” y feliz de estar rodeada de gente y perros!! Un exito!!
Which means;
Ty Brown, 2 months after starting the program we achieved a little pup with incredible confidence in herself, focused on ‘working’ and happy to be surrounded by people and dogs!! Success!!
The cynic in you is probably saying; you’re only sharing this in order to toot your own horn, sell more of your DVDs, etc.
To that I would say…
YOU’RE RIGHT!
Okay, only partially right. Yes, I absolutely share these stories so that other people see them and want to buy my products. I’ve got a family to feed and am not ashamed of being a businessman.
But in all seriousness I love seeing success stories like this. I know there are many people, perhaps you reading this, who have that aggressive dog or destructive dog or problematic dog and think there may be no hope. You may be wondering if there is anything you can do.
To those people I want to tell them, yes, you can see huge progress in your dog if you just take the time to learn HOW to train your dog and then you stick with the program.
Along that note, I decided yesterday to start a page where I’ll be sharing more and more of these success stories. Check it out here. I’d love to include you on there. Please let us know how we can be a part of your dog’s success story.
By the way, Alvaro, what kind of dog is that? I’ve never seen such a large, hairless dog!
Thank You To A Valued Client
We love helping people with their dogs. I was thrilled to open my email this morning and find this video-
Thanks Glenn! Happy Training.
No More Chewing
A satisfied client and ‘veteran’ of several other dog trainers
We have a Chocolate Lab, that we purchased when she was 4 months old. She was an adorable, rambunctious puppy. We signed her up for puppy classes at Petsmart. After finishing the class, we saw little change. We signed her up again, 
hoping that his time, she might “get it”. No such luck. I searched Craigs list for a trainer. I found one, that was cheap, and they came out to my home. One hour visit, and one phone call to check in, after the fact - and that was it! You get what you pay for. My dog was worse now than before.
She was resentful when I used the tactics from the trainer, (which I found a bit cruel) and her misbehaving was at an all time high. She was eating my wood fence, had eaten 3 trees down beyond a stump, had chewed through my air conditioner wires, had eaten a patio chair, the list goes on and on. I tried Craigs list again. That is when I found Ty! He was a little more than I wanted to spend, but I decided that my dog was worth the investment to me, and like I said before….. you get what you pay for. Ty came to my home for three sessions of 2 hours each.
He was friendly to my dog, and to my family. He involved all of us in the training process, so that our dog could be part of the family. As he would try a new technique with our dog, he would explain to us the method behind the training, and why he thought it would be effective for her. His style was not “cookie cutter”, one size fits all. His training was very specific to my dogs personal needs. He gave us “homework” to work on until our next session, and at any time, we could call for help. The results we saw were amazing!
A dog that once pulled us down the street, would now walk by our side. A dog that jumped up on everyone, now sat waiting to be pet. She still has “moments”, that we are working through……but when those moments arrive, we know that Ty is just a phone call or email away! We highly recommend Ty to anyone!
The Hartley Family
Jumping and Biting Eliminated
A listener of 97.1 zht where Ty is a regular guest sent this letter in to the station and forwarded it on to us as well.
I can’t thank you enough for having Ty (the dog trainer) on your show a few months ago. I contacted Ty in hope he could help with my 2 year old German Shepherd who weighs about 100 + pounds. (Almost as much as me) Unfortunately I got him right before winter and didn’t spend the time needed with a new puppy. He was a monster. I couldn’t take him out of the backyard, he would continually would get out of his collar and take off, barking, jump on me and my daughter. I called Ty in hope he could take BUCK for 3 weeks and have him trained, because I ASSUME THAT I WOULD HAVE TO SPEND HOURS DAILY to get him to be somewhat normal.
Ty suggested a 3 or 4x training sessions. After the 1st training session WE HAVE A NEW DOG. Buck will heal for me and my 8 year old daughter, he has gone on 2 camping trips,has gone without a leash at our cabin and stayed by our side, walks by other dogs without pulling. After 2nd session, he doesn’t jump up on us anymore and working on staying for a longer period. It has only been 3 weeks and approx. 1 hour 5 times a week to change a 2 year old dogs behavior to a new additional to our family. I highly suggest giving Ty a call instead of thinking your dog is hopeless, boy was I wrong. and Ty’s prices are a lot less than a new dog. We had a mean outdoor dog that we probably couldn’t have given away, to Buck who will become an outdoor/indoor pet.
-Bobi, Ady, and Buck the German Shepherd
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