#amimoore
#www.dogdoright.com
Hello,

Here is a letter from a client (we are still working together) who has a very, very aggressive dog. We had one session for 2 hours.
I would like you to be aware of the improvement that can happen in a miraculously short period of time.
Before we started she could not have guests over at all and could not walk her dog during the daytime due to aggression.
The Chicago Dog Coach

"Hi Ami,
How are you doing? It's been a couple weeks, so I figured I should update you on Zoey :) Overall, things have improved immensely! There's still a few areas I'm having trouble, but I'll start with the good stuff:

-- Walks have been so much better! We can walk by runners, groups of runners, rollerbladers, grandma's in scooters, strollers, men, and groups of men goofing off, almost anything that triggered her before. There have been a few moments where she's been nervous, but she's overall been extremely calm, and easy to bring down to normal levels when she starts to get nervous. I just correct her, and we keep walking. Overall, its hardly been an issue, and this has been the easiest transition!

-- She's gotten really adjusted to the collar, and although she still hates it when I put it on. I need to remind her quite often to stay by my side, but she's not pulling, she's not choking herself, and she's clearly enjoying her walks. I can hold her leash with a relaxed hand, and its such a relief to just be able to remind her with a gentle tug rather than having both arms exhausted by the end of a walk because she's been pulling the whole time.

-- We've stopped playing with toys in the house -- instead now I'll tell her no when she wants to play, and she's learned to play with her toys by herself -- she likes to throw her ball around and chase after it, which is super cute and is great because she's getting some play in, but its keeping her excitement level at at a point where she's not going to get over-excited (as opposed to when we play and I have to work to keep her from getting over-excited). When she gets antsy, we've been walking up to a new park up the street which is perfect for playing fetch while using the long rope. Its a long and narrow enough park, so when it's empty I'm comfortable letting go of the rope and she gets to run a little more freely. Otherwise when people are around we still have a good time while I keep a hold on to the rope. The only trouble we've had here is when other dogs or sometimes certain men enter the park and she tends to immediately max out and bark/run aggressively towards them. Thank goodness I've had a strong hold on the rope whenever this happens. This seems to have eased a bit, and she's not as bothered when others enter the park the more we go, but its definitely something to keep working on.

-- Seeing dogs outside have definitely improved. The first few times we ran into dogs outside after you met with us, there was nervousness, so I kept her from greeting them, corrected her and we kept going. As she started to get calmer, I let her meet the other dogs, and twice this led to her barking, but not as bad as before. She's continued to get less and less nervous, and now we can pass them on the sidewalk w/o having to go out of our way and no trouble -- this is a HUGE relief. Depending on her mood, and the behavior of the other dog, (and if I'm feeling relaxed about it) I now let her go up and greet the dog and we've had no more problems with this. So, a definite improvement! I'm still not sure we're at the point where if she's were at the dog beach playing, where her excitement level was high, that she could handle other dogs playing together or people running by without getting set off, but I'd like to work up to this eventually. At least so far walks have done a complete 180.

I'm trying to keep this from getting too long, so I'll move to things I could still use some advice on, but I'm so excited about the improvements so far!

One of our remaining BIG problems, is still the elevator/lobby. Though, even here I've seen improvements --

* Riding in the elevator with most people
* Seeing most people in the lobby when the elevator door opens
* Walking into a lobby with people in it as we come from outside
* Or walking into the building at the same time as someone else

These have all improved and become bearable experiences (still some whining, but not at "shrieking" levels. The exception has been when we run into the maintenance guy, where her levels are much higher and not bearable).

We are still having trouble when ...

* People come out of the stairwell
* We get up to our floor and people are waiting outside the elevator

These still trigger much higher anxiety for her. She's much harder to calm, and I can't get her quiet no matter how many times I correct her, she still cries (often very loudly). She also still often cries while we're waiting for the elevator, and when the elevator stops at the floor we're going to -- its the anticipation of the door opening, and whether or not someone will be there. At least she's quiet when we're in the elevator.

The other concern is still when some people are in the apartment -- she did wonderfully when my friend Rachel came, it didn't even phase her when Rachel followed me through the front door. Even after I took Zoey out and we came back and Rachel was there -- no problems. When my boyfriend comes over, he ignores her for the first 20-30 minutes, and she's MUCH calmer when he's here now that the attention isn't on her when he first arrives.

The only other person I've had here was the maintenance guy (who was super tolerant). When he first came I had to use the same pushing her back with my leg technique you showed me until she was more calm. As he fixed my shower she was whining and crying. I would take her away from where she could see him, get her to sit and be calm, then slowly bring her back to where she could see him. She did well with this after a few tries, and would be calm watching him until he moved. She never got to the point where she laid down and gave up, but at least she got to where she was sitting and quiet. He had to come in and out a few times, and each time, it was as if her brain reset, and she forgot he was just there, so we'd start all over again.

It was at least a good exposure opportunity for her until the very end when he was in a hurry to beat a rainstorm, I had her close to me, out of his way, and he quickly crossed the room to check the air conditioner -- this freaked her out."

The Chicago Dog Coach
www.dogdoright.com
847-284-7760