I too, missed something Joyce. So, I will wish you luck with today and hope to hear about the outcome (and the reason for the visit). Our trainer is also a behavorist and she had some great insights on our first meeting.

__________________
Barb, Rick and Tayla (STAR Puppy)



Cheyenne (CGC) and Jesse (CGC) who will be always loved and never forgotten.

I hope everything goes great!

__________________


Birthdate: February 5th 2012

Gotcha Day: March 30th 2012

Thinking of you guys today Joyce. I hope your behaviorist will just be able to give you a few suggestions to tweak things for you.

__________________

Wow. Just wow. Mind. Officially. Blown.

For those that missed my thread regarding the reason I took Ky to see a behaviorist, here's a link to that. http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/...ley-didnt.html (Ky in attack mode, Bentley didn't)

I will state for the record that the money I just spent on this behaviorist may just be the most well spent money of my life. With zero exaggeration.
I'll try to tell you a few of the things I learned today but you'll have to forgive me if I ramble as I'm still trying to process all of it, and there's a lot to process.

First, his assessment of Ky.

She shows great reserve and dignity. She recognizes my authority and respects me. She is confident in an unfamiliar setting. She has a very stable temperament. She shows great bite inhibition (whew!)
She has a normal Akita distrust of strangers but she is tolerant of them. Very accepting of non-threatening strangers. Has completely accepted Bentley into our pack.
There's several note pages more but that's his basic assessment of her.

Now, about the issue with my daughter's new (ex) boyfriend.
He said that since we're not telepathic we may never know why she reacted to him the way she did however, in his experience he's never known an Akita to be wrong when judging human behavior patterns. I'm to do what I want with that bit of info but it falls into my "I trust my dog 100%" theory.

He said what a lot of you did in my thread (you smart ppl LOL) he said that Ky did show great restraint because she did not bite him. He said one thing that Akita's never do is bluff, they are very serious with their job (protecting the pack).
He wanted to know every single thing that happened and in what order, thankfully DH was there to help with that. His assessment regarding her restraint is due to the fact that she actually put her body between us and him. He said in dog world that is a show of direct hostility toward the threat. If she wasn't still under my control her next step would have been to bite his face, since she didn't do that he said she was still more under my control than I realized at the time.
He agrees with me that I want more control over her in times like that and we do have some things we're going to work on to strengthen that, however he doesn't feel like it's something that is bound to be repeated unless she gets a "vibe" from someone again. He's not worried about her temperament at all.

We took the video of Ky from when she first came here so he could see what she was like. He said that he was astounded that I was able to train her the way I did without having previous Akita experience. (my dad taught me to never boast and I'm not trying to boast here just repeating what he said).

Ignorance is bliss. If I had known some of the things that he told me today about abused Akita's I probably would have done everything wrong (or been scared silly). Since I was ignorant of these things I just allowed Ky to teach me how to teach her and it worked. *dumb luck?*
He said Akita's are not very forgiving and they have a very long memory. And they have a tendency to resent "unpleasantries".

He also observed Ky & Bentley together. His assessment of them.

He is an established member of our pack and she will protect him to the death. He is seeing signs that when Bentley matures he could quite possibly become the "alpha" dog and he thinks Ky will probably like that. I laughed when he explained it because it was like Bentley will be the boss but Ky will be the muscle, oh joy

As for Bentley's fear period that he's in, he said to walk him over to whatever is scaring him, as I've been doing. I'm just to stand there and act like it's no big deal. I'm not to baby him or speak in a "baby voice" because that doesn't allay his anxiety. He said when Bentley's "flight response" begins to shut down I can then talk to him but not in a sympathetic tone. He said every time Bentley conquers a problem he will gain more confidence in himself and me.

Well, as I suspected, I'm rambling. I will probably be going over my notes for several days to dissect this but the bottom line is that he is very pleased with Ky and has no concerns about her attacking anyone.

He did recommend two books
1- Alphabetizing your dog by: Terry Ryan
2- Mother knows best by: Carol Benjamin

We also will be doing some daily exercises to keep our bond strong. He thinks we have a very tight bond now but he wants me to work with her daily since Bentley gets training periods daily.

I'm sure I'll add more to this after I've digested it but......I'm relieved

__________________

Wow!!!! That's amazing. I would totally trust her 100% with her judgment of him. Sounds like you have one smart, loyal dog that would put your life and safety before her own. Cheers to you Ky! Bentley could ask for a better teacher.
Keep up the good work with your dogs! They are blessed to have a Mommy like you! :-)

__________________
I Brew

Ky did show great restraint because she did not bite him That's quite a statement!

I'm glad you got good news. His assessment sounds right on target based on what you've said about both dogs, their temperaments, and how they react to the world. But Bentley better stop hiding behind Ky if he's going to be alpha! LOL's

Did he have anything to say about preference for hanging out with your husband? I think I would have asked that!

__________________
Kathleen, mom to one human, age 17, three canines, and a bunch of fish.

Just an aside... this may muddy the waters here somewhat ... but one of the reasons I became convinced that OJ Simpson did kill Nicole was because their Akita was present at the time she died. I can't conceive of an Akita allowing an attack by a stranger on their human unless it would have had to choose between two of its humans ... he would have taken the attacker apart. Sad statement...

__________________
Kathleen, mom to one human, age 17, three canines, and a bunch of fish.

Funny you mention that because we discussed it (not OJ but us). He said Ky will protect to the death so DH jokingly said "what if my wife is the one hurting me?" his answer, Ky would decide which of her pack needed her protection in that moment. hhhmmmmm

__________________

Sounds like you are doing a wonderful job with your pack! Seeing a good behavorist is very insightful. On our first appoint with ours we went to her office/training facility and before I walked in I walked Tayla around to go potty. Never good first impression if your dog pees inside. Anyway I didn't know Ann was watching our every move. When we walked in she introduced herself and told me right off that Tayla had some big issues with low self confidence. I never would have seen that myself, but the whole visit was an eye opener and to this day I can look at some of the things Tayla does in a different light and see she still has a long way to go in that area. She sits at attention almost when she is unsure of a situation. I just thought she was looking at things, but now see it for what it is. I'm glad you had that experience. Ky is so lucky to have you and you are lucky to have such a good protector.

__________________
Barb, Rick and Tayla (STAR Puppy)



Cheyenne (CGC) and Jesse (CGC) who will be always loved and never forgotten.

I'm happy to hear you felt you got so much out of this visit. Trying to understand our dogs, particularly during trying times, is no easy task. It's got to be very reassuring for you what you've learned about both Ky & Bentley from this behaviorist. And I think you deserve, whether you thinks it's warranted or not, a big pat on the back for the wonderful work you've done with both dogs.

Thanks for sharing your experience with everybody. Hopefully you've shown pet owners that there is good help available beyond trainers and it can be a positive worthwhile experience.

Pete

__________________


Sonny, the black lab, ran ahead to make sure there were no gophers or jackrabbits in the way. If you don't give a dog a specific job, he'll improvise one for himself and it will invariably be fun. There's a lesson there.
John Gierach