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Renny is going to doggie bootcamp!

4K views 47 replies 13 participants last post by  Wendy427 
#1 ·
Yep, decided to take the plunge and "enroll" Renny in "doggie bootcamp".

After having him for @2 months now, I'm noticing more "issues" with him, issues that I'm unsure of how to handle, e.g., his super excitability when seeing other dogs, and excitability with me in the backyard (running at me full-steam and practically knocking me over). Bottom line, I need to learn what to do to make sure he doesn't escalate any unwanted behaviour....especially since he's so strong!

Sooo, a friend/co-worker of mine suggested this behaviourist/trainer in Delaware Ohio. I met her a month ago, with Renny, and I like her approach. At first I felt as if I didn't want to spend so much money, BUT, I've decided to go ahead.

The training program is called a "Residency Program" where Renny will stay with her for 10 days in which she will teach him the fundamentals of virtually everything, including approaching other dogs, socializing him, etc., etc.

After the 10 days, I will meet with her for 4 consecutive Saturdays where she'll relay all the info to me and train ME in her methods.

Another perk is that, in the future, if I need to board Renny, I can do it at her facility for $25/day and she'll work with him to refresh his learning.

I'm dropping him off on Wednesday, 1/9/13.

I'm excited about this, and feel this will really help me feel more confident with Renny, and more certain of what to do training-wise.

For anyone who's curious, here's a link to Amy's website:

Home Page
 
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#2 ·
Good for you to find someone to work with your guy. Sometimes a rescue needs a little more intensive training that most of us don't have the time for.
 
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#3 ·
Very impressive...Woody would have been okay until she tried to walk him by those other dogs...HANG ON...cause you no longer have Woody's attention.

Looks like you'll end up with a well behaved perfect little angel. :)

Please be sure and let us know how it works out for you.

Pete
 
#4 · (Edited)
Driving Renny to doggie bootcamp this morning!

Today's the day I drive Renny to doggie "bootcamp". It's about an hour's drive to Delaware, OH.

I'm missing him already! I mean it's going to be for 10 whole days! :--sad:
I'm bringing his bed and a towel that has my scent, his food and some pumpkin, an antler, and of course his collars & leash.

I know he's going to be pretty busy. My friend at work, who had her dogs trained at this place, said Amy takes the dogs into town for socialization work, etc., etc. I'll get a more detailed list of what she'll be doing with him when I drop him off, and let you all know!

I dug out my film camera today, and luckily the batteries were still working, so took tons of pics of him....just laying on the sofa! LOL :smooch:
 
#7 ·
Hugs going your way - it will be a long 10 days.

Does the trainer send you pics or updates via email, FB or otherwise during this time?
Good question! I plan to sit with her before I leave asking her a ton of questions, including this one. She's probably already answered most of them, but since I'm so anxious, I'm forgetting everything!
 
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#8 ·
I dropped Renny off at "bootcamp" yesterday. Boy the house is quiet now! :( Now, I'm thinking "what can I do to keep busy??" I've got 10 days, sooooo I'm going to do a major house-cleaning AND start down-sizing! There's so much "crap" in my house that I need to either donate, sell or throw out. :doh: So, now's the time to at least START!

Anyway, I talked to the trainer yesterday about what she'd be working on. Basically "everything". Luckily there's another dog there who she's training, too; very mellow/friendly, so Renny will have a buddy.

Amy had put him in his kennel while she and I were talking. He could just see me from his kennel, and since he couldn't get to us, he starting whining/hootin' & hollerin'! Wow what a ruckus! LOL Amy told him to "quiet" and he stopped. She explained he's just confused, but knowing Renny as I do, he won't be upset for long. She'll keep him plenty busy, and he's got a buddy.

She will be training him to walk with and without the prong collar (I've been using it on our walks and I really like it; it's like power steering for dog-walking). Training in all the basic commands, most of which he knows already, but she'll be concentrating on consistency. Also, training the recall.

She'll also be taking him on long walks into town where he'll have the challenge of seeing lots of people/places/things.

She doesn't keep me updated as to his progress; she's just too busy! But, she said I could email her anytime.

I'll fill you all in on the details of what he'll be trained in after 1/19 which is my first session with her relaying the info to me.
 
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#9 ·
Chatted again with my co-worker whose dogs were trained by Amy. She explained that Amy boards and trains a few dogs at the same time, including puppies, so she trains Renny in all sorts of socialization situations.

She'll bring Renny into her home (he stays in her kennel when she's not working with him), he'll have doggie playtime with other dogs, etc., etc. and all under her supervision.

Renny's biggest issues for me were his escalating excitability when seeing other dogs on our walks, and his very intense barking (close to "red-zone") at "aggressive" dogs that are too much in his face and never let up.

I'll send Amy an email this morning, and ask how he's doing.

To be continued... :wavey:
 
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#11 · (Edited)
I emailed Amy (the trainer) asking how Renny was doing. Here's her response:

"He's doing well. Nice heel with auto sit & sit position holding. Good in the kennel & with the other dogs. Just to again verify--you want him worked on the right side? feels so odd to me that I must keep reminding myself. He'll have to do both, and will adjust without a problem because when I walk on the road--he must be on my left."


A side note: I most always walk Renny on my right when we walking on the sidewalks around my neighborhood.

I then sent her this question:

"Is there any way to force him to escalate his behavior (his barking and "aggressive" stance), and then train him not to be so reactive? This happens when that little Shih Tsu next door starts barking at the fence. Renny immediately races to the fence and starts barking back, fairly aggressively. "

And her response:

"Developing your leadership and communication skills will be what reduces his re-active behavior. I will teach you these skills during our follow up lessons."



 
#12 ·
I emailed Amy (the trainer) asking how Renny was doing. Here's her response:

"He's doing well. Nice heel with auto sit & sit position holding. Good in the kennel & with the other dogs. Just to again verify--you want him worked on the right side? feels so odd to me that I must keep reminding myself. He'll have to do both, and will adjust without a problem because when I walk on the road--he must be on my left."


A side note: I most always walk Renny on my right when we walking on the sidewalks around my neighborhood.

I then sent her this question:

"Is there any way to force him to escalate his behavior (his barking and "aggressive" stance), and then train him not to be so reactive? This happens when that little Shih Tsu next door starts barking at the fence. Renny immediately races to the fence and starts barking back, fairly aggressively. "

And her response:

"Developing your leadership and communication skills will be what reduces his re-active behavior. I will teach you these skills during our follow up lessons."




Great to her he is doing great! You have a smart puppy there!

I confess that I am not a big fan of "dropping the dog at boot camp". But in your case I think it is great that you will also be "dropped at boot camp", so you can learn as well :D That makes the world of a difference!
 
#15 ·
"How long are the four follow-up sessions for? I'd be skeptical only four would be enough."

I am guessing that the follow-up sessions are about as long as a normal class but it is one on one with the trainer. The practice is for Wendi to do every day between her follow-up sessions. The trainer will be able to tell if Wendi has practiced and has become fluent in the skills she was taught at the next follow-up session. :) The trainer will evaluate and give Wendi feed back if she needs help with any certian cue. Then she will give her more to do to learn at the follow up session.
 
#16 ·
Couldn't have said it better myself! :D When I was talking with my co-worker about her experience with this trainer, she said that each of these 4 follow-up sessions are at least an hour depending on how much chatting we're doing, etc., etc. They generally go for @2 hours.
 
#17 ·
Sounds great Wendy...maybe I can drop Woody off at your place after you've completed boot camp for some training.;)

Pete
 
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#18 ·
Sounds great Wendy...maybe I can drop Woody off at your place after you've completed boot camp for some training.;)

Pete
hmmmm! Now there's an idea! I've been wanting to "retire" from my 30-year career as a programmer, and start something different! ;)
 
#21 ·
I'll include this in my list of questions to Amy when I go for my first session with her on 1/19. Will keep you posted!

Just curious. . . did you try an Control Unleashed techniques such as Look at That?

I'm currently reading through the book myself.
I just looked up this book on Amazon and read a couple of reviews. Sounds like a really good book! No, I haven't tried any of those techniques, or maybe I did....sort of....and just didn't realize? It's probable that Amy, my trainer, employs these same techniques. I'll talk to her about this book when I meet with her on 19th.
 
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#29 · (Edited)
My list of questions for my trainer

Here's my list of questions for Amy, so far. I'm sure more will crop up when I meet with her, so I'll try to remember everything I learn, practice it, write it down, and keep you all up-to-date.

By all means, you're welcome to add to this list, too! But, remember Amy's training is specifically tailored to me and Renny, so something that works for Renny may not work for you.

1) What to do when we're walking around the block on the sidewalk, with Renny on my right, if we see someone walking towards us or on the other side of the street walking their dog or dogs. That is, do we just keep walking and ignore, do a sit/stay? What if it's a dog we've met before and they like each other. What's the best way to approach a known dog and its owner? How to approach a seemingly-friendly unknown dog and its owner?

2) What to do when he gets excited at seeing anything on our walk, in the backyard, anywhere? When he's on- or off-leash. This goes for bunny rabbits, squirrels, cats, etc.

3) How exactly should the recall be "handled"? I want to be able to effectively do this when he's offleash in my backyard and at the dogpark.

4) How can I actually play with him offleash and me not get hurt? I enjoy watching him when he does zoomies, but do NOT enjoy it when he comes barreling towards me and practically knocks me over when he rebounds off my leg!

5) Can Renny truly stay at home while I'm at work all day. It's for 9 hours. In the recent past, I've noticed that even with my dogwalker walking him at noon, he had started chewing on a couple of things he shouldn't. I take him to doggie daycare twice a week and he does great there. I still walk him every morning and late afternoon for 1-2 miles each walk.

6) Speaking of doggie daycare, dogwalkers, boarding him elsewhere, do all these people need to know anything specific as far as this new training is concerned?

7) How do I handle out-of-control barking?

8) Do you recommend any books, e.g., Control Unleashed techniques?

9) Can I stop using the prong collar? My biggest concern is his pulling out of the snap collar if he's excited. This all may be moot due to your training.

10) From what you've observed about Renny, would he be a good candidate for agility training? I keep thinking he may be getting bored! I'm hoping your (Amy's) training and daily practice will be enough to keep him "occupied". I wanted to add that I'm pretty sure Renny has Australian Shepherd in him which accounts for his amber-colored eyes, but more importantly his strength and endurance, plus he runs really fast!

11) What to do when an unleashed dog comes out of nowhere and attacks you or your dog. This actually happened 2 weeks ago when I was walking Renny. The dog didn't exactly come out of nowhere, but pulled the leash out of its owner's hand, raced across the street, and attacked Renny. Long story short, Renny and I were pretty shaken up, but no major damage.
 
#33 ·
Renny did GREAT at doggie bootcamp (a bit long)!

Yep, I got to my trainer's place this morning. She spent the first few mins demonstrating what he had learned over the past 10 days. Here are the basics for class #1 which I'm to practice daily. Any unwanted behaviour results in a quick pop-and-release of the leash and a firm "No". There will be 3 more classes upcoming:

1. Heel - I'm walking Renny on my right side, and for now, using the prong collar (in one of the next classes she'll have me do all this with a regular collar). So I say "Heel" as we start walking combined with a hand signal. As I walk, I can change directions, to the right, to the left, figure-eights, and he's to follow me, always at a heel. This is to be practiced on-leash inside and outside the house. He's doing pretty well at this!

2. Heel with auto-sit. Same as above, except whenever I stop he automatically sits.

3. Sit-position holding - this is basically a sit-stay.

She actually doesn't train the stay. He's to hold whatever position he's in until I say "Heel" (to walk) or release him (saying "OK" with open arms - sort of like an "at ease" instruction).

3. "Down" combined with a hand signal - This means to simply lay down.

4. Down-position holding - basically a lay-down-stay until released. Renny can hold this position for 5-10 mins. Can be practiced inside and outside. I was able to drop leash the and walk around, and he stayed put! Pretty cool!

As I was sitting and talking with Amy, Renny was in a down-stay, being VERY good. Twice he got up and walked toward me, so I got up and brought him back to his place and into a down-position holding again.

5. The final instruction was "Go to place". I need to practice this in particular since I'm in the habit of saying "go lay down".

As far as barking and carrying on in the backyard, etc. I'm to take him out in the backyard always on his 30-foot leash so I can have control. As soon as he races towards the fence to bark at something, I correct him with a quick snap-release of the leash. I'll really have to practice this since I'll be dealing with such long leash. I took him out to the backyard when we got home, except NOT on leash. So, of course he raced to the back fence and started barking as soon as he saw another dog with its owner. MY BAD!

As far as his excitability when walking and seeing other dogs, I'm to just keep walking, that's all there is to it. Plus, of course coaxing him on with "Heel" and the hand motion. We took a walk an hour ago, and did see another owner walking her dog. Renny did fine as we kept on walking. Although, I could tell I was anxious, so I need to work on staying relaxed, but attentive.

Amy did train him on Recall, but won't be teaching that to me until another lesson.

So, for now, that's pretty much it. To be continued....
 
#34 ·
It sounds like you got a lot taken care of and you're pleased with the results.:) What's Renny's take on all this?

And thanks for taking the time to post everything...I think it's beneficial for people to see how different trainers approach these basic area's of concern.

I'll stay tuned.:)

Pete
 
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#36 ·
It sounds like you got a lot taken care of and you're pleased with the results.:) What's Renny's take on all this?

And thanks for taking the time to post everything...I think it's beneficial for people to see how different trainers approach these basic area's of concern.

I'll stay tuned.:)

Pete
Hmmm, Renny's take on all this. Well, I think he's enjoying himself. It's cool how he keeps looking at me. I can tell he's waiting for his next cue, so to speak :p:

I couldn't help smiling during the training session as Renny was in his down-stay. He just looked so cute with his signature front-paws-crossed. I mentioned to Amy that he's being so good. And she agreed saying he's a very sweet dog. I sure felt like a proud mama! :D


Sounds like Renny did great. It must be a relief to have him home. I'll be staying tuned for your posts about the training techniques
It's SUCH a relief to have him home. I really missed him!

He's pretty tired now. Just lounging around. The intense training definitely tires a dog out! Lots of thinking & decision making. I asked Amy about leaving him for 9 hours while I'm at work. She said for his age, it's totally fine, especially since I'm walking him at least a mile in the morning and when I get home. This all in addition to 2 days at doggie day care.
 
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