JessicaNorth

Hi Adrienne, Thank you! I am really looking forward to this program. They are wonderful dogs and the purpose for training is for their safety. I feel confident in the success potential of the program because all of the methods use positive reinforcement allowing pet parents a way to avoid negative interactions with their furbabies.

We adopted 3 dogs, 2 were already over a year old when we adopted, the 3rd is roughly 8 y/o and was a stray, for quite some time, before he found us. All 3 are sweet, but have bad behaviour habits, so that are dangerous to them, like chewing and ingesting things that they shouldn't. Is there a best practice recommendation for working with them? Should they be worked with separately until they master a specific behaviour, then together on that behaviour so that the desired behaviour is tested and reinforced despite the distraction of the siblings?

It has been my experience with Labs that we have had over the years, that they make excellent family pets and are highly intelligent. Is it possible that you feel nervous about dogs, in general? We had a Golden Retriever/Aussie mix, loved everyone he ever met, he never showed any aggression until my son's girlfriend started spending time at our house. It wasn't instant aggression, but developed over time. She was never around dogs growing up and had a bit of fear of the unknown and after a time of her being mis-trusting of the dog, he became mis-trusting of her. She would try to 'rush' by him to avoid contact and he we then bark at her. It was the strangest thing, this dog literally treated every stranger like his bestest friend, but he never did bond with her. There are some really good ideas under the "Behaviour Training - Online" section that may help, such as, when she jumps up on you, try turning away from her and even walking away, but when she is calm, get her to sit, give her a pat and a treat. Find instances of good behaviour where you can reward her and hopefully a bond will develop with you as well. I hope that this all works out ok for you.