Home Dog Training For Stranger Aggressive Dog in West Springfield, VA:
Elsa is a 6 year old Weimaraner. She has had a rough past and recently bit a worker entering her home. She also can be reactive on walks towards other dogs so her owners. Their goal is that she will stay out of trouble and can relax with a better quality of life. They have been doing some things on their own, but she will often ignore them, even though she knows what they are wanting her to do/not do.
She and her owners did EXCELLENT! I walked her owners through two exercises that didn’t involve treats or any painful collars and waited outside. From there they were able to answer the door and invite me into their home. Elsa was interested and a little nervous by my presence but she never attempted to move forward. Then, without telling her to, she chilled out on her bed.
We then went for a nice calm walk where she was connected mentally to her owners and kept checking in! The goal is to get her to use her brain and checking in/think before she reacts. She is a smart and beautiful dog.
Hey Tommy, here’s an update for how it’s going with Elsa.
Transitioning to using the verbal cue for undesirable behavior has been a complete game changer. She understood the whole time what the desired behavior was, but was simply being disobedient.
Now she defers to us as we walk through doorways, stays out of the kitchen, sits calmly as I get ready for the walk or feed her with some verbal reinforcement.
Walks are a complete breeze and she walks at my side without any pulling whatsoever.
She even had a full interaction with a brown lab on one of our walks for a few minutes, let him smell her with only mild annoyance and smelled him back quite a bit.
We’ve been practicing with knocking on the door when either of us come in and the other is home and she knows stays on her pillow but continues to bark until she knows who it is which is fine. When we come home together, she now stays on her pillow until we call her over.
Overall though, night and day difference!
A stranger aggressive dog is usually a fearful dog. Babying these dogs doesn’t usually help and can actually make things worse. We don’t want to be overly firm and never physical with this type of dog (or any dog.) Training for a stranger aggressive dog is achieved by setting up proper mental boundaries and leadership. You will help a stranger aggressive dog relax by letting them know that you have everything covered! They have no need to worry.
If you need help with your dog, please contact me!
