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A new start for an unwanted dog

ADOPT 2010 CONTEST

In September of 2006, I pulled a ~7 year old little pom mix from the local Shelter. He had been picked up as a stray. He had a chip and the shelter called his owners. They said he was a runner and the shelter should keep him because if they took him back he would probably get hit on the street.

He had nipped at someone while in the shelter, so they could not adopt him out to the general public. So the rescue I work with was contacted and I pulled him. I named him Asher.

He was fine for about 2 weeks, and then he bit me. He bit me in the face. That became a pattern for Asher. About every 2 weeks, there was another bite, usually to my hand.

People think that nasty small dogs are funny. So not true. Asher's bites were hard. Deep puncture wounds that dripped blood and continued to ooze for days, my hand slowly turning from deep black and blue to a sickening green and yellow, swelling up so badly I could not close it. The scariest was that there was no overt warning. No growling, no snarling, no show of teeth, just Bam!

The rescue director decided we could not adopt him to anyone. He was a huge liability. She gently urged me to let him go and offered to do it herself.

But I am incredibly stubborn and taking away his life seemed like a personal defeat.

So, I sought a behaviorist and started working with him. I got really lucky and found a wonderful trainer/behaviorist who has tons of experience with dogs like Asher. She literally wrote the book on reactivity, in fact, she wrote two. She helped me learn to read Asher and, using non aversive techniques, transform him from an unpredictable biter to a wonderful companion. She recognized his potential and his intelligence and guided me through the process. She is Asher's Angel.

Ash loves to work, so beyond behavior modification, we started some serious training. He is so smart and he took to clicker training like a duck to water. The highlight of his day is when I get out my clicker and bait bag. He acts like a puppy. He learns quickly, sometimes picking up new behaviors in a matter of minutes. He keeps me on my toes because sometimes I feel he just reads my mind and knows what I am looking for.

Ash has attended several trial in the past year and earned many, many pretty ribbons, often taking first place and pulling in perfect scores. Even better, I regularly leave the ring to comments about how wonderful our relationship is and how well we work together. On June the 5th, Ash earned his ARCh at Bella Vista Training Center. In December, he earned his ARCHX and just recently he earned his Veteran's title.

Ash has transformed my life. I have learned so much from him.

Ash has gone from being just another fosterwho scared me to my student and my teacher, my follower and my leader, my partner and my heart dog. The wounds on my hands have healed and faded to scars, but the impact this little dog has made on my heart will last forever.

He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion - Unknown

Loose Leash Walking

This is not by any means the only method I have for llw. In fact, it has very little to do with the lead at all. It is all about teaching a dog that the most reinforcing place to be is at your left side.

Again, this is not a heel, just loose lead. But once learned, it can easily be kicked up into a heel. It is also not something you just start outside on your walk. While you may very well be able to use it that way, it is more effective if you start small and build.

I don't start training on walks, I start in my kitchen or basement. Initially, you are not moving very mush, so you don't need a lot of room. And let's face facts, if you can't do this in the kitchen, where the dog knows food reinforcers are all around, you will not be able to achieve loose leash outside where there are so many things to compete for your dogs attention.

Each step of this exercise should be practiced to 80-90% compliance, then proofed on different locations, gradually raising distractions. It's all about baby steps.

If the dog gets overly excited when trying to attach the collar or lead, it would be best to spend several session on just that first. Show him the collar, wait for calm, the click and reinforce. Put it on his neck, click when he is calm and treat. Gradually work up to putting it on and having him stay calm. This may take several sessions.

Next, work with the leash. Show it to him and wait for him to be calm, then click and treat. When he stays calm, start clipping it on him. Clip it on the wait for him to be calm and look at you, then click and treat. Again, this may take several sessions.


Start with focus. Lots and lots of focus work with the dog in front of you. Build to about 10-30 seconds of focus before you start to move.

When you are ready to move, hold the leash in your right hand, the clicker in you right hand between your thumb and first finger and the treats in your left hand because you will be delivering them off your left leg. The reason for delivering them off the left leg is because this is where you want the dog to be. Dogs, like people, will return to the place of the greatest reinforcement. Reinforce for position.

Think of it this way, if I gave you a ten dollar bill every time you stood on my left, 6-12 inches off my body, parallel to me, where would you be spending a lot of time? Dogs are no different.

Now, move only one step only in either a sideways, back or diagonal direction. If your dog follows, just one step, or follows you with his eyes while remaining in place, click and treat of your left leg. If possible, click the movement.

Move any direction but forward, one step and click and treat if he moves with you or looks at you.

Now you are ready for a few steps, so take two steps, again, avoiding forward and click and treat as he takes two steps with you. He should be moving with you at this point. I find the hardest part is bending over quickly enough to be sure my dogs keep four on the floor. Do not click if he is on his hind legs, but if you do click ALWAYS treat. This is where you add a cue. This is not heel, so I use "Let's go". Take 3 steps, take 4 steps etc.

Once you are ready to actually begin walking, I find it best to start out backwards. When you are walking forward, dogs have a tendancy to focus on what is ahead of them. When you walk backwards, they are walking towards you and you are their focus.

Now you can begin moving forward. This may take several days or weeks to get to this point. Take three steps, click treat, then go to 4 steps, click treat, then maybe 6 then 10, then...well...you get it.


The trick is to start this in a low distraction environment, get reliable behavior there, add new environments, slowly expose to greater distractions.