Christy

Christy, Shepard/ Yellow Lab Mix

Christy lives in a very big family with 2 parents and 6 kids.  The problem that Christy is having is that no one in her household is being consistent.  I worked with the mom and 5 of kids and each person went through training on how to do each command properly.  They all took turns, it was very sweet.  They were amazed at Christy's quick progress.  Christy's (and the family's) most difficult new challenge will be learning to stay out of the kitchen.  The family had a real problem with there stealing food off the table and out of the trash.  To simplify the problem with such a big household it was easiest to teach them how to keep her out of the kitchen all together.  It will be difficult at first, but she will eventually fall into line.  She picked up training very quickly and easily.  I encouraged the family to make a chart (fun art project for the little kids) with commands and Do's and Don't for the dog.  The were excited to do so.  This will help keep the family consistent, and Christy will do very well.

Christy may have a dog aggression problem however.  The family had mentioned that she had "attacked" their neighbor dog.  I asked the family to show me what happens when the dogs meet (in a safe way) and Christy aggressed towards the other dog.  The family does, however, have another neighbor with a male (instead of female) dog that Christy gets along with fine.  The family will need further help with this problem in the future, and further training to curb this problem ASAP!  Until that time, the family was advised not to greet other dogs.