Four Legged Scholars LLC – Dog Training – Mantua and Surrounding Areas
Are you struggling with a dog that is uncomfortable around new people in the home? You are not alone.
There are many dog owners in your position. They have come to us for help and now have a dog that is peaceful around new people in the home. You can do this too.
The easiest and simplest method to get your dog acclimated to people is to use a technique called counter conditioning. This means that the people are paired with good things.
When your dog sees a person he gets something fun. I generally recommend to use a “special” treat that your dog doesn’t get any other time during dog training. Mantua is the home of Gunner, a Blue Heeler, that trained with us. Gunner was fearful when new people came into the home.
His owner used Bill Jack treats that he only got when visitors came to his house.
Most average dog owners want the the visitor to hand treats to their dog. Children often feel reserved about taking candy from strangers.
Dogs that are feeling fear will feel “off” about taking a treat from a stranger. It is best to use a technique called systematic desensitization. Basically, you start with the dog far away from the visitor.
When the dog notices the visitor the special treats are given to the dog by the owner. When the visitor is out of sight the treats stop.
An open and close treat bar system works well too. This ensures that the dog associates the special treat with the visitor only.
With Gunner we would sometimes exit the scene from the visitor. Gunner would go into another room where he could not see the visitor and the treats would stop here. We did 6 sessions of dog training. Mantua is an area that we serve, so the sessions were in home.
We began by doing the above technique with just me. Then Allyson, the owner, generalized the technique with other visitors that came into her home.
Gunner learned to be a more comfortable and confident dog when visitors came to his home. You can create this too with your dog.
This can be complicated to implement on your own so we recommend that you work with a professional dog traing to ensure that you performing the correct dog training. Mantua (Portage County), Summit County, Geauga County, and Trumbull counties are areas that we serve.
We are happy to come to your home and help you.
Johanna Teresi, Mantua Dog Trainer, Four Legged Scholars LLC, Dog Training, Mantua
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