Patreon Update and Answering Your Questions!
Added 2018-05-20 16:56:44 +0000 UTCHere is an update on what we’ve been up to. And I’ll take some of your questions in this video!
Comments
Hi Zak, I might have a tip for other owners of highly reactive dogs! My one year old German Shepherd is a vibrating, shedding ball of energy (it seems like the breeder over-emphasized that part a little), and I had the biggest problems with her reacting to EVERYTHING on walks. Every time was a walk of shame, she lunging and barking excessively and me apologizing all the time. It took me almost up until now that I found a way to wear her out without a “proper” game of fetch: She’s been so hyper that she never gave the stick back and wanted me to chase her, BUT she drops the stick immediately in front of me when I have another stick in my hand. I throw that one, pick up the one she just dropped and so on (in German we call that technique “trading”). That way we have a high-speed game of fetch, and after ten minutes her tongue is hanging on the ground. We are doing that for a while now, and since her encounters with dogs and people afterwards haven’t been in that super-hyper state, she got better and calmer reactions and isn’t so stressed about everything anymore - exactly like you said. Two sticks/balls/frisbees did the trick for me. Maybe this helps someone else!
2018-06-25 17:16:12 +0000 UTCAmen to what you said. I just got Kai from the shelter and he's responding so well to Zak's training methods (and what the petsmart trainer told me).
Raghav Rao
2018-06-02 18:50:33 +0000 UTC
