Oscar

The first day I met Oscar, he was inside a fenced area and as soon as I came up to the fence, he went berserk. He barked incessantly and lunged at the gate and tried to bite my hand through the fence. He continued to bark and snarl and snap at me multiple times as he seemed intent on getting to me and biting me. 

I quickly realized though, that he is NOT an aggressive dog. He calmed down quickly, came off the fence, his ears went neutral, and his eyes and face softened after having had some time to process my calm presence. His display of aggressive behavior was impulsive and was done as an instinctive guarding of his premises. He soon turned into the little playful puppy he really is, and as I walked into his area, he picked up one of his toys and offered it to me to play.

I observed his interaction with his owner and it was immediately clear that he only sees his owner as a playmate, and in no way a leader. Oscar was constantly jumping up on the owner, demanding play, mouthing and nipping at his arms, and biting and pulling on his clothes non-stop. He actually tore his t-shirt right then and there. During the initial walk, Oscar was walking way ahead, with no regard to his owner's whereabouts, pulling and dragging him to sniff and go to whatever he wanted. He was also jumping up at certain people (strangers on the street) that he felt uncertain about and would try to actually bite them. The actual sound of his jaw snapping was loud and clear.

Oscar's problematic behaviors stemmed from being an underworked dog with working dog genetics. He simply was too impulsive and had no obedience, no engagement, no rules and boundaries, no expectations, and no job.

As Oscar's behavior was extremely challenging for the owner to deal with on a daily basis and was taking its toll on him, I was tasked with teaching him to train his dog and effectively communicate with him.

To tackle Oscar’s problem, it was essential to address the underlying causes of the behaviors and not focus on addressing the symptoms first (barking, pulling, snapping, etc…) as that would be like plastering over the problem and the training process would breed a lot more frustration for all of us involved.

I started off by introducing interactive games and engagement exercises that immediately proved to be something that Oscar craved. Those provided some much needed mental stimulation and ensured that I was redirecting his excess energy and boredom into things that were acceptable in a human world. The games included tug, search, and various activities that promote impulse control.

Loose leash walking was a big one, and I used my popular “three steps to heel” method to teach him where he needs to be during a walk and when he’ll get the free time he needs to go around and sniff and explore. Teaching Oscar a focused, engaged heel went a long way to showing him leadership and helping him to stop jumping at strangers but it did not fix the issue completely. We worked on a lot of engagement based games to help him fully get over lunging at strangers, games that promoted decision making on his part. It was very empowering to him when he was given a choice, and he very quickly learned to start making the good choices at the expense of the bad choices that he used to make before. We exposed Oscar to various situations with many different people and “triggers” of increasing difficulty levels and he was generously rewarded for his calm, neutral behavior around strangers.

The keys to Oscar’s success were engagement, impulse control games, and giving him work to do. Using those, we were able to work wonders when establishing rules, boundaries, and expectations that made Oscar a much less impulsive and way better behaved dog. It’s important to remember that dogs with working backgrounds thrive when they have a sense of purpose. Oscar's transformation was not instant, but with patience, consistency, and dedication to his training, he became well-mannered and pleasant to be around. It is very rewarding looking back on Oscar’s journey, having played a big role in his transformation from a very problematic dog into an obedient companion.