Brandy is a nine month old German Shepherd that spent a month in my home and accompanying me to work each day.( Thanks Holly and Jesse ) Her eighty year old owner asked that I take Brandy for a month for him and train her on and off lead, and to correct her severe jumping problem. Brandy’s owner has good dog training skills and understands reinforcement he just needed some help getting things jump started because of his age. Normally I have some reluctance to take in a dog for training, since most dog owners find it difficult to then take the time to work with me and their dog for several sessions after the dog is trained. In Brandy’s case, her owner is quite dog experienced and is retired, so he had no trouble making time for the in home training afterwards.
Brandy was already well socialized with people and other dogs before I started working with her, so that made my job somewhat easier. Our first accomplishment was coming when called. It only too Brandy six days to learn this even in the face of very difficult distractions and in many different locations. Afterwards she mastered loose leash walking, Sit Stay, Down Stay, Leave it and Place. Her jumping on people naturally curbed itself with more exercise and training, and there were only a few times that she needed to me reminded that jumping wasn’t allowed once the training was completed.
I am very happy with the family support that Brandy’s owner receives. His family is very devoted to him and Brandy! Now that she is obedience trained and trained off lead she is no longer frustrated and gets much more exercise. Great Job Brandy!!