WE LOVE PUPPIESSSSSS

We've been to meet Rex, the puppy from South Shields, who has started barking and lunging at other dogs and getting quite nervous around their barking noise. He's also suffering from severe separation anxiety whenever the owners leave him, crying and howling the whole time. Unfortunately, the owners have to leave him due to work commitments.

First, we looked at his reactivity. We introduced a marker cue that teaches Rex to anticipate food every time he hears it, pairing that marker cue with the sight of dogs. Straight away, we had Rex seeing one of my dogs come into view and turning around to look for the treat, which was excellent. When he lunged forward, we engaged him in a game called the "count and game,", and he immediately returned to the owner again. Since we saw Rex last week, his reactivity has pretty much stopped, which is excellent.

Next, we looked at his separation anxiety. We changed the place where he gets left to a good room for training and the bathroom for when he has to be left. We started with slow departures, getting him used to his owner going out the door and coming back in, gradually increasing the time. So far, he has done extremely well with this, with no issues the other day.

We'll meet Rex again soon to continue working on his separation anxiety and look at some loose-leash walking. Rex has done absolutely fantastic, and he's well on his way to solving all his problems. Well done, Rex, and well done to his owners!

If this case sounds like your dog and you are having a similar issue, or a different issue entirely, book a FREE assessment call with us by clicking HERE