Luna

Meet Luna

Everyone meet Luna! This pretty girl is a 3 yr old Boxer/Lab X. Luna is a fairly stable girl, but doesn't know her size, or that she has bad manners that get her into trouble.

Luna is 'aggressive' or should we say reactive to dogs when she is on a leash, towards people when they first come into the home... until she can see and sniff them! Then it's 'Okay' because she has given them her "okay, your fine to be here". She is also known to dominant dogs when she can get close enough to them, play to rough and completely ignore recalls if there is something better to do. YES! that is right... she is like most doggies out there!

Luna needs to learn her size, manners towards people and other dogs, she needs to learn how to un-zone in intense situations and when her mommy is recalling her, and we need to clean up a bit of her obedience. 

This girl is SMART and we can't wait to work with her. 

Session 1 of 3

(Friday, January. 24th, 2014)

This morning we met up with Luna's mom. She told us about her concerns about Luna's behaviour and some stuff that she would like us to work on.

When we first got Luna in the truck, we tried to feed her a couple treats...but she was unsure about what was happening, so she would not take them. (We even had dried liver!...what is a trainer to do?!?) So we just gave her TONS of love, which she was happy with! Thank goodness Luna remembered us from training ;) 

When we got to the dog park Luna seemed a little over whelmed and was not 100% sure about the new dogs that she was around. She gave the dogs (Kona, Yoko & Kechera) a quick sniff to check them out, but had a closer eye on the dogs that were running around that were not part of the new pack. There was a couple times where she tried lunge at another dog, but she was quickly re-directed. 

It wasn't long before Luna was comfortable with the pack! She even kept trying to get Kechera to play with her. Unfortunately her 'play style' leaves a lot to be desired... as she almost seems like she has no idea how to play. She was VERY verbal, rough, and tried dominating her continually ... she almost looked a little sad because Kechera was just not that into her. Fortunately this pretty girl is a quick learner and VERY smart! With a little guidance she was playing with a few select dogs with control, manners and responding to verbal queues from us.

Now we really wanted to focus on cleaning up some of Luna's recalls. She "zones" VERY easily... so first thing was first... we needed to teach her an off-switch. So we could snap her out of her prey drive stares. It took a few times, but she learned if she un-zoned that she would be rewarded with praise, food (which she was taking at this point... who can resist liver treats??!?!! mmmmmmm lol), and play time.

Luna did so great during her session, she even got to spend a portion of time with the leash dropped ;) YAY! LUNA GIRL! 

Below is a video of Luna's progress in her first session. 

(A Big THANKS to Ksenia with Kechera,  and Kona & Yoko for their puppy support)

Session 2 of 3

(Friday, January. 31st, 2014)

Oh Luna, you just did so wonderful today! It was like she was a totally different dog! We wanted to get her interacting with a bunch of different dogs today... So she had even more positive experiences to go home with. That way she had lots of new and exciting stories to tell her mommy about ;) Luna responded so so well to verbal cues to engage her in play, and to tell her when she was being to overbearing. (which only happened once by the way) She even was starting to recall out of play with tons of enthusiasm and excitement! We also found out that if we called her Loonie (instead of Luna) she ran to us with a big happy smile. This was so very exciting to see! This pretty girl made tons of new friends today! Both human and furry.

We also wanted to work on Luna's commands, and to start advancing them. With a little guidance and praise she was doing long distance commands, and waiting her turn while we released one dog at a time. She is such a smart cookie! We couldn't be happier with her progress and can't wait till next week when we get to show her mommy how well she is doing! 

Below is a video of Luna's progress in her Second session. 

(A Big THANKS to Sabrina with Teddy, Ricki with Little and Kona & Yoko for their puppy support)

Session 3 of 3

(Friday, February. 7th, 2014)

Happy Friday! and it sure is a happy one for this pretty girl! WOW!!! Luna spent most of the session OFF LEASH! and PLAYING with other dogs!! YAY! Its so hard to contain our excitement for the changes we have seen in this girl! Her interactions, greetings, and play styles have changed completely! 

This girl is brains and beauty! It didn't take long for her to figure out how fun life can be. It was a cold day but we still had a few dogs at the dog park. So she still got to play, frolic and have lots of fun! 

Our goal for Luna was to get her to place where mom and dad felt comfortable bringing her into social environments. We also wanted her to be able to play with other pooches, so she could socialize, have fun and get the exercise that she so desperately needs. 

Luna's mommy and daddy are expecting a little one to join the family! So they wanted to get to a safe, happy place with Luna before the new baby arrives. 

Luna's mommy and daddy will have to really concentrate on praising this girl in situations that she is uncomfortable with and remember to BREATHE ;)(to give her confidence) and to keep up the great work with "un zoning" her when she is tunnel visioned.

Check out this girls grad video!! We are so proud of her!! (Did we already say that?!? lol)

(A Big THANKS to Ricki with Little and Kona & Yoko for their puppy support)