T
he family, consisting of three adults – husband, wife and the wife’s mother, who was also the babysitter of their two-year-old child, was devastated on hearing their dog was not trainable.
But, wait a minute. This dog is part of the fam-
ily, and giving up on him was not an option. When a teacher tells a parent there’s nothing that can be done to help her child who has behavioral issues, the parent finds another teacher. If a doctor says there is nothing more that can be done for a parent with dementia, the adult child seeks the advice of another doctor. When a dog is deemed un-trainable by one
trainer, thankfully there are plenty of positive options available to the dog parent. After thorough research, including asking fel-
low dog owners, Jagger’s family sought the guid- ance of another experienced trainer for their eight-month-old French Bulldog. A GRUMPY LITTLE DOG When Victoria Parker first met her new
charge, it was clear he had no manners. Jagger, true to his breed’s name, was bullying his family. The French Bulldog, while adorable looking, does not have the chill personality of the English Bulldog. Stubborn is a word often used to describe the per- sonality of the Frenchie. And excitable. Some Frenchies have been known to hurtle themselves at people like a 30-pound ball of joy. “They are not a breed that you can let get
away with things,” said Victoria, who has been training dogs for 11 years with a particular focus on excessive behavior issues. “Frenchies are serious little dogs who require training, and need to be respected.” After assessing Jagger and the family’s lifestyle
situation, Victoria’s first order of business was to make sure that Jagger understood the basic con- cept of trust. That was imperative before starting to teach him a few commands. “He did really well, right away, with sit,” said
Victoria. “He was okay with go-to-place. We managed to achieve our goals, that first session, even if it was just for 20 seconds. I reassured his family it was okay, and that we would build on that. But, he certainly did challenge me. Jagger is a very strong-willed little dog.” That’s the thing about small adorable-looking
dogs. Their humans tend to let them get away with things which can become a big problem in a short amount of time. One of the first drills
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Victoria put Jagger through was to place a leash on him and walk around. She wanted Jagger to follow her moves and to pay attention to where she was. “He was fighting me at first, but eventually
got the message with a lot of positive reinforce- ment training that first day,” said Victoria. She explained that, a dog in training must understand the concept of what the trainer is asking of him, before a consequence (a correction) occurs. “Luckily, Jagger is very willing to work for food.” Make no mistake, Jagger was a very grumpy
Frenchie when Victoria first met him. He had learned that being aggressive rewarded him with whatever it was he wanted. “He growled at me at first on the leash,” said
Victoria. “He was trying to intimidate me, but couldn’t physically get to me because he was on the leash.” Victoria explained that as soon as Jagger showed her any kind of compliance, he was immediately and grandly rewarded. "Because I was trying to impose my will on him, he was very angry, at first," said Victoria. One of Jagger's biggest triggers for his
unwanted behavior was the family’s two-year-old daughter. He was not aggressive with her, but very possessive of her. It’s called resource guarding. Jagger made it quite clear that he did not want to share the child with the grandmother. While babysitting, the grandmother noticed
Jagger becoming increasingly aggressive towards her. Of course, she would retreat, walking out of her granddaughter’s room. She’d also have to often stop interacting with her grandchild, like brushing the child’s hair, when Jagger entered the room. Whatever it was that took the child’s attention away from Jagger, was a trigger for his unwanted behavior. “Any behavior that is rehearsed over and over,
like this, is being reinforced,” said Victoria. “My work included reprogramming his brain of that behavior; to remove the rush of adrenalin associ- ated with seeing the little girl. I mean, Jagger was like a coiled spring when the child was around.” After working with him during the first train-
ing session, Jagger did finally improve with the sit/stay-in-the-sit position. “You could see that he was making a conscious decision to not jump, for instance,”said Victoria. “Excitement is an unstable frame of mind. We wanted to reinforce that ‘calm’ is appropriate behavior and that it would get Jagger his reward.”
Jagger was like a coiled
spring whenever the child
was around.
Victoria Parker, dog trainer
“ ”
Continued on following pageg THE NEW BARKER 63
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