Sophie started out as a semi-fearful, but friendly parvo-resolved puppy. She eventually grew into an obnoxious but lovely tornado with teeth. One of her obsessions is rough play, complete with mule kicking, jumping and the constant use of her gorgeously white shark teeth to grab onto whatever is moving (hands, legs, really anything..). She had always been voraciously food motivated, which blossomed into a selective edible object possession problem. She began guarding special objects, some of them stolen from the bathroom garbage or from the leaf pile in the yard. Her owners were concerned about having guests over and how Sophie would react to them. She had also had issues with being picked up- she'd always avoid it and, if forced, she'd freeze up and open her eyes wider than she physically should. You couldn't help but pity her. She had some apparently bad experiences during her bout with parvo (we found out in her med. record that she'd been fine with restraining until she started having pain from the virus, then she became very nervous). Mom & Dad visualized a well-rounded dog and were smart in starting training early (12 weeks or so)...

We started off with some puppy handling exercises to build some trust. She was gently forced into a comfortable restraint and released only when she was calm and relaxed. Then we went on to the basics; sit, sit-stay, down, down-stay, walking on leash, etc. After she had gotten comfortable in the house and with the new family, she revealed the determination of a ram, so she had to be convinced over and over that the commands were non-negotiable and that they would always be enforced. Citronella corrections Spray Commander were also introduced and she reacted very well, reaching the point of responding to verbal warnings. Within 6 weeks, she was better but other issues had cropped up in the meantime (intense love of objects, insatiable need to wrestle, etc).
We started focusing on self control commands, especially the place command (stay on a dog bed in a down position until released). This is taught to get the dog to get itself together and relax in the shortest amount of time possible. Of course, she tested Mom relentlessly to see if she really meant what she was commanding. Mom is still proving herself boss even to this day, I'm sure. Keep on keepin' on, Sophie's Mom!

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