Dog Training 101

Today I took the monsters out to Meemaw & PopPop's house to let them run around a little and play with their buddies. Monty paired up with Baxter (Bax totally is dominant over Mont which is shocking to me) and Sully partnered with Gabriel, literally...if you know what I mean. (Like we all thought Gabes got neutered but clearly he's still into Sully.) My mom and I took the three blondies on a walk with their gentle leaders and I must say - my two out-shined the "prized" Canine Companion, Gabriel, by far. I was shocked by how well behaved my knuckleheads were and how wonderful they were behaving. Monty only growled at Gabes two or three times today.

Which brings me to TONIGHT. We are meeting with a dog trainer (a behaviorist) to figure out how to "fix" or "treat" Monty's issues: dominance & aggression & possessiveness. We aren't completely sure what it is, but it needs to be addressed, preferably now before we have the baby join our family.

Through searching on the internet I found Pet-U-Cation Training & Rehab Center. I am praying it's worth it and Alma the trainer we've been paired with for the initial consultation works well with both pups.

As I sent her my request and the "background" info I explained to her our list is long because we know we need to fix Sully and his barking and Monty with jumping, but honestly we are okay with all the other bad things sticking as long as we figure out the Monty Mean Boy issue.


So the trainer said Monty is a doll and if I really think he's aggressive I need to come see the dogs she works with on a daily basis. She said dog & human aggression are two totally different forms of aggression and Monty just has a dominance factor to him and will not tolerate "rude" or unruly dogs near him, hence his snaps. She mentioned to us that we should just keep Monty on a leash when he meets other dogs (new ones) or particularly doesn't like certain dogs. We also learned that we should discipline Sullivan when he gets too out of hand with Monty and we can tell Mont is annoyed. We, Tim & I should be the alphas who will PROTECT our boy Mont no matter what. So that's the plan from now on. He actually has been doing great at home. Sullivan knows to stay away at certain times.

So we are happy it only cost us $35 as opposed to $250 for dog training and we're pleased Monty had wonderful manners when the dog trainer walked in. She did say Monty is not as "comfortable" as Sully is...figures!