Your Dog Looks to YOU for Guidance

This is Levi, he had an extreme case of overstimulation whenever somebody came to the front door. There was a lot of barking, jumping, and in some cases mouthing and nipping. Due to his size and physical appearance, everyone assumed he was aggressive. He never really was allowed to meet people and he basically had no idea what to do in these situations. His guardians felt that the best thing to do was to restrain him during these times, but really all he needed was some guidance.

Dogs are impulsive by nature and will always act first and pretty much never think it through. Our goal with Levi was to switch that, we wanted him to think about what to do first instead of just reacting in a physical way, and in that moment of them thinking, we achieve a calmer state of mind where we can give them clear guidance and direction.

Once your dog understands that your guidance is more rewarding than just physically reacting in their own way, they will choose to look up to you and follow your lead more often. Essentially, we want to teach them that following your lead is reinforcing, this could include getting some type of reward, or even just feeling a sense of safety and security.

Once those structure and routine were put in place, Levi and his guardians had a much easier time with dealing with activity at the front door. Not only was Levi in a more calm and confident state of mind, but his family was too. Always remember, that any type of training and behaviour adjustment is a process, and the key is to be consistent with how we handle situations with our dogs.