I'm looking for advice if I should search for professional help with my pup.
I will start with some background and will describe the behavioural issues and how do we work on those.
My pup is 8 mo male pug. Not spayed as our vet so far doesn't see the indications for it.
He didn't show any signs of aggression. He easily stays in his crate, never had/has separation anxiety. We use only harness, no collar. As a true pug, he is food addicted, which is a huge help.
He does react to people, other dogs and bikers. He barks (theretory guarding) in our fenced backyard when he hears someone pasding by. He is horrible in the car.
We have two types of walks: short 10-15 minutes potty walk with 1.5 meter leash, and 30 - 40 minutes walk with 5 meter leash.
When we do our long walks, it's 80% of sniffing, 20% moving. I noticed that this type of walk cools him down very well. He can be so much into sniffing that doesn't react to a biker passing 2 meters away from us. I try my best to not pull him, have the leash with no tension. In the safe place, where I can fully observe the environment, I let him 5 meters freedom. He is constantly checking on me in this situation and often prefers to stay closer to me.
What we learned so far:
He doesn't react to cars anymore. It's went down from 100% to 0%.
If it's me first noticing a trigger, in 100% of cases, I will take his attention, he follows me moving to a safer (further from a trigger) spot and will be absolutely happy to get his high value treats. I let him to observe a person/dog/biker passing by from a distance.
If it's him first noticing a trigger (sometimes happens), he will lung in direction of a trigger, sometimes (rare) bark. He comes back to me though. And it's very different from our beginning when he didn't hear, didn't react to me calling him. Overall, our walks became much much better. And this comes from two sides, me being very attentfull to the environment, and teaching him to follow me, and him getting better in his impulse control.
What we do in the backyard to manage his theretory guarding. I don't let him there unsupervised. We do 10 - 15 minutes play sessions once a day. I keep his attention by playing with him and when notice that he is ready guarding, sit him down next to me, say "silent" and reward if he listens.
Now, when the light day is getting longer and it finally will dry a bit, I'm going to start with him an observation sessions. We have two spots nearby where with the better weather, more people, dogs and bikers will be. I plan starting with 7- 10 minutes sessions with toys and treats, and little by little try to increase the time and decrease the distance to trigger.
Overall, we made a good progress. I see that he is truly makes effor to learn.
I would be grateful for any advice on our trainings. And also, do you recommend that I better don't wait longer with the approaching a professional behaviourist? Maybe my trainings are not enough efficient and we can learn faster?
I will start with some background and will describe the behavioural issues and how do we work on those.
My pup is 8 mo male pug. Not spayed as our vet so far doesn't see the indications for it.
He didn't show any signs of aggression. He easily stays in his crate, never had/has separation anxiety. We use only harness, no collar. As a true pug, he is food addicted, which is a huge help.
He does react to people, other dogs and bikers. He barks (theretory guarding) in our fenced backyard when he hears someone pasding by. He is horrible in the car.
We have two types of walks: short 10-15 minutes potty walk with 1.5 meter leash, and 30 - 40 minutes walk with 5 meter leash.
When we do our long walks, it's 80% of sniffing, 20% moving. I noticed that this type of walk cools him down very well. He can be so much into sniffing that doesn't react to a biker passing 2 meters away from us. I try my best to not pull him, have the leash with no tension. In the safe place, where I can fully observe the environment, I let him 5 meters freedom. He is constantly checking on me in this situation and often prefers to stay closer to me.
What we learned so far:
He doesn't react to cars anymore. It's went down from 100% to 0%.
If it's me first noticing a trigger, in 100% of cases, I will take his attention, he follows me moving to a safer (further from a trigger) spot and will be absolutely happy to get his high value treats. I let him to observe a person/dog/biker passing by from a distance.
If it's him first noticing a trigger (sometimes happens), he will lung in direction of a trigger, sometimes (rare) bark. He comes back to me though. And it's very different from our beginning when he didn't hear, didn't react to me calling him. Overall, our walks became much much better. And this comes from two sides, me being very attentfull to the environment, and teaching him to follow me, and him getting better in his impulse control.
What we do in the backyard to manage his theretory guarding. I don't let him there unsupervised. We do 10 - 15 minutes play sessions once a day. I keep his attention by playing with him and when notice that he is ready guarding, sit him down next to me, say "silent" and reward if he listens.
Now, when the light day is getting longer and it finally will dry a bit, I'm going to start with him an observation sessions. We have two spots nearby where with the better weather, more people, dogs and bikers will be. I plan starting with 7- 10 minutes sessions with toys and treats, and little by little try to increase the time and decrease the distance to trigger.
Overall, we made a good progress. I see that he is truly makes effor to learn.
I would be grateful for any advice on our trainings. And also, do you recommend that I better don't wait longer with the approaching a professional behaviourist? Maybe my trainings are not enough efficient and we can learn faster?
