Dog’s Name: Cooper
Gender: Male
Age: 1 year
Breed: Miniature Schnauzer
Owner: Monica Shelley
Location: Phoenix
Trainer: Jared Auday and Katelyn Anhalt
Package Provided: House Call 10 Pack
Monica has been on medical disability since 2007. She is on a single income with disability being her only source of income so her finances are rather tight. Cooper, her miniature schnauzer, is a very rambunctious boy that has taken total control over Monica and her life. He jumps on visitors, barks, and nips at her hands when excitable. He can also be extremely needy. She has a hard time controlling Cooper since he thinks he is in control of her! She would like for him to be able to be calm when she has house guests over and also hopes to give him a mental outlet for all his energy so he listens much better.
Summary of 1st Lesson: On the first Gives Back session, we acclimated Cooper to a training collar to teach him to walk properly on a walk because he loves to pull! It was quite the challenge for Cooper because he is very used to controlling everything. We were able to get him walking nicely on leash but it will take lots of practice for him to become a master! We also jumped into teaching obedience to maximize control. We were able to teach sit, down, and stay. We also taught Monica our correction process for Cooper’s naughty behaviors and showed her some door boundaries.
Summary of 2nd Lesson: On lesson 2, we focused more on Cooper’s behavioral issues. He is a crazy boy when people come over so we worked on door manners, jumping, barking, and nipping. He also likes to play the chase game when we are working on trying to tell him no. Along with that, we practiced on his obedience skills on a walk around busier distractions like landscapers, cars, and then we transferred the skills back into the house. We worked a lot on slowing Cooper down since he is so used to going fast all the time. Slowly but surely, he is making progress but he is a stubborn boy!
Summary of 3rd Lesson: On lesson 3, we again started by working on Cooper’s door manners. Now that he knows and really likes Katelyn, he barks excessively when she comes in the door. Due to Monica not having the ability to be on her feet for more than a few minutes, we decided to start e-collar training. We first started acclimating Cooper to the new collar with commands he already understands. Once Cooper was comfortable with the collar, we were able to use it for his barking, item discernement, jumping, obedience, and his keep-away game. Cooper loves to come and sit nicely for his praise, so we had to add some hard distractions to set him up for real life situations. Cooper has a bad habit of nipping at his mom’s ankles when she climbs into bed, so we were able to work on that and a good “up” and “down” command so his mom doesn’t have to pick him up to get him into bed. We finished our lesson in the back yard where Cooper struggles with chewing on sticks, rocks, and struggles with his come command.
