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« on: March 24, 2005, 03:59:00 pm »
When we adopted Winston from a St. rescue group, he was great in the house but had some AWFUL outside habits! He knocked me clear off of my feet and I hit my head on the sidewalk when he ran over to visit his buddy. After nearly getting hit by a car when he slipped off his Gentle Leader and decided to go say "hi" to the dog across the street, I decided it was time for professional intervention. I enrolled him in a basic obedience course at Petsmart. I CANNOT EMPHASIZE ENOUGH HOW MUCH OBEDIENCE CLASS PAID OFF!!!! We worked through his pain-in-the-butt behavior on the leash and generally made him a joy to be around. He is an angel now. However, we too went through the "rebellious teen" stage, even while he was enrolled in second obedience course. Our trainer said that like kids, dogs will try to test the limits just to see what they can get away with. Her advice was to not let him get away with any unacceptable behavior. So we would just stop whatever we were doing until Winston decided to do it my way. Luckily, he outgrew this stage in a few months. You might really want to consider signing up for a class either through Petsmart, Petco or even a local continuing education program. They aren't that expensive and I found it was a great bonding experience for us. [In fact, my husband stopped going after the second class and it was almost a year before Winston would pay attention to anything he said.]