1. Possible territorial resource guarding: classifying as level 1 on Dunbar scale when someone turns their back to leave yard

2. Alert barking + reactivity to stimuli out windows

3. Reactivity to people entering home

4. Reactivity to small dogs/prey drive

5. Recall with distractions

6. Walking past medium stimulus triggers (i.e. lawn mowers)

• No more greetings in the yard to prevent rehearsing the possible territorial behavior. Instead, have guest/stranger wait off property in the street with treats and accompany you on walk while they toss treats as you go

• Continue to follow through on re-doing the invisible fence line in order to prevent free-roaming access to front yard

• Continue to take walks and have yard time outside of delivery hours

• Practice crossing the street even when there are no other dogs around so Lady doesn’t associate crossing the street with encountering a distraction/trigger

• Muzzle training - here is a customizable bite-proof option

• Gentle leader training

• FOR POSSIBLE TERRITORIAL RESOURCE GUARDING: practice settling in bed on porch when no triggers are present

• FOR ALERT BARKING/REACTIVITY TO STIMULI OUT WINDOWS: designate a treat bowl and use “thank you” or “quiet” to interrupt barking and reward in the treat bowl during a break in the barking

• FOR REACTIVITY TO STRANGERS ENTERING HOME: Up-Down Control Unleashed pattern game, engage disengage and/or Look-at-That Control Unleashed pattern game, food scatter of treats on the floor with cue “find it”, practice settling on bed with a view of the front door

• FOR WALKING PAST TRIGGERS: Ready-Get-It, and 1-2-3 pattern games from the Control Unleashed program by Leslie McDevitt.

• LOOSE LEASH WALKING: start by marking and rewarding for any offered attention while on walks. Always feed at the desired side you would like Lady to walk on in order to encourage Lady’s placement. Try to keep treat pouch on that side as well

• PREY DRIVE/REACTIVITY TO SMALL DOGS: calmly name and explain what Lady is reacting to and reward breaks in the barking

• RECALL: start practicing again in low distraction environments. Use lower value treats when indoors and higher value treats when outside. In order to hold attention, gauge rate of reinforcement or if treat scatter is needed depending on distractions

We reviewed a lot during our first session. In order to not overload Lady with too many new things, here are some things to focus on until our next session:

• Follow management plan

• Buy a front clip harness for Lady: here is an option by Ruffwear

• Look into buying a muzzle that fits Lady: here is a customizable bite-proof option

• FOR REACTIVITY TO STRANGERS ENTERING HOME: Up-Down Control Unleashed pattern game, engage disengage and/or Look-at-That Control Unleashed pattern game, food scatter of treats on the floor with cue “find it”, practice settling on bed with a view of the front door

• LOOSE LEASH WALKING: start by marking and rewarding for any offered attention while on walks. Always feed at the desired side you would like Lady to walk on in order to encourage Lady’s placement. Try to keep treat pouch on that side as well

• RECALL: start practicing again in low distraction environments. Use lower value treats when indoors and higher value treats when outside. In order to hold attention, gauge rate of reinforcement or if treat scatter is needed depending on distractions

Since we most likely will not have another session between now and the board + train, here are the top priorities that can be worked on for Lady during the stay:

• Muzzle training - here is a customizable bite-proof option

• Gentle leader training

• Practice settling in bed near front door on inside (and outside if possible). Once consistently settling on cue, start introducing low-level distractions while practicing settling. If possible, begin to use knocking on door or doorbell as cue to go to the bed

• Teaching “quiet” to interrupt barking

• Reactivity to strangers and trucks at home

• Proofing basic manners skills, particularly recall with distractions

• High prey/chase drive

• Limit interactions with trucks and delivery drivers on the property. If a truck approaches while outside, go inside immediately to create distance and add a barrier between Lady and the trigger.

• Window film to create a barrier between distractions and triggers that can be seen through windows.

• Ultimately, the engage disengage game will be used to cue engagement with a trigger from a distance while paired with a rewarding high value treat in order to countercondition the stress response to the trigger over time. By changing Lady’s emotional response to strangers and trucks over time, this will ideally change her behavior response (reactivity) as well.

• Practicing generalizing Lady’s skills, particularly recall, using a variety of rooms and environments while slowly adding in distractions will help her to proof those skills.

For now, begin by practicing the engage and disengage game. Proofing this behavior in different rooms of the house will help generalize the skill. Be sure to begin asking “Look” to add in the cue in order to be able to prompt the behavior.

My recommendation is to sign up for the Dog Discovery package and split between Cash and Lady however is needed.

It was great that I was able to meet Cash at the end of the session. Cash’s notable areas of behavior are:

• loose leash walking

• recall

• dog reactivity

• resource guarding toys

• Since Cash’s resource guarding is not towards people and is limited to other dogs, in particular, taking toys from Lady, the main form of management to focus on right now is to keep them separate when playing with toys

• Practice crossing the street even when there are no other dogs around so Cash doesn’t associate crossing the street with encountering another dog

• Gentle leader training

• FOR RESOURCE GUARDING: teaching “leave it” and “drop it” cues

• RECALL: start practicing again in low distraction environments. Use lower value treats when indoors and higher value treats when outside. In order to hold attention, gauge rate of reinforcement or if treat scatter is needed depending on distractions

• LOOSE LEASH WALKING: start by marking and rewarding for any offered attention while on walks. Always feed at the desired side you would like Cash to walk on in order to encourage Cash’s placement. Try to keep treat pouch on that side as well

Until our next session, you can focus on these skills with Cash:

• Follow management plan

• Buy a front clip harness for Cash: here is an option by Ruffwear

• RECALL: start practicing again in low distraction environments. Use lower value treats when indoors and higher value treats when outside. In order to hold attention, gauge rate of reinforcement or if treat scatter is needed depending on distractions

• LOOSE LEASH WALKING: start by marking and rewarding for any offered attention while on walks. Always feed at the desired side you would like Cash to walk on in order to encourage Cash’s placement. Try to keep treat pouch on that side as well

Since we most likely will not have another session between now and the board + train, here are the top priorities that can be worked on for Cash during the stay:

• Gentle leader training

• Desensitization & counterconditioning off other dogs if Cash can be kept under reactivity threshold

• Teach “leave it” cue

• Teach “drop it” cue

• Reactivity to other dogs

• Proofing basic manners skills

• Resource guarding of toys & food

To manage Cash’s resource guarding, it is important:

• not to touch him during mealtime

• to feed/treat/train Cash and Lady separately. It might help to feed in separate rooms and with the door closed.

• keep play time with toys for each dog separate or at a far enough distance away from each other that one cannot take another’s toy

• Ultimately, the engage disengage game will be used to cue engagement with a trigger from a distance while paired with a rewarding high value treat in order to countercondition the stress response to the trigger over time. By changing Cash’s emotional response to other dogs over time, this will ideally change his behavior (reactivity) as well.

• Practicing generalizing Cash’s basic manners skills using a variety of rooms and environments while slowly adding in distractions will help to proof those skills.

Continue to practice the engage and disengage game with Cash as well. Proofing this behavior in different rooms of the house will help generalize the skill. Be sure to begin asking “Look” to add in the cue in order to be able to prompt the behavior.

My recommendation is to sign up for the Dog Discovery package and split between Cash and Lady however is needed.