Back To School
- haidinyak
- Feb 18, 2020
- 18 min read
Zeus is a wonderful dog, in fact I feel very spoiled by him. He has never chewed anything up in the house since the first moment we brought him home and we are able to trust him with free range of the house while we are out and about. Zeus never cried or whined, from the first night we brought him home and we introduced him to his crate, right up until we let him sleep in bed with Ares. He took all his puppy training in stride and showed us just how much he wanted to please us by doing well. He’s confident and smart and loving and loyal and protective of his home. However, as with most dogs, he does have one quirk that I am not fond of and I find very stressful which, I hope, if we can just get it under control he will become the perfect dog.
Zeus is reactive to other dogs.
I was so embarrassed by this behaviour and didn’t want to admit it to myself for a long time and it took me a while to come to terms with it as I wanted so much for Zeus to be the dog I bring every where with me. He’s so wonderful with all people that this behaviour really saddened me and shook my confidence once again. I had already been through all of this with Ares and was not prepared to have a second dog with the same issues. It’s very stressful to always be on the look out for triggers around every corner, and not being able to go to fun outings made specifically for dogs, or not being able to have full trust of your dog around all people and animals. Mentally it is a lot, and I just did not want this life for me and Zeus too. I kept asking myself where did I go wrong with socializing? What could I have possibly done different? Did I push him too hard to be social and ended up with the opposite reaction? I know now that I shouldn’t be so hard on myself and I have come to realize that I am not alone with this, that there are lots of other people going through the same thing. By reaching out and talking to these people it not only made me feel better emotionally but it also lead me to researching different dog trainers that were being recommended to me. One such place that a few people were talking about was a dog training company called Sit Means Sit so I went and researched the company website (https://sitmeanssit.com/dog-training-mu/ajax-dog-training/) and checked out their reviews online. I liked what I saw, there was a lot of positive outcomes and feedback so I decided to ask for their help with training for me and Zeus. I say for me because I could be trained on how to read Zeus’ body language better and to know the right time to give a correction and what to watch for in the future when around other dogs. For Zeus I wanted help working on his listening skills and getting him to understand exactly what we expect of him in every situation. Mike and I talked everything over, I made sure to show him the website and all the reviews as well, and together we agreed that Zeus would be going back to school!
I decided to reach out to the company from their website through the contact tab. There is a form you can fill out with your information and reason why you are contacting them and it didn’t take long before someone got back to me. The gentleman who reached out went by the name of Ashton, who turned out to be the owner and head trainer of Sit Means Sit here in Ajax, Ontario. He asked for a bit more information about Zeus and gave me some links to videos on YouTube to watch about their company and how they train, which you can check out here:
A link to a video that explains how the collar works: https://youtu.be/koMAzZqjGc A link about why they train for attention: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc2ZAKhAcd8
A link about a leash reactive dog (Liver Doberman): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OM1jC5IENU&t=17s
Once I reviewed everything he sent me I replied letting him know I was still interested and he directed me to his associate trainer named Jessica who would be able to help us with lessons at a quicker date as she was available sooner. I had seen many positive reviews about her on the website and from google as well so I felt confident being passed along to her for training. The following day after the email Jessica reached out to me for an over-the-phone interview and to give me information on their programs and prices. We went over what was going on with Zeus and Jessica assured me that this didn’t sound like aggression, but in fact was normal bully behaviour that they call “being gamey”. This is a word they use to describe dogs that have a lot of drive and she said it was something they deal with often and they would be able to help us with it. Jessica was very honest about everything up front, including telling me about their prices. I was told that their training was not cheap but that it was a one time fee for a lifetime of training and lessons and warranties on all the equipment we would get. The two programs that were recommended to me were an Immersive JumpStart Training – off leash control everywhere. This is where the dog is dropped off every day for 4 weeks at the trainer’s house to get trained and then picked up at the end of the day. After that there would be 4 private sessions and unlimited lifetime distraction training membership. The second program we were offered was called Unlimited Mentorship Training – off leash control everywhere. This consisted of 4-6 private lessons followed by unlimited lifetime distraction training membership. Both program prices also included the Sit Means Sit collar and unlimited lifetime support and training.
I decided on the Mentorship program because as easy as it would be to send Zeus to a professional to get trained and then I sit back and enjoy the new Zeus, I really wanted to learn how to teach him proper techniques myself with the new training equipment, how to catch Zeus quickly when he reacts, or even better, catch him before he even gets to that reactive point, and to bring back some confidence for myself when walking past other dogs. Part of me felt like all this training was really for me. If Mike agreed to go forward with the Mentorship package we would get $100 off for booking our first lesson within 3 days of talking to Jessica. Then there was a $100 deposit once the first lesson was booked, and the rest consisting of $1049 would be payable at the time of the first lesson. The deposit was payable by e-transfer and we got a receipt to my email. Honestly, I was expecting to pay more for what we got and I felt excited to go forward and try this new training. Just speaking with Jessica was already filling me with new confidence and a hope for a social future for Zeus. Again I went home and spoke to Mike about everything so we could make the decision together. It wasn’t long before we decided to book in for the first lesson the following week where we would go over lots of information about training and get help understanding our new training equipment.
I was very excited the week leading up to that first lesson, and nervous. Would she think we were bad owners? Would she think we did our previous training wrong? Would she judge us? Would she think Zeus was a lost cause? My excitement starting turning into anxiety so that by the time she finally got to our house I was a nervous wreck. I decided to keep things a little calmer for the first meeting so Jessica could just get to know Mike and I first and we could focus on all the information we were being told and make notes if needed. I thought it best if we locked the boys upstairs with our baby gate so they wouldn’t get as excited at the door and feed off each other’s energy and jump around when Jessica arrived, and hopefully once we had a chance to talk they would be calmer when I introduced them to her. Once the dogs were behind the gate I opened the front door and welcomed our new trainer Jessica to our home. She was very kind and put me as ease right away. Why was I ever nervous? She shock our hands, immediately looked up at the boys and remarked at how cute they were, which put me even more at ease (anyone who can appreciate the cuteness of my boys is getting a gold star), and I invited her into our dining room to discuss our new future of training. The first thing we went over was the new training equipment. Sit Means Sit uses a remote dog training collar, you can check out some info about them here:
https://shop.sitmeanssit.com/The-Sit-Means-Sit-Collar_p_965.html https://sitmeanssit.com/dog-training-collar-review-veterinarians-opinion/ This collar is a micro stim modality that is very similar to those micro stim units used in the medical and athletic fields. These micro stim units essentially use low-level, adjustable electronic stimulation to create a muscle contraction. For many years I was very nervous to use something like this and was pretty against it thinking that it would hurt the dog. However, I had tried every other training tool I could think of that has worked with my Danes, even the training we did with the Danes before we got Zeus but we were not having any luck. This was a last resort for me, so I asked Jessica if I could please test it on myself and on my husband first., if I could not handle it then it would not be on Zeus. Jessica agreed and we placed the prongs that would cause the muscle contraction on the palm of our hands. We started with the vibrate option, which of course we felt. Next we went up to 1 on the dial which neither Mike nor I felt anything, in fact, we didn’t feel anything until we got up to a 4 on the dial, and it just felt like pins and needles at the tip of our thumb. The next level where we noticed a significant change was 6, this actually made our thumbs twitch a bit at the middle. The highest level is a 7 and we both felt the tingle on that one and it made our hand constrict. There was no pain at any point, just a pins and needle feeling, so going forward I felt like this could work to snap Zeus out of a major distraction where he wants to react to other dogs and to get him to pay attention to us the moment we need it. Jessica showed us how to use the collar and remote in detail and once we felt comfortable with everything Jessica showed us the leash, lanyard, a coupon for Ren's Pets, an operating guide, and the warranties that came with our lesson package we bought.
Now was the moment I knew Zeus had been waiting for, he and Jessica would meet finally. I decided to just let Zeus out first and keep Ares upstairs because they can really feed off each other’s energy and I wanted Jessica to see Zeus without any interference, to get a good idea of how he will react with training and see his personality. Of course Zeus came in like a rocket, his little stub tail wagging, and he went right over to her to say hello and sit on her feet. Jessica was very happy to meet him and told us she could see how he could get away with so much with a cute face like that. After some getting to know each other Jessica asked if we were ready to introduce Zeus to his new collar. I was excited to see how it would go and gave permission. She introduced Zeus to the collar slowly and made sure he and both of us were comfortable with every step. She showed us where to place the collar on his neck and where the prongs should be sitting to get the best corrections so we would not have to use the collar on a high setting. Now it was time to give us our first lesson together, we had to re-learn the command “Come”. Jessica would show us first what to do, so she gave the command of “come” and pressed the button on a low level to start. Zeus did as he was told and he got a treat. This went on and on until Zeus understood exactly what we wanted from him when we push the button. Jessica told us his previous training would really come in handy and he had good manners so that helped with my confidence going forward too, knowing he would pick things up a little faster. After Zeus had a good mental workout with his lesson and embraced his new collar well, we were given homework to do by continuing to practice his come command around the house and out on walks.
Zeus practicing "come" and "sit" and "watch me" while pivoting.
The week following his lesson I was very excited to get Zeus used to this new training and as always he surprised me with how quickly he took to it and understood what we wanted him to do. He picked up this new lesson so fast that we also started to teach him the command “place” with the new collar that Jessica told us would be part of lesson two. We have two dog beds that we point to and give the command “place” then push the button. He goes to the spot and sits and stays there until told otherwise. Zeus does this really well until we have an actual person at the door and then he gets so excited to see them he goes running so we have to work really hard on that command with some help from family and friends. Before I knew it Saturday was here and it was time for our second private lesson. Jessica came over to see how we were doing and if we had any questions from the past week about how training went. We discussed how we had been progressing well and he was coming when called every single time and we told her about us starting to teach him place. Jessica was very happy with how he was doing and felt we could jump into our second lesson about door etiquette and starting the walk with the heel command. First thing Jessica wanted to show us was how to teach Zeus that open doors do not mean run out of them. We started with exiting the front door first and how to go outside properly and only when told. The front door was opened and Zeus had to stay inside and not place his paws on the frame or outside, if he did he would get a correction and placed back inside. It was only two corrections until he knew what we wanted and he stayed inside with the door wide open. Next we did the same but with Jessica holding his leash and walking outside herself and Zeus was not allowed to follow her out onto the front porch, if he did he would get a correction and placed back inside. Again, he only needed a couple of corrections before he realized he couldn’t follow her out. Finally it was our time to try this lesson with Zeus and we had to do three successful repetitions before moving forward. As I’ve already said, Zeus is a smart boy, and he knew what we wanted quickly so it wasn’t long before we were ready to start the next lesson, learning to walk beside us in a heel. Jessica described it as a wedding march, we would get Zeus’ attention first with a push of the button, then ask him to come the same time as pushing the button and take a step forward with him at our side (his shoulder in line with my leg), then when we stop we say “come” and push the button for him to stop with us and give us attention again. We did this for a few repetitions again until he really got what we wanted of him, and then we were able to ask him for a sit when we stopped and have him focus on us. Zeus did really well with this exercise and picked up rather quickly, so Jessica decided to move on to the next part of our lesson which was to see just how bad Zeus is with other dogs by bringing her dog out. She wanted to get a gauge on the level of excitement, stubbornness, willingness to listen, and body language. Let me tell you, I was nervous! She told us that she would hold Zeus for the first time during this exercise as she knows what body language to watch for so Mike and I stood on the sidewalk while she walked with Zeus to the opposite side of the road by the curb. Then she got Zeus in his heel position and called out to her dog Hazel, a mix that looked like a Belgian Malinois. Hazel jumped down from Jessica’s car and was told to sit immediately, which she did. Zeus got excited and perked right up and started to whine and go into his excited state while staring at Hazel. He got a few corrections and Jessica kept him moving away and focused on her with his “come” command all the while having Hazel sit on the street. Once Zeus was comfortable with this, Jessica had Hazel move a bit closer and continue the lesson. Eventually she had Hazel sit on top of a fire hydrant and was walking Zeus all around while he stayed in a heel and did not react to her at all. I couldn’t believe it! My dog who was crazy with dogs even at times when they were across the street was now walking in a heel with another dog almost beside him. I forgot for a moment that I was doing a lesson and felt like I was at a dog show watching tricks and almost started to clap. That moment was very eye opening for me and gave me so much hope for the future. Finally, when Jessica felt confident that Zeus knew what we wanted from him, she asked me to try walking him past Hazel. There went my nervous again! It was okay when she was doing it, she was the professional, but me?! Yet through all the nerves there was this little nagging voice saying “You have to do this, you need to learn how to be confident again and show Zeus he has to listen to you” so I took a deep breath and took the leash in my hands. I was determined to do this for a future of fun adventures with Zeus. What we had to do was walk by Hazel and Jessica who would be standing/sitting on the driveway while we stayed on the sidewalk. I took a deep breath, and gave Zeus his command to look at me and once he did that I gave his command of “come” and we started walking forward together. If Zeus tried to look in Hazels direction I brought his attention back to me and before I knew it we had made it across together with no issues! Then we turned around and passed by Jessica and Hazel again and had no reaction. When I got back to the starting spot it was Mikes turn to try, so I handed him the leash and once it was out of my hands I let the excitement and the happiness hit me and did a little “whoop” and jump for joy because we had been so successful in such a short time. Zeus just proved to me that he could do what was needed and be the good boy I know he is. After Mike had his turn with walking Zeus by Jessica and Hazel she put her dog away and spoke to us about what she witnessed. Jessica told us what she saw was not an aggressive dog at all, in fact, what she saw was a dog who was dominant, a dog who had gotten away with excited pulling before to get to dogs and would need to be re-socialized, but that it could be done with baby steps. She told us that Zeus was a good dog and she had all the faith that this issue we were having would be a thing of the past. This was music to my ears! I so wanted Zeus to feel comfortable around other dogs, but the fact that he would learn how to have friends, I was ecstatic! Jessica left shortly after making a date for our next lesson in a week’s time and answering all the questions we had. When she left I was so excited that I started dancing with Zeus and getting excited and telling him in a high pitch excited voice “Who’s a very good boy! Yay!” when all of a sudden I heard a knock on the door. I immediately stopped and thought “Uh oh, did the person on the other side of the door just hear me?” I opened the door and it was Jessica who was laughing and she asked “Celebrating? I forgot my hat.” Well, my face went as red as a tomato, and I bowed my head and said “Yes.” There was some more laughing together but she said we should celebrate because Zeus had done so well before she headed out again and we continued our celebration dance.
Zeus learning place:
Zeus working on place and not running out an open door:
Zeus working on heel and sit, watch me:
In another week’s time we had our third private lesson. This time Zeus did really well with his heel and come commands right from the start. The doorbell rang when Jessica arrived, and I put Zeus in his heel position and opened the door for her and he didn’t try to run out. He did try to run to her, but one correction and he was back to my side waiting for me to tell him it was okay to go forward. She asked if we had any questions from the previous week or concerns, which we did have one main concern. When we are walking Zeus in a heel he walks so fast that he's constantly pulling ahead of us. I was worried about correcting him to much from a heel position when he got ahead of us so Jessica decided for today’s lesson she would be taking us for a walk with her two dogs (oh my!) and working on making sure we felt confident in the correcting and timing and getting Zeus used to ignoring dogs being around him on walks. Once again I was nervous to start this lesson, but as always Zeus showed us how well he learned and was a good boy right from the start of the lesson. He didn’t walk out the door until he was told to come, and he stayed in a heel position until we got to the sidewalk, but this is when things got a little exciting. Jessica told me to put Zeus in a heel position and make sure he didn’t move from there while she got her dogs out and ready for the walk. Now, something you should know, Jessica’s dogs are incredibly well trained and used to working with dogs like Zeus so that helped keep my nerves at bay a little bit. I was ready to learn and to teach Zeus so I told Jessica to go ahead and she called out to her two dogs. They jumped out of the car and went right to her and into a sit. Zeus did well, he stayed by me and didn’t go into an excited mode. Jessica got her dogs ready to go by adjusting their collars and leashes and told us that she would walk her Lab and Mike and I would take turns walking Hazel to practice commands well the other person would walk Zeus. The first exercise to start off our walk was having Jessica and her Lab walk by us while keeping Zeus calm and in a heel position. As Jessica started to come close Zeus went into his excited state and I was trying to give his corrections but he was unsure and not focused so he started to do what we call a “tap-dance” where his feet keep moving and he wouldn’t focus on me. Jessica told us if the feet are moving then the brain is moving. I felt a little overwhelmed here so Jessica had her lab sit back by the car and took Zeus’ leash and worked with him a little to get him back into the right frame of mind, all the while showing us what she was doing. It took a bit of time to get Zeus listening again with all the dogs around but she was finally able to walk by her Lab with Zeus under control. So I took the leash back and she was able to walk by while I held Zeus’ attention in a sit. This way if he is in a sit his feet aren’t moving and he is more focused. After this was done successfully a few times we started our walking lesson. We did our heel command and learned to walk with other dogs in front of us, behind us, and running up beside us. The whole time Zeus did great! He had only one outburst which he got a correction from me for, and after that he didn’t try again. We went around the block with both Mike and I practicing with Zeus and Jessica’s dog Hazel. It was nice to see that we were doing the right timing with corrections and understanding the dog’s body language correctly. Once we got back home we went over a few things from the lesson and what we had to work on and then Jessica told us she felt it was time to graduate to group classes. She said Zeus was doing so great and picking up so quickly that she was unable to teach us any more privately but that he now needs to get around other dogs and work on the real issue at hand. She advised us to get a muzzle for classes to keep everyone safe and so it would be one less thing for me to worry about while working on training. I agreed and Jessica sent us a link on how to measure correctly for this and where we could find a good quality one online to order, which we did. Check out the link here:
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00JH35FT2/ref=cm_sw_r_em_apa_i_nj8gEbC9F9H2X Jessica feels that the muzzle won’t be a forever thing, just a helpful tool for the first few classes and play dates until we can really see how Zeus does and also until he understands how to be in a social setting with other dogs again. But she is very confident he will do great, as am I. So with that we were told to bring to group class something to use as a “place” for Zeus to sit on such as a dog cot, or blue bin, or a workout step. She told us we could buy a cot from the company for a good price but we could try using one of theirs first to see if Zeus would like it/use it before jumping in and paying another $79 for something. We also needed his favourite treats, his leash, and training collar. I made sure Jessica would be at the classes being taught by Ashton, the person who trained Jessica, which she would. She said she would be with us every step of the way, which put me at ease because she had gotten to know Zeus and I also felt more comfortable asking her questions. After a bit more planning for class she was on her way.
Us working on come, sit, watch me, and place:
Even though we only did three private lessons I'm already feeling more confident and proud of Zeus and I am so looking forward to group classes and getting Zeus onto the next step in his training. I know it is going to be hard working around so many other dogs, but together we can tackle this and it will open so many doors for us to try other things, like agility training, the good neighbour testing, and possibly even therapy dog training. But like Jessica said, baby steps first. Look for our update on group classes in the near future but until then I have added some photos and videos until the next blog post.
Zeus at the park practicing come, heel, place, and watch me:
A happy Zeus responding to "come" command
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