Transformations are beautiful to witness and I got to see one at Mabel and Melissa's two-week check up. Mabel was once a very reactive dog when out on walks with Melissa. For a couple of years she had perfected the routine of barking and lunging or completely shutting down when seeing another dog on walks or off leash.

In this photo, you can see Mabel checking in with her mom as they come up on a dog. This is brand new behavior for Mabel and is a terrific sign that she has learned to rely on her owner for guidance -- one of the hallmark signs that a dog believes in her handler's leadership.  

The change in Mabel from highly dog reactive to calm and relaxed did not happen magically, nor overnight. But it also didn't take years to accomplish. Mabel spent two weeks with me going through my Foundation Package board and train. During that time she learned valuable skills around impulse control and existing in a calm state of mind. Once home, her owner spent the first two weeks going through "bootcamp" with Mabel where she leveraged all Mabel had learned with me to establish a new relationship with her. While still uncomfortable -- it's very early days in their new relationship -- Mabel is practicing deferring to her owner showing the new trust that's been established over the last two weeks. 

I'm proud of all of my clients who put in the work and enjoy the rewards of giving their dogs leadership, but some touch my heart a little more -- maybe because I appreciate how challenging the change was for them -- and Melissa and her dog Mabel definitely met and overcame a big challenge to see even bigger rewards!!

A perfect tête-à-tête, or tête-à- butt ;-) between Nala and my little guy, Thompson. Both are confident and respectful, especially Nala, as she backs off immediately when Thompson signals that he's not interested. She comes in again -- I mean who could resist, really, he's pretty handsome ;-) -- but then promptly moves away when he gets serious and actually mumbles a low growl. 

Whether you find dog-dog interaction fascinating or not, I admit that I do(!!), it is important to be able to get the gist. If you can identify when one dog is saying "back off" but the other dog isn't respecting that, you can step in. Intervening demonstrates your leadership to both dogs and if you're struggling with poor behavior in other areas, showing leadership in this context will help significantly in other areas. 

These two handled things just fine on their own -- mistakes would have looked like Nala not giving Thompson his space or Thompson over correcting Nala by lunging after her. The fact that I was there may have helped their good decisions actually and please remember to always supervise socialization. Especially when there's a size difference with the dogs, a simple mistake by one dog turn into a painful and costly mishap for both.

Nala didn't get shut down by all the boys in my pack, Evan was very happy to go toe to toe with her. Finding your dog a good play partner provides him very of good exercise that's incredibly fun and depletes a lot of mental energy as well as physical. 

In good quality play, dogs are practicing social skills that require reading each other and responding appropriately throughout the session. Often times dogs that haven't had a lot of good guidance and practice at playing appropriately will need help understanding boundaries and self handicapping as well as keeping their excitement level contained. 

For a dog without any underlying issues, one or two corrections from either the balanced dog he is playing with or the human supervising the play quickly helps him learn successful play rules. It's pretty lovely watching well-matched dogs play... it can look like a dance performance full of balance and grace. :-)