Aggressive Dog Obeys Child's Commands

Before I get into the incredible complexity of this video, I want to point out that all safety precautions have been taken to protect my daughter while in this video. The dog is muzzled and on a long line leash held by another trainer so the dog cannot approach Leah.

Sadie is a young and insecure German Shepherd mix. Her owners adopted her because she seemed like the perfect family dog, but as she grew more comfortable in the home, she grew very attached to the adults in the home and not so much with the children.

She became very dependent on the comfort the adults could offer (a stage many shelter and rescue dogs go through), and was soon becoming aggressive toward the children in the home if they tried to approach their parents. Sadie would gwowl, bark, show teeth, and snap. Counterconditioning with the children was not helping.

The children and parents were understandably upset by this, especially because Sadie is so sweet when the comfort source is not involved.

We spent many meetings with the owners to fully understand the situation and created a custom plan for her board and train with us which included obedience, confidence building, exposure, socialization, and something special.

This something special is our OUT TO PLACE drill. This drill was broken down into 16 steps over several weeks to achieve this result.

In the video, Sadie is receiving comfort and affection from an adult. Leah, a child, is giving the "out" command from a distance to tell the dog to move away from the adult and go to her place bed. Once on her place bed, Sadie is meant to stay put until released by an adult.

By training this command, we remove the conflict of the child approaching the adult (which triggers the dog's reaction), we make the enter routine something fun and enjoyable for Sadie, and we give the parents peace of mind.

When Sadie goes home, all of the safety precautions that we have taken with Leah will be taken with the children in the home until Sadie no longer feels the need to cling to her comfort sources.

I am incredibly proud of my team (this is not easy to teach) and their dedication with this case. I could not have done it without them.

And I'm incredibly proud of Miss Sadie for being so willing to overcome her past and fears to become one hell of an amazing dog! We are going to miss her like crazy.

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