When you chose to adopt a dog from an animal shelter it’s natural to want to know its history. The staff do their best to be helpful but they can only repeat the story told to them, which in my experience, is not always reliable.

Owners leaving a dog at a shelter will often find some ‘plausible’ reason such as my son’s allergic, we’re moving overseas and so on. They won’t say my dog has issues or he’s fearful of other dogs and will never declare any aggression problems.

Your best source of information is the dog. Dogs don’t lie or mislead, they don’t pretend or cover up. They tell you like it is.
Once you have the real story you can work with your dog in complete confidence. If she has issues you can deal with them. If there’s any aggression it can be analysed and resolved.

The first step in training any dog is understanding exactly what you are working with. Yelling at a sensitive dog won’t work any better than pampering a dominant one.

Once you have an accurate picture you can choose a training regime that helps the dog understand what you require.
Using inappropriate methods on the wrong kind of dog leads to massive frustration for everyone involved (including the dog) and no progress whatsoever.

Be honest with yourself, don’t invent a personality for the dog that it simply doesn’t have. If you have a hardheaded dog who doesn’t listen you need to accept it just as you do if you have a sensitive one.

You’ll be amazed how much closer your relationship will become when you acknowledge your dog’s true character and work with him accordingly. 

What’s more you will gain his respect for taking the trouble to learn his language which will make it a lot easier for your dog to accept you as his leader.

If you need help to assess and train your dog join one of my weekly classes.
Text me direct on 075-905-60012 or go to the Training Page my on my website vicbarlow.com for details.