I may have found a trainer. I hope to speak with her today. I spoke with her assistant yesterday and here are my thoughts based on that conversation.
This trainer will do a 1 hour private session to teach myself and the puppy a specific skill if requested. The cost is $45.00 for a private hour and I can tackle one behavior mod at a time, like "minding with distractions".
Her name is Carolyn Russo and carries the following designations MS, CPDT, CDBC and is a Certified Pet Dog Trainer and Certified Dog Behavior Consultant.
Here's her bio.
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Carolyn holds a Master’s degree in Behavior from the University of Arkansas, is a Certified Pet Dog Trainer, has recently been certified with the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants, and is an active member of the American Boarding Kennel Association and the Association of Pet Dog Trainers. A dedicated fund raiser for animal rights organizations, she has a passion for dogs and it shows. It has been a long time dream of hers to open a ‘State of the Art’ dog facility where she could provide a home-like environment unlike traditional kennel facilities. She has been working with dogs for the past 10 years in many capacities including behavioral & training work, therapy dogs, canine T-Touch massage and holistic health care. Her current focus is in the study of pack dynamics and socialization.
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I spoke with a few trainers yesterday and for one reason or another they didn't seem right for me. I got the impression they were well intentioned but maybe not as educated as I would like. Some did not do clicker, some advocated Prongs and a host of other methods that seemed to go against my goals. I have had good results with the clicker and would like to continue.
Some were very expensive. As I know NOTHING, I must find someone who really knows what they are doing here. Pick a trainer and stick with them. My goal would be for the trainer to teach me so I could work on it with the dog one on one and this seems to fit into their training model.
On the DVD. I tried to watch it on my computer but it would not play. Then I found out that may be in DVD-A format. My dvd player in my home theater plays dvd-a format ( I think) so I will try that dvd player today. Thanks for the reminder.
Whatever the GL does, it seems to calm my dog down. If it hits the soothing/calming portions of the face to release endorphons or what, I have no clue but for whatever reason it does seem to really work in mild/moderate cases of over excitement. My guess is that it wasn't the pulling of the head down when she pulled on the leash, my guess is something else is going on. I don't know anything about Collars but I did see a marked difference for whatever reason and that was very clear.
I need to teach her to have herself under control, not me control her by artificial means. I understand the goal, but how I get there, I have no clue just yet, but will make this priority #1 now before it's harder to recondition than it is today.
She's a smart pup and catches on quick. I have no reason to believe that she can't be reconditioned on this behavior as well. She is a social puppy, with people and dogs. I certainly don't want to take that away, just make it more controllable. She totally ignores recall when distracted and as we know, this is a life saving command that's not up for negotiation.