11/02/2026
You might have seen my post introducing Adeline. She had some issues with dog and human aggression.
I'm happy to report her owners have put in tons of work (and so has Adeline) and they are really doing amazing. Her first three lessons they all did great, but Adeline still really really had a hard time at the training center. Her nervous system just goes into full overdrive and she would be frantically panting and pacing and whining, eyes wide, in total fight or flight the entire time.
This would make it very difficult to work with Adeline while she was there, but on the other hand did give us the opportunity to show her owners how to work her through such moments and help chip away at that tendency.
I'm happy to say, that here on lesson four we were able to get her into a totally workable mindset. At this point her owners have mastered all of the basics, and we are just working on fine-tuning that heel as well as relaxation techniques, so they can continue to go out and use it in public.
Even since the prior class her owners have been taking her out into public and walking her through touristy parts of town with lots of people around and she's been doing great!!
We are able to take dogs out at the training center and work her around them, and her inclination right now is to completely avoid them (great choice!). And really most of her work around dogs at this point is not to teach her not to try to attack them but to teach her that she doesn't need to flee, either. With a little time and repetition, she will land in a very neutral place around other dogs with no fight or flight.
They do have a dog in their own neighborhood that Adeline seems to have somewhat of a grudge with. So that's their final frontier. Hey owner says she NEVER would've dated to or even been able to take her out into such places before. Even with a muzzle it wasn't doable because of her strength and drive. She would pull her over.
I'm so so so proud of all of them! Really rooting for them! Way to go guys!!
