Who're you gonna call?

Bark Busters!

Really. I can't believe that after one three-hour training session, there have been huge changes in our dear Wilson and his level of anxiety (read, barking).

The trainer came over Tuesday afternoon for our first session. The teaching (of me) part was short because their philosophy and methods are very close to that of Cesar Millan aka The Dog Whisperer, and I have watched pretty much all his shows. So I get the pack thing, the dog psychology stuff, and the notion of teaching by voice and action, not treats or physical discipline.

We started by working on getting Wilson to understand that he needs to be submissive to me. Then we dealt with knocking at the door and the doorbell. We did some outside work on walking and dealing with other animals he meets outside (lotsa work left to do here....Jana the trainer will bring one of her dogs in the future to help here). Then we did "distance training" which is teaching him to stay by my side even when he is distracted by things.

She recommended that we get a crate for him to use as a den when he wants to relax, so we picked one up yesterday and are just starting to get him interested in using it. That will take a while, but we're not needing to potty train or anything...it's more for his comfort and relaxation.

I have some practice stuff to do at home, and we'll do another training session with Jana in a few weeks. But it's freakin' unbelieveable how much of a difference this has made so far.