After our recent Instagram post many of you wanted to hear our Journey, so here it is:
It actually all started when I decided to have him chemically castrated back in March 2019, I was unsure if he could cope with his testosterone and was becoming more and more anxious, I couldn’t bring myself to neuter him without testing the waters. (Secretly i’m hoping all my training pays off and he can stay intact once this wears off and his past adolescences).
I kept him off all calming supplements, to fully see any behavioural changes that happened.
Pros so far:
He listen’s far more
He is slightly calmer
His marking has stopped
He doesn’t lick other dogs wee (that one really grossed me out)
Cons so far
I feel he has lost a spark
His fear of people increased at the beginning which has been a huge battle
He is less brave/confidant
His recall hadn’t improved (April 2019)
He is more hypersensitive to noises
The only problem I have is, that i’m not sure if these behaviours would have developed or got worse anyway.
Obviously I have never stopped training with Chester, but as of April 2019 after 4 weeks post chemical castration we really stepped training up!
I made the decision to write down what was most important in his training and what would help him the most.
Training priority:
1. Focus on me
2. Proximity to people (without dogs) staring at him
3. Proximity to children (No dogs)
4. Loose lead walking
5. Me (Sarah) talking to people with him remaining calm
6. People approaching suddenly (without dogs)
7. Interaction with people without dogs
8. Side/Close commands
The focus command has always been a difficult one for Chester to grasp. He is excellent off his lead and will never go more than 6/7ft in front of me, he can be directed with ‘This Way” “Left” “Right” or “Wait” but ‘Here’ and ‘Look’ never seemed to stick with him!
It was a hard task and we are still working on mastering that one now! (Embarrassed face)
Funnily ‘Here’ is now sticking and he is getting quite a pro at it!
Im going to leave it here and will put another blog up about our journey on proximity to people, as its quite a long one!
Thank you for reading! If you have any tips please leave them in the comments 🙂
Sarah and Chester x