Training a Wolfdog

Friday night was the end of week 3 of a 4 week board and train program for Luna, a Wolf Hybrid who had serious issues. Dog aggression was a big one, fear of humans was another.

Luna is now maintaining all commands, with duration and through distractions. I took her into Bass Pro Shops of Tallahassee for our weekly seminar. She did a stellar job under extreme distractions for an excited audience (when they announced over the intercom that Top Tier K9 was bringing in a wolf it was magic with the Bass Pro settings of bears, fox, racoons and other wild animals in their displays)

Luna is "instinctively intact" (meaning she thinks more like a wolf than a dog) and that has greatly challenged me as a trainer. The facilities and support of my network of Top Tier K9 professionals is the only way this was successful and lessons learned are being shared throughout the Top Tier K9 certified trainer network.

As a trainer we must have a tool bag full of techniques and methods that we can reach into to solve training challenges. Anyone who supports banning or government oversight of training tools, or people who support breed specific laws and ordinances, need to step back and spend some time becoming educated on the value of truly helping dogs and their owners live better lives.

Without an e-collar, this would have not been possible. The e-collar created a "gnat" style frustration for the dog..like an annoying gnat or fly and the only way that annoying pest flew away, was when Luna obeyed the command. Command given; pressure on (the gnat), command obeyed; pressure off (gnat flies away).

If you find yourself in front of purely positive folks, or folks who believe e-collars, pinch collars and other corrective collars are "inhumane" simply advice them that they need to care more about the dog and it's owner than they do about the marketing technique called "purely positive"...