The Rescue Terrier

Hey guys. I got a terrier from the animal shelter in the middle of August. She's crazy and fun and exciting, but she's also frustrating and needs a lot of work. Her name is Piper, but I call her Pip. My goals for her is to trial with her in Rally and get her a CGC. It will be no easy task. This is going to be a blog all about how I'm training her and a bunch of my thoughts about training.

Pip the first day we brought her home.

When we first got her, she was underweight and her coat was in bad condition. She was scared of everything and everyone and was actually quiet. She was very weak and had no energy to do much of anything. She got tired climbing a flight of stairs!

Now?

She has enough energy to power the sun! She is getting more and more confident every day. She's sooooo vocal too. I believe that underneath her fears is a very stable temperament. The hardest fear I've had to work on is her fear of people, but that's only because people don't like to be told not to pet a shy dog.

She's fearful to people, especially adults over 30 years old and especially men. She's scared of the bath. She gets overwhelmed in stimulating environments easily. She needs to work on a consistent off switch. She's also very barky and we're working on teaching her how to be more quiet.

I use all positive reinforcement training with all of my pets. Even when Pip's the most frustrating dog in the world, +R is the best method for her. It's amazing what she's capable of!