Does Your Dog Do This In The Car? - Part 2You may remember that in the last issue I showed you an email I received from Janet about Misty, her young border collie. Misty had started to bark hysterically as soon as Janet put her into the car, and she kept up her barking non stop for about the first ten minutes of the subsequent journey. Hardly surprisingly this was driving Janet to distraction (sorry - no pun intended!). So she was asking me if I had any suggestions as to how she could stop this happening. I copied my reply to Janet in the last issue, so you could see exactly what I had told her. If you read it you'll remember that I'd laid out a very detailed schedule for Janet to follow, which quite possibly sounded extremely long-winded and tedious to you. It certainly wasn't a quick fix solution, and Janet was going to have to really work at it to succeed. But I also pointed out that even if this took a month or two to resolve it had to be worth it in the long run. Misty is only eight months old at the moment and has the rest of her life ahead of her. A couple of months hard work seemed to me to be a small price to pay for a whole lifetime of peaceful car journeys. |
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Anyway, I thought you might like an update on Misty's progress. Here's the second email Janet sent me -
"Hello Andrew I thought I would let you know how Misty is progressing. The first time I put her in the car and got in she of course started barking (so far she had learnt to be quiet when put in the car) I had chosen my moment carefully and was about to go to the shops. She was quiet until I got in and then she started. Immediately I took her out, put her into the house, got back into the car and drove off. That had a powerful effect on her. When I got back I was careful not to make a big fuss of her and she was very subdued. I decided to let her think about it and the next day we tried again. This time, amazingly, she was absolutely quiet but watched me like a hawk. I praised her, took her out and played a game with her and then tried again. We went through this routine several times over the next day going for longer and longer periods. The next step was to start the engine. Again it was too much for her and as the engine started she began barking. I repeated what I had done before, putting her in the house and driving off without her. This time when I got back she followed me everywhere, obviously worried. Back in the car we went and started the engine and again she was silent and watchful. She was praised and played with and then the procedure was repeated. Finally yesterday I decided the time had come to try a little movement so we gingerly reversed out and drove a little way all in silence before coming home. We have tried this a few times and so far so good. Our next step will be to go on longer journeys. I'll let you know how we get on. Take Care Janet"
Isn't that great?! But what's especially pleasing for me is the time frame within which Janet has managed to achieve this. If you remember I'd said to her - "If you can put in the time and effort required here and now you ought to be able to sort this out once and for all inside two months at the very most. But being a quick learner, my guess is that Misty will have it sussed far quicker than that so long as you do the job properly. I'd go so far as to say that if this was my dog I would expect to have it completely solved within 2 - 3 weeks." The time span between me sending Janet my suggested way of solving the problem and her sending me the note you've just read was just 13 days. That's right, _thirteen days_. It just goes to show that if you're prepared to put in the effort you can achieve great things. All you need is a roadmap and the determination to follow it. Well done Janet - I'm delighted for you. Recommended reading "Dog Training Blueprint To Success".
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