All the posts prior to this one was a recollection of the events of two years ago. You might want to ask me why am I writing about it now? Here is what happened two weeks ago that prompted me to start this blog.
As I wasn't able to solve Brandy's aggression issue, I fell into a management mode. In the morning I was taking her to the place where I knew I will not run into any dogs during our walk. At night due to my schedule I was walking her late in the dark and dogs weren't much of the problem either. Even if we run into a dog I would pull her to the side and make her sit, while the other dog walks by.
The weekend before labor day our neighborhood was organizing a clean up. As my husband was part of the group behind it he was helping to place the signs around the community and I decided to tag alone. This was probably my first walk around the community in day light in two years. As we were attaching a sign I saw two dogs running towards us. Both were off leash. Both were corgi mix - one is a puppy, one is an older bitch - very dominant, very out of control. While I was trying to keep puppy away from us, I lost the track of the second dog and she jumped on Brandy from behind. My foot slipped and I lost control of my dog and of course, Brandy was happy at the opportunity. My husband came to my rescue and we pulled the dogs apart and nobody got hurt, but all this made me realized that maintenance of this aggression will get me nowhere. I can try to be careful and smart about it, but at the first opportunity my dog will outsmart me and I wasn't about to let her to be put down.
I went back to the message board asking for an advice yet again. I got the same advice as usual - "you need more training", "Find a good dog trainer that can help you to read your dog better". I was reading this and thinking I can read my dog all-right. I know pretty well what's coming, but what I don't know is to what to do about it. Idea of finding another trainer was making me quite mad. So far I have spent a lot of money on trainers and yes, I had some progress in the obedience department, but the aggression issue was still untouched.
The only one thing that made me reconsider was a call from Steve Khun, a professional dog trainer who is the member of canine aggression yahoo group. The one benefit of being a member of this group is an opportunity I had to read advice that was given to people by different dog trainers. This is one of the best way to screen a dog trainer! Reading the advice that he or she gives to a person gives a very clear picture of what kind of dog trainer he or she is.
It happened that Steve was one of the people on that board that I was willing to listen to. He convinced me to give Margot Woods a call. I have to say that this wasn't the first time I have heard her name, other people have recommended her, but by then I just started working with Andrew and wasn't ready to switch. So after thinking it over I have decided to at least speak with her. After our conversation I was invited to a 2 hour evaluation. The fact that it was evaluation and not a demo, sounded appealing so I have decided to give this a shot. After all this is only two hours and I am not signing my life away. So this Thursday, I am going to meet her.
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