Board and Train with Guest Home Stay Program
Blair picked up Dexter, had a good first interaction and rode up to the mountains quietly. Once in crate in Blair’s home, he threw his first big tantrum. First thing was to teach Dexter that his crate is his calm place and quiet space.
Once accomplished and a relationship had been established, Blair took Dexter outside to start the training. The first two weeks of training went well, Dexter didn’t like being touched, and Blair had to manipulate training with leashes the first 5-7 days; and then warmed up enough to touch and he was able to put a collar and leash on Dexter directly.
When the owner’s showed up for their Guest Home Stay in Mt. Shasta, Dexter turned into a very different and defiant dog in their owner’s presence. He had an instant power surge with their presence and Dexter took it to the extreme. Acting out, not listening, throwing tantrums, and Blair knew he needed Dexter longer for training and delayed the guest home stay by 4 weeks, giving Blair a full 8-10 weeks of training with Dexter.
At the next guest home stay, Dexter showed extreme behavior again but Blair was able to keep it under control. Blair even allowed Dexter to stay in the guest home overnight with the owners since that is where the issue was.
Training the next day went well with owners: Blair was able to work with Dexter and taught the owners everything they needed to know which went back to the basics – these new dog owners were very committed to the process and caught on quickly. They learned how to physically and mentally provide for Dexter; including what a dog really needs as to what they think Dexter wants; utilizing the Primal Hierarchy of Needs.
After a successful weekend of 15 hours of hands on training, Dexter went home with his owners.