My name is Amy and I live in Dorset, UK with my fiance, Jamie, and his parents, Paul and Edwina. We own 3 Siberian Huskies (Gizmo, Marley and Bandit). Unfortunately they didn't get the best start in life when it comes to training and now we do have behaviour problems. All 3 have Separation Anxiety and Gizmo is also human aggressive and Marley is Dog Aggressive. Knowing what I do now after watching Victoria's "It's Me Or The Dog" I do feel bad that we didn't think about things alot more before getting 3 dogs, but I am more than willing to learn as much as I can about using positive reinforcement with our dogs so we can save them from the high stress levels they are going through because of our lack of knowledge.
Marley and Bandit (both littermates) are both well motivated by treats and Marley is also willing to work for fussing. I have started to use positive reinforcement with Marley and other dogs and although I have only recently started doing this I have seen that Marley is a quick learner this way and already he has been playing with other dogs we meet which give me a real huge boost in confidence
Gizmo isn't as motivated as Marley and Bandit and he would usually growl at people but go no further but yesterday he did go to bite someone! Fortunately Gizmo didn't get hold of her but caught just her coat and ripped it as she pulled her arm away. I was expecting her to want mine and Gizmo's insurance details to claim and I was also expecting her to say he needed to be put to sleep with that aggression but she was happy for me to give her the cash to replace her coat. After yesterday it has really hit home that Gizmo is very stressed and urgently needs training which is mainly why I have joined here to speak to others who understand about positive training and get some much needed help so I can train myself and help Gizmo, Marley and Bandit.Around the house, there is one problem I have. However much I try to set some rules around the house and get everyone else involved with the training I am trying to do within the house, they say they will co-operate but then they don't. It's very frustrating at times and makes me feel worthless and disrespected so it would be great if anyone could give me some tips about how to teach people in the househole to comit their free time to training with the dogs instead of watching T.V!
I have thousands of photos of the dogs and will upload them in the photo section for you all.
All the best
Amy
