The theme for this week’s #52Snapshots of Life photo challenge is “School“.
When Luke found out he was going back to school, he put on his backpack and gathered together his school supplies!
I had to break it to him that he is actually going to be “home schooled” this time.
His same trainer from school last fall will be coming to our house to help us work on Luke’s issues with strangers. We’ve tried so many different things ourselves, and nothing seems to be working. Hopefully this goes well and we’ll have some good “report cards” to share!
Thank you to the The Lazy Pit Bull for hosting the#52Snapshots of Life photo challenge. Are you joining in the fun? Photos can be shared via blog or social media, just use the hashtags #52Snapshots and#PBSG.
Good luck with your school, even if it is home-school!
Good luck with the home-schooling, I hope it is successful! I love his facial expression in the 2nd photo! hahaha
Luke looks very professional, even for a home-schooled situation. We have a problem with Jasper and strangers, too, as in he doesn’t trust them and can’t be trusted not to lunge for them, bark at them and maybe even bite them. Is that what Luke does? Jasper has gotten a lot better with training and us working on a certain way to introduce him to new dogs and humans. Wishing you much success with Luke’s training. It can be very frustrating to deal with this issue of having a reactive dog. 🙂
That is exactly what Luke does, and I’m so relieved to hear he’s not the only one! I would love to know what you did to help Jasper. Did you hire a trainer or do it yourself? Have you written any posts about it?
Other than my hubby and I, one of my sisters is the only other person that Luke completely accepts. We’ve tried different things but are really at our wits’ ends as to what to do.
The trainer we hired didn’t show up for our appointment and we haven’t been able to reach him. I think it’s just a communication issue but I’d like to have other options if we can’t get him here.
If you go on my site and do a search for jasper and a search for justin silver, you’ll find lots of posts about both Jasper and training, as well as Justin’s book, The Language of Dogs. When we first got Jasper a little over a year ago, he would lunge and shriek bark at every man, woman, child and dog on the street of NYC. In NYC, we’re talking a constant barrage of strange people and dogs. We couldn’t take him into elevators if there was anyone else, human or dog, in there. It was a nightmare. We hired a great trainer in NYC and worked with her for 5 months. She got us from point A to point B, but Jas was still very unpredictable and still reactive. We muzzle trained him after he bit my daughter and almost bit a couple of strangers. Then I met Justin and we did one, just one, Skype session. He had me put Jasper on a Gentle Leader so I could have better control and “steer from the cockpit” as he called it (the nose). He told me to keep my energy and our walks “fluffy” as he calls it; my energy was part of the problem. I was, understandably, anticipating a problem during walks. And he gave us some other tips of how to hold the leash, walk with him, what do to in certain situations. it’s all in his book, which I recommend highly. At the end of the day, all the great tools in the world won’t help if you don’t work them every day, every walk. It’s a ton of work, but today, Jasper is like different dog. He is still not 100% predictable, but we know how to anticipate things and know that his world needs structure. Even letting him out in the backyard to run with Sophie and swim in the pool results in a bit of a manic dog when he comes into the house. I hope this helped. if you can’t find the posts, let me know: jody@barkandswagger.com, and will send you specific links to your email. Happy to help in any way I can. I understand the frustration and heartache that goes along with a reactive dog.
Thank you so much, Jodi! I found your posts and will be reading them all, and I ordered the book as well. I may email you with questions if any come up along the way, I really appreciate your help. It’s very encouraging to hear that Jasper has come so far!
That’s great, Jan! Wishing you much success, too! It’s really mostly perseverance and consistency, I think. If you keep doing the work, he’ll come along. Oh, and patience, too. 🙂 There were plenty of times I was ready to jump off the ledge, but then you get them home where they feel safe and they love you up and your heart melts. And I’d think, I have to keep going for this little guy, for his sake, so he has a real chance at a great life. Good luck and pls don’t hesitate to reach out if you feel like you’re on the ledge.
Have fun Luke. I bet your school involves treats.
Only a woofie could look happy about school My fave part is lunch hour. HAH!
Wow, it looks like you are definitely prepared!!!!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
He is going to be a great student. Love the pictures.
He sure looks adorable, I hope he’s not too disappointed.
I look forward to hearing how the training works out for you.
Call me if you need me to be the “stranger”. Luke loved me before…then not so much…hoping he’ll love me again. 🙂 he’s such a sweet boy.
We will probably be needing some help, so thanks for offering!
And that way you can’t hide your report cards!
Ha ha, so true!!
Hey, that’s great that the teacher is coming to the student!! (I think it’s time for Ducky to see her other teacher again.) Don’t forget to have an apple — or milk and cookies — for your teacher!
Whoo, we didn’t think of that, thanks for the reminder! 🙂
Wow! The summer vacation flew by, didn’t it. The humans returned to school last week around here.
Looks like you are good to go
Lily & Edward
Hope you get lots of recess!
Luke that’s awsome that the school comes to you… I mean you can wear ole jogging pants and a long t-shirt instead to wear a school uniform :o)
See you in the classroom, Luke. I’m back in dog school today on the blog too!