A Different Doggy!

Last night Martin the dog psychologist came to visit us. He was A.MA.ZING. After greeting him at the door with the dog duly being sat on, he told us he was going to knock again & this time we should just let Tron do his thing. For any of you who have experienced one of Tron's greetings you can guess what happened next... but no! Tron got as far as the door & Martin thrust his backpack at him making a hissing noise. He proceeded to enter the room, pushing Tron before him, no eye contact, no greeting. After 2 or 3 minutes, he managed to sit on the sofa with Tron simply lying on the floor (furiously wagging his tail of course!). It was simply amazing. Then of course, he offered Tron a treat & everyone was friends, but no jumping happened & no faces were mauled. I knew then we were in for an amazing night.

He taught us lots of techniques, many of which I'd heard of or even tried, but what made him different was what tied them all together - because Martin is a psychologist not a trainer. There were no tricks or performing, in fact he barely spoke to Tron at all, what he did was to explain how we could work together to give him a secure place as part of our home.

Over the past few months I've been guilty of giving Tron whatever he wants simply to get an easy life. He wants our dinner? I give him a massive treat to keep him busy. He wants to pull on the lead? I cut the on lead part of our walk to a quick dash across the road where I can let him off. Consequently he's turned in to a little bugger! Ruling to roost, demanding attention ALL THE TIME! Jumping up at people, going wherever & doing whatever he wants all the time. The final straw came for me when he started running off after other dogs on our walks, I was reduced to tears on a number of occasions, sprinting around, imagining what child or old lady he'd knocked over...

Well thanks to Martin that's all over now, & even before he'd left I noticed the change in Tron. As well as that Tron's going to stay with Martin & his dogs while we're at the tournamnt & I know he's going to have a whale of a time! He is a truly warm, energetic man with an obvious love for dogs & I'm so happy that I picked up the phone :)