Early last summer Pollux came into the USA from Hungary. He had an OK temperament back then, not completely social but not a nutball.
He spent a few months with his owner and whenever he came here (even during the time when he spent a week here, a week there) he was extremely skitzy (meaning if you breathed wrong he'd panic and fight to get back to the house). We knew there was a negligence issue with his home.
We've had him in our house now for about two weeks (constant) and we've done everything we can with him - socialization, training, walking, playing, etc.. We even took him to the south Florida fair a few times to train as a service dog.
Today we took him to schutzhund for the first time to actually work (before was just to be social). The first time out he did very well - he went after the tug and when he had it he ran around like a lunatic (in a good way) - happy, hopping, and prancing.
The second time out the helper decided to graduate him to a bite sausage. He took to it like it was natural for him. He'd take it with a full grip and wouldn't easily let go of it for another round (when I got him back to the van I had to pry his mouth open to get it out of him).
The rest of the club had a hard time believing that it was the same dog who was afraid of everything a few months ago. Not only has he grown into a GORGEOUS dog, his confidence has come a long way and he has become extremely social.
Our only regret is that we didn't tape him today.
He spent a few months with his owner and whenever he came here (even during the time when he spent a week here, a week there) he was extremely skitzy (meaning if you breathed wrong he'd panic and fight to get back to the house). We knew there was a negligence issue with his home.
We've had him in our house now for about two weeks (constant) and we've done everything we can with him - socialization, training, walking, playing, etc.. We even took him to the south Florida fair a few times to train as a service dog.
Today we took him to schutzhund for the first time to actually work (before was just to be social). The first time out he did very well - he went after the tug and when he had it he ran around like a lunatic (in a good way) - happy, hopping, and prancing.
The second time out the helper decided to graduate him to a bite sausage. He took to it like it was natural for him. He'd take it with a full grip and wouldn't easily let go of it for another round (when I got him back to the van I had to pry his mouth open to get it out of him).
The rest of the club had a hard time believing that it was the same dog who was afraid of everything a few months ago. Not only has he grown into a GORGEOUS dog, his confidence has come a long way and he has become extremely social.
Our only regret is that we didn't tape him today.
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