Fliss

Training for Fliss, an 18 month chihuahua mix exhibiting fear aggression. Fliss is a little dog with a big personality and an adorable silly side to her but, unfortunately, she didn’t let many people see this due to her reactivity. 

Fliss’ owners came to me as she was very fearful of people, dogs and children. Their walks together were stressful for Fliss (and her owners) as she would bark and lunge at her triggers and pull on the lead. Fliss was also very on edge in the home, keeping an ear out for anything that might suggest a non-family member was coming into her space. She also licked her owners excessively in an attempt to self-soothe. 

Initially, we worked together to bring Fliss’ stress levels down in the home so that she had more capacity to cope with stress as well as to increase Fliss’ confidence in herself, through independent work on her own as well as through basic obedience. We also looked at strategies that her owners could use to make Fliss comfortable with guests coming into the home.  All of this laid the foundations for Fliss being calmer in herself and a reduction in her fearful behaviours.

Next, we looked at the equipment being used on Fliss’ walks and made changes so that she was more comfortable.  We also practised some lead-walking activities to encourage Fliss’ attention to be on her owners, rather than potentially scary things in the environment. 

As with all reactivity cases, there is no ‘quick fix’ and training takes time and patience. Fliss is very lucky to have such attentive owners who have put 100% into her training programme and as a result of their hard work, just 6 weeks and 3 training sessions later, Fliss is already a calmer and less anxious pooch. Fliss’ training is ongoing and now her family have the tools and knowledge to help her, they are confident that she is well on the way to living her happiest life. Well done, Flissy!