Jananas

Gucci’s a pretty awesome dog. We’ve been really stoked to have him around and to watch him explore and grow and learn. But when Jason arrived on the 30th we discovered that Gucci also has some aggression/fear issues. Namely that he’s afraid of tall/big men, which can cause him to nip.

I’m sure that we could have channeled our inner Cesar and attempted to deal with his behaviour. But it would have taken us months and even then we might not have been successful. Given that we put in the effort (and time and money) to rescue him from Thailand, the last thing I wanted was to end up having to have him put down because he bites people.

I recognized that this wasn’t a problem I could make better on my own. And I recognized that it wasn’t something that I could try to wait out – I don’t want this behaviour to escalate.

So I called an expert. We had our first in home lesson today. Already there’s a glimmer of hope. He’s still very scared of Jason, but he wasn’t growling at him and he even came to him.

We have a hard road ahead of us with homework and repetition and consistency, but the end result will be a happier dog and a happier relationship. We’ll check in with the trainer in two weeks to see how everything is going. And as long as we keep up with our end of the deal, they’ll help us help him.

Sometimes its okay to admit defeat. We can’t solve every problem. Its important to be able to recognize those situations. And its important to admit it. To say it aloud. To ask for help.