The Dog Repairer

After the first obedience session two weeks ago, we followed with a private lesson with the trainer on Friday, to try and eliminate some of Mauro’s jumping and nipping. At the beginning, Mauro started his usual meeting routine of apparent submissiveness and then jumping on the trainer. She started to resist him and it soon became very obviously a trial of wills. She used every trick in the book on him and he just got more and more excited – jumping and biting.

It became a contest to see which one would dominate. The trainer is a kind of typical nice young Swedish lady, about 5’8 or 9” and I would guess about 140 pounds, just your typical strong healthy outdoor type. She ended up having to throw Mauro to the ground and kneel on him with both knees. It began to take on the aspects of a wrestling match – one of those steel cage matches to the death. Mauro wouldn’t give up and he finally seemed to become so tired he couldn’t fight any more and he lay still. That was a ruse; because, as soon as she eased up, he started fighting again and she had to continue to hold him down. He eventually escaped or, as she admitted, he won. However, he has been somewhat better after that session and we did get some tips about dealing with him that seem to work – so far.

He now wears a muzzle when we go out and gets no treats during our walks. The muzzle was easy the first time. Since then, we have to work at getting it on him. Again, bribery seems to work. Two small bite size treats and he sits still while you put the muzzle on. He is much more docile with the muzzle on. I hate to use it but it works, so we will stick with it. There is the added benefit that he can’t vacuum up everything he finds on the ground.