Training a dog aggressive dog

My husband and I have 3 teenage children who have always wanted a dog. We felt at the end of 2012 we were ready, visited the cats & dogs home and all chose Frodo.

He settled in quickly and proved to be very affectionate towards people. He was however, quite a handful on walks, growling and lunging at most dogs. As our first dog we were not sure why and what to do. We spoke to lots of dog owners who all gave different advice. One friend told us to look at the Colin Rose web site, and we were very impressed.

Colin visited Frodo at home and came for a walk. Straight away he could tell us that he was not vicious, but scared and gave us some training tips. Frodo and I visited Colin a few times for 1-1 training, and socialized Frodo with his dogs.

I was amazed to watch Frodo happily run around a field, off lead, with 2 of Colin’s dogs.

Our worst fear was the local cycle track where we very often liked to take Frodo, but I had become too frightened to take him there. After more 1-2-1 sessions with Colin, working with his dogs and building my confidence, we tackled the cycle track again. On the day, we met 4 other terriers who we ran up to Frodo barking at him quite aggressively, Frodo took no notice at all, he just kept looking at me waiting for his ball, which he got once we were pasted the other dogs. I have to say that Colin kept my confidence up and showed me that Frodo could do it.

We then went on holiday where Frodo walked well with other dogs, but was terrible outside pubs & cafes. I rang Colin when we got back, who suggested we met at a cafe for more training.

We have just returned from 4 nights camping, where Frodo socialised well with lots of dogs on the beach. He still became bit of a guard dog outside the tent and pubs, but a definite improvement. I never thought we would be able to do this with him, and are grateful to Colin for giving us the tools to cope.

I would recommend Colin to anyone. He is very calm and patient with the dog and owner, and doesn’t use any harsh methods.

(You can just see Frodo on the floor in the middle)

Thank you Colin

Sally