The dog psychologist came over today to see Carla. She now has a set of rules for in the house which will hopefully calm her down and stop her believeing she is the dominant leader of our pack. To start with, when the doorbell goes she has to sit away from the door and wait. When visitors come in they have to ignore her until she calms down and then they can pay her attention.
Pretty much the same when going out. She has to sit and wait for us to go through the front door, down the stairs and through the block door. She has to be behind us whenever we go out, or even through doors inside. Any behaviour such as whining or barking when to excited must be corrected quickly. A harder tone is needed for commands and a softer tone for calling her, and giving praise.
The ultimate goal in the next two weeks is to create a calm atmosphere, with us being ccalm but assertive so Carla becomes calm but submissive. Once progress has been made here, then we can work on her behaviour on and off the lead outside. The whole family has to be involved in her training, and all visitors are asked to ignore Carla until she calms down. Hopefully we can manage this and she can be a happy, friendly dog, able to walk off the lead without me worrying about other dogs and how she will behave.
Keep it calm and assertive!
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