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Hi beth!
Just a bit of background from me. When we first met Jake it was in his house, beth and family were very concerned that he was aggressive. We soon realized he was anything but, he’s very nervous of strangers. His initial reaction was big barking, reinforced by the family by shouting and general fussing over him. We soon worked out that he was terrified of his own shadow and would much rather scare you off with his bark or run and hide from you. Once we’d sat he was reluctant to come close but by ignoring him and talking to the family he started to become more curious and came very close to sniff our faces and heads, but always ready to flee if needed. We threw treats around near him until he gradually started to take them from our hands. It took around 4-5 sessions of doing this before we even attempted to walk him outside, we didn’t want to pressure him at all.
Gradually he’s progressed to a really good boy outside with us, and doesn’t generally have a problem on walks, however he does when out with the family. He can definately feel Mams emotions on the other end of the leash, she’s very conscious of his size and people’s reactions towards him. We’ve worked a lot on trying to get her to relax!
As far as i can gather from Beth and knowing the trainer who favours small dogs, the trainer is quite nervous of Jake so again more stress is felt on the end of the leash. He definitely is finely tuned to emotions in the house, he also obsessed over chasing tiny flies or specks of lint in the house.