Anyone who's ever adopted a dog knows the blights of bringing someone's loved (or unloved) little…read moreanimal into their home with all the other people's acquired undesirable habits. Such was the case with our little Teddy.
After 3 months, my partner, Erin & I were in desperation about our rescued Cockapoo who had the mysterious pattern of barking at a "parked" guitar against the wall as though it were alternately a playmate or an enemy about to chew his face off. How he tapped each object in the room with his nose each time something was moved. Our little OCD pet! Or, his habit of refusing to eat his food while begging for people food incessantly was perplexing. But, nothing compared to Teddy's bark-a-thon held every night, starting at 3:00 a.m. when our neighbor's cats upstairs got up, every morning at 6:00 a.m. when our housemate rose, and every afternoon whenever the dogs at the park across the street played. What could make this dog bark so much? Was this OUR wonder dog who peed at the sight of of us arriving home, or in a stream on our bed as he, in confused bliss, wished us a good morning?
Surely, we could have guessed he'd be this crazed when he arrived, a scampering little ball of buff-colored fluff, slightly distracted, but basically well-behaved; I mean, we read, Marley & Me. But, how could he go from bad to worse? We were confused, frustrated, reading every blog on barking, and ready to send little Ted to Boot Camp with that British Dominatrix on TV, or secretly wished for Caesar to suddenly and miraculously appear on our doorstep. But, then, we're both students, so his hefty price wouldn't fit our financial situation.
And, in came Miranda Rideman, owner of Big & Little Dog, whom we found on Craigslist.
What relief! :)
Miranda, who has been training animals for 15 years (horses) and then training dogs for 10, has been the answer to our pleas.
You think I'm being dramatic? Try explaining to your boss why you've been up since 3:00 a.m. even though you don't have a baby or haven't been partying all night. ;)
That said, in comes Miranda Rideman. She's quick, smart, funny, very flexible on scheduling, quite affordable for a dog trainer, and brings a plethora of species-specific dog-knowledge which helped us re-frame Teddy's behavior as Poodle-specific. He wasn't being a neurotic ball of fluff but an ADORABLE example of the playful, curious and yes, anxious style of poodles! He was being, to quote Miranda, "Poodley!" Oh! ;) Par for the course is in the re-training of the owners. And, we owners were no different!
Miranda assuaged our fears, gave us all homework assignments for each week, suggested commands which were easy for all of us to master, and speaking of master, she reminded us to take the lead, give short, quick remonstrations, and to assert ourselves. We also began to praise Teddy more for being calm, try to assuage him less when he circus-jumped into our arms at the sound of any big truck, and shock of shocks, he began to calm down. Ahhh.
We have all been trained thanks to Miranda Rideman's excellent guidance, which is quite affordable for a dog trainer, and now Teddy is much more well-behaved, and his owners are more masterful, and a lot more happy. That might also be because we're getting our sleep. ;)
I looked up Oprah's dog trainer, btw, Tamar Geller, (of The Loved Dog training model), and found that coincidentally, Miranda uses many of the techniques (for not barking) that Geller suggests. So, it's like we've got Oprah's trainer for way cheaper... cool!
Incidentally, Big & Little Dog also offers (besides behavior modification), basic training as well as very affordable dog-walking and dog-sitting, on a limited basis. Dog-sitting means lots of walks and treats, and again, some training, so it's good for everyone! When we went away, Teddy got some additional training in socialization with Miranda's dogs, Easton and Willem. Teddy made his first friends, and we parents felt so proud! ;)
A+++ for Miranda Rideman at Big & Little Dog!
