Oliver's Update

Oliver from Houston Area Doberman Rescue has been at Meadowlake Pet Resort for a little over a week now.  Trainer Tori Hankey states, "He is having a great time!  We have worked on refreshing basic commands he knows which is a piece of cake for him.  He does really well with sit, down, and stay.  The new things we are working on are leave it, drop it, and come when called.  When he has a toy he likes to play keep away.  He will run with the toy when I get close and try to grab it before I do if it is on the ground.  So I have been using 'drop it'  and 'leave it' to get him to exchange the toy for a treat.  He is catching on, but we are still practicing.  This is the best approach for teaching him it is OK to give up a toy – whether it be with a person or eventually – a dog.  We haven’t worked with other dogs yet.  I had him on the other side of the fence from the daycare dogs this morning.  He really doesn’t show any interest in them and I haven’t seen any fence aggression either.  In fact he seems intimidated by them. This has made it difficult for me to get an idea of the severity of his resource guarding issue when nose to nose with a dog.  So for now I am just focusing on getting him to respond to my voice 100% of the time – regardless of the command."

"He absolutely loves running full speed in the fields," Tori explains.  "It is a beautiful thing to see him in a full stride.  It seems like he hasn’t had that type of real (needed) exercise in a long time.  I let him do his thing when we first go out, then randomly and patiently practice come when called.  He did not respond to his name/praise/correction at all when we first started.  Today he showed much improvement in the 'off leash' listening department.  Again, this will be key to controlling any resource guarding issues as we move forward."

The Staff at Meadowlake loves Oliver, and he gets tons of attention when Tori brings him into the office.  He goes from one person to the next, taking any love he can get, paw crossed he will find the perfect home before he leaves Meadowlake.