Name: Bentley

Breed: Belgian Malinois

Age: 8 & 1/2

Neutered: Yes

Issues

• Barking, lunging, flattening other dogs

• Demand barking

• Mouthing, nipping when crossing the road

• Charging visitors to the home

• Pulling on the lead

• Unable to drop items & snatching

Brief History

Bentley joined is current when he was a little puppy from Battersea Dogs Home. Not much is known about his history before then.

When he joined his current home, there was a resident German Shepherd Dog called Amber, who quickly took to Bentley. Sadly Amber was very nervous around other dogs and she would lunge, bark at other dogs, this is something that Bentley copied. There had been a couple of incidents where Bentley had been on the receiving end of some injuries, which had made him very wary of other dogs.

I started working with Bentley around July 2022 with a possible target time of Christmas 2022.

Initial Assessment

During the initial assessment it was evident that Bentley struggled with his frustration tolerance and impulsivity, so much so that he wouldn't sniff when outside. To get started, we introduced him to some brain games namely free-shaping, scatter feeding & target training.

We also began working on his visitor routine which revolved around easily getting Bentley behind a baby gate to prevent his charging at visitors, which was done out of stress. To this day, the routine we implemented on day 1 is still used and has greatly reduced his anxiety when visitors come over.

Loose Lead Walking

We began working on Bentley's lead walking after a couple of sessions as this skill was relevant in a variety of situations, crossing the road, focussing on the owner and moving away from other dogs.

At the advice of a previous trainer, Bentley had been walked on a collar, we quickly changed this and used his harness to boost his confidence when wearing it. Thanks to the impulsivity games and a new harness, Bentley quickly made a lot of progress and providing walks were managed, they were stress free.

Road Crossing

Waiting patiently at the roadside was another issue, if he had to wait for longer than a few seconds Bentley would begin to nip his owners had and sleeve, this resulted in several bites. To counter this, we introduced a simple and predictable pattern that allowed Bentley to control his frustration and also relax. We called this '123'.

We taught Bentley that when he heard 1 it meant that something good was coming on 3. We then taught him that 1 means wait by the road then move off, 2 means continue crossing the road and 3 equals a reward once safely away from the road. This was surprisingly effective and within a few days the mouthing and biting had stopped.

Demand Barking

Bentley's demand barking would occur when he was prevented from playing or getting what he wanted. To reduce this we taught him two simple cues. A game on signal (do you want to play) and a game over signal (funs over). Bentley picked up the game on signal quickly, but took a bit longer to accept the game over signal but I am pleased to announce it's still working today.

Other Dogs

The big challenge would be helping Bentley relax around other dogs. This would be difficulty for two reasons. Firstly, Bentley had a couple of bad incidents that made him very wary of other dogs and second, he had been reacting the same way for years.

To begin with, we got Bentley a new harness and conditioned this to help Bentley feel relaxed and calm. We then began careful introductions with Tywin, from a safe distance. Gradually, as Bentley began to relax we reduced the distance until Bentley could calmly walk past Tywin.

Once we had achieved that, we changed locations and worked on Bentley's reactions when at home. At first, this proved tricky but after several short training sessions spread over a month we were able to get Bentley to calmly accept Tywin being on the drive way. He even let Tywin sniff his bum!!!

The next step was working on being in the garden together, which progressed really quickly thanks to our work on the drive way. The main aim here was to be able to have both dogs on lead and ignoring each other.

Finally, we took the training inside with the aim of getting Bentley to relax in a separate room whilst Tywin was in a room in another part of the house. This was tricky due to Bentley not being used to another dog near him but with a lot of work making his room a safe space, he is now able to chillout and roam, with baby gate separation, whilst another dog is in the home.

Drop & Snatching Items

The final hurdle was to teach Bentley to drop items and gently take them. To do this, we used tug. A previous trainer had told Bentleys owner that playing tug would make Bentley dominant and aggressive, when in actual fact NOT playing tug made his frustrated and snappy.

We started off by purchasing some durable tug toys and then we taught Bentley to take the items at the word 'Go'. Once he could do that, we taught him that letting go of the toy was how he got to play gain, we then taught him to do this on command with the word 'drop'.

Client Testimonial

I would like to thank Anthony for helping me and my dog Bentley. Bentley is definitely a better dog. He's not stressed, more relaxed and happier. I can now have other dogs in the house. I can walk where other dogs are. And many more things he can now do. Would I recommend Anthony? Definitely without a second thought.

Thank you so very much

Anita & Bentley | Belgian Malinois