When Joyce met Sasha, a 2 year old terrier, she was shocked and saddened because she had never met a dog so completely shut down. Sasha remained in her bed, curled in a tight ball and didn’t move at all. She wasn’t shaking or acting nervous, she just was completely disinterested. The couple who adopted her were convinced that Sasha didn’t like them and were heartbroken that they could do nothing to get Sasha to interact with them.
The unusual thing was that Joyce didn’t see any of the usual fear indicators in Sasha’s body language – Sasha didn’t interact with Joyce or the owners in any way at all – and she didn’t react to any type of stimuli – she only showed disinterest.
Joyce diagnosed Sasha as having EXTREME FEAR!
So what do you do in a case such as this?
In this webinar you’ll learn:
- What to look for when fear isn’t obvious
- The most important thing to do when a dog is completely shut down
- Steps 1 and 2 of the Treatment Plan given to Sasha and her owners
- Tips for working with Generalized Fear and Anxiety
Joyce teaches trainers, people who foster dogs and anyone who works with dogs how to bring a very anxious dog out of its shell without making them more anxious and what training protocols to use after the initial treatment.
This is a heartwarming case of a seemingly hopeless dog who was headed back to the shelter and what Joyce Keeton and the owners did to bring the dog around.
Joyce Keeton, CBC, is a specialist in working with dogs that are considered hopeless. She is often contacted by vets, shelters and organizations as a last resort when they have a dog that they are giving up on. She trains in the Loganville, Georgia area and is well respected in her community as a knowledgeable and caring dog trainer. She worked in one of the first prison programs training inmates to train dogs, she was on an episode of Pit Bulls and Parolees, and she has presented webinars for Dog Trainers Connection on dog-dog aggression and presented one of her difficult leash aggression cases in a workshop DTC held in New York City. http://www.thedogspotloganville.com