Here's the rest of Bear and Ashley's story

"I also learned that Bear requires a fair amount of freedom. I’m used to dogs who I naturally bond with and who naturally want to follow me and be with me but Bear does not trust easily.

 I don’t know if this is because of her past or just the way she is, but the only time she really wants to be close to me is at nighttime when she’d ideally sleep right next to me or on me.

The rest of her time is spent yelling at me or mouthing me or just generally being concerned about what’s going on. This is where flat hands and leash calming come in very handy with her. They help her to regulate her emotions.

Last but not least, Bear can be a runner. She’s gotten out several times and thankfully the last time she got out Tamryn’s emergency recall work paid off and she thankfully came back.

In the past this type of episode would have made me want to implement more structure and give her less freedom, but thanks to Tamryn and her course I had an epiphany. I realized Bear was trying to tell me that she needed MORE freedom.

So the next day I hooked Bear up to a 20 foot leash and I gave her freedom. I  let her go up onto neighbours' lawns to sniff ALL THE THINGS.

I let her stop when she wanted to. I made sure I was in the right frame of mind and that I had plenty of time to offer this to her. And I noticed a huge difference. She reacted far less to other dogs (as she can be a yeller at dogs who look at her a certain way) and she just generally was happier. 

So to wrap up my gratitude I will say that although Bear maybe hasn’t changed a lot (although I do think she’s come a long way) I definitely have a lot more tools and a completely different outlook on life with her that has brought us to a much happier place."

~ Ashley B., London, Ontario