In the first episode of Ruff Around The Edges I talk to Kate Oates about her Australian Shepherd Vader.
It seems only right she be the first to be featured on the show as she inspired the name.
We talk about all the small things that in combination led to his reactivity, and about the the stress she felt when she got a warning from the municipality threatening her with a $2000 fine if Vader wouldn’t stop barking.
We discuss how we each deal with “my dog is friendly” people and what feelings these people invoke, how she got around to telling people “my dog bites” in order to keep them at bay, and what finally led her to not only try force free training but to become a force free trainer herself.
You can find Kate at:
This episode was so comforting. My husband and I have such anxiety walking our dogs. We go out of our way to make sure we only walk in spots where we won’t encounter other dogs or people – mostly because of those people who insist “my dog is friendly,” and then continue to tell us that we need to let our dog say hi to others, etc and so on with the “friendly” advice while ignoring our words, our boundaries, and our own knowledge of our dog. I’ve been scared to say “my dog might bite” because of the judgment from others. I think I will try next time! We haven’t had anyone over in years, and our entire lives revolve around keeping our doggies safe and unstressed (and us too).