Welcome to “Jokerland”

When I first met Joker, a 1 year old Doberman Pinscher, I thought to myself, “This is going to be a tough one”.  He was a great example of a dog who needed the right balance.  The term “give them an inch and they will take a mile” comes to mind, only he would take 2 and sometimes 3; he needed strong leadership and a lot of control.  Joker has been re-homed 3 times and now belongs to Kevin, who has had Dobermans in the past and is familiar with the breed as well as dog ownership in general.

Jokers’ yeilding behavior was non existent; while working on a good solid recall, Joker would come in at 100 miles an hour, crashing into Kevin (or anyone else that happened to be there).  Leash walking was an issue, as he would circle around you and stand in front to block the path for the walk. Needless to say, he did not go for many walks.

In the beginning of his training Joker would go into a state of mind commonly referred to as “Jokerland.”  While teaching a sit with duration, Joker would break his sit and run full speed around the training area at Auditorium Shores (I think I mentioned something about 100 mph).  He was having a grand old time in his own little world, smiling like he had just had the first taste of freedom after being in a penitentiary for 10 years.

The first thing we did with Joker was aim for an off leash recall and some loose leash walking.  This would enable Kevin to exercise Joker, as he has boundless energy and needs an outlet.  It would also allow him to just be a dog and to work on his social skills.  Kevin was working very hard and was seeing moments of sheer brilliance, and of course at times he wanted to pull his hair out.   Joker was learning self control, and Kevin was perfecting the art of patience.

Joker now has a reliable off leash recall so Kevin can call him back, send him to his target, and refocus him again on the new definition of sit.  He still enters “Jokerland” but only when it is appropriate, now Joker will stay in a sit until he has permission to take a break from Kevin; that is the beginning of self control.  While Joker still has a long way to go in order to graduate from our program, Unleashed Unlimited is thrilled with his progress so far.

If you would like to follow more of Joker’s progress, along with a few of our other interesting characters, please check back again soon.