Romey’s Story

This week we wanted to share the story of one of our training clients Romey, the Havenese, who came to We Talk Dog for training after a culmination of aggressive behaviors that resulted in Romey biting Libby, his young owner.

After the family dog died when Libby was two, she excitedly counted down the days until her 5th birthday, on which she was told she could get a dog.  Romey, the Havenese, joined the family when he was 12 weeks old and started attending daycare at We Talk Dog shortly after.

Libby immediately became Romey’s biggest advocate and the two have been inseparable ever since. For awhile the family had noticed some mild “grumpy” behaviors that eventually escalated into Romey biting Libby when she tried to pick him up from a chair. Romey came to We Talk Dog the next morning and stayed for two weeks of training.

While in training Adam worked to modify some of Romey’s behaviors and teach him the rules and boundaries that he would need when he returned home. Romey learned a lot about how to interact with his owners, especially the smallest leader of the pack, Libby. He also learned structure so when it is time for things like homework, Romey can go and lay in his bed and relax. He learned that children play differently then how dogs play.

Libby wrote about Romey’s training for a school project. She learned that Romey acted out of fear from being startled and that she could modify her behavior to make sure that Romey was not woken abruptly. She wanted to share the information she had learned about dog training with her classmates.

The whole family was an active part of Romey’s training and they worked with Adam during training and upon Romey’s return home to make sure that he became a well mannered member of their family. The family learned how to give Romey the security that he needed while continuing to reinforce positive behaviors. Romey learned that his family would take of all of his needs and he did not need to be stressed or concerned with anything.