Introducing Dr. Inara!

[pitbullmamaliz]

Chalk another one up to the power of training with positive reinforcement!

Inara earned her B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. (all with honors) yesterday through the APDT's C.L.A.S.S. (Canine Life And Social Skills) program. I was pretty psyched as I didn't think we'd be able to get the Ph.D. level, but holy cripes she rocked it. This girl makes me so proud, especially when I think how far she's come - a dog that used to not be able to be in the same vicinity, let alone same building, as other dogs without freaking out, and now she's kicking butt in Rally and earning actual titles.

I have some video clips of our B.A. and Ph.D. - we forgot to record her M.A. unfortunately.

B.A.:
Ph.D.:

So Inara now has higher diplomas than I do, LOL.

[loverocksalot]

Wow I bow to Dr. Inara. Very cool!

[loverocksalot]

WOW good job. I wish I had a place local to do this. This would be Rocky's thing for sure.

[johnr]

Very cool!

[michele5611]

Way to go you two!!

[RealPitBull]

Liz, I love this so much! Congrats to you and I'm inspired by all your hard work.

Would you mind if I posted a video or two on RPB's Facebook? I'd put a link to Pit Bull Zen. I'd just like to show how a dog-aggro dog could be completely transformed via positive training.

[pitbullmamaliz]

Thanks all! I'm afraid I'm going to be a complete idiot and refer to her as Doc or Doctor for quite some time. I'm just so proud! LOL

Mary, absolutely don't mind at all! Feel free to use anything from our "inaradog" Youtube channel that catches your eye. :-)

[catstina]

Good job!! What a smartie!!

[loverocksalot]

May I use your story and her video doing this in my training Lecture. I think it is a good example of how positive training although takes patients and time has long lasting effects.

[pitbullmamaliz]

CA, of course you can! I wish I had a video from our first "Relax" class so people could see a before and after. I was pretty sure after that class that she was just going to have to stay locked in my house forever. But the positive training came through. Let me know if you need any more info, and I'm honored that you guys are wanting to use her videos/story.

[RealPitBull]

Jan 23, 2012 11:28:12 GMT -5 pitbullmamaliz said:

Thanks all! I'm afraid I'm going to be a complete idiot and refer to her as Doc or Doctor for quite some time. I'm just so proud! LOL

Mary, absolutely don't mind at all! Feel free to use anything from our "inaradog" Youtube channel that catches your eye. :-)

Yay! Thank you!

[loverocksalot]

Thanks I did not realize Mary asked too until just now. Could I have the link to the Zen page, your bio is exactly what I am looking for. My story is similar except I Rocky was not reactive. Well only a little my reason for changing from horrible training situation was he snapped at the trainer who tried to correct him with a collar grab.

[loverocksalot]

PS I enjoyed her nosework video. Rocky has always enjoyed the find it game. I think I would like to play it some more. We always just used a toy. But I want to try a scented rag. What is it scented with? The whole way Inara went about her search is pretty much the same how Rocky does it.

[mhaze]

Great work!

[pitbullmamaliz]

CA, the link to Pit Bull Zen is www.pitbullzen.com . I can't remember what scent is on the cloth for nosework - I want to say it might have been clove. I can barely smell it anymore. Good thing her nose is better than mine!