He is beautiful and it's a great picture! But I am sorry for your loss. Still 6 dogs is pretty impressive. Are they all inside dogs too?

And I am really enjoying it. My dog gets really excited on leash and is slightly reactive but just on leash so I am hoping to try and use the mat to my advantage. Also his point that when your making you do work and think it's more difficult for them to react is something I have found very true in our obedience classes.

Also the book is just a really fun and easy read.

Any thoughts/specific resources for someone dealing with a lot of fear and timidity? This thread made this question come to mind.

what about food guarding against other dogs? i have taught Samoa not to food guard with people. she trusts people now. she came from a large litter so i'm guessing that is where her food and high value toy guarding came from but what do i do? when i taught her to not be that way with people. i would feed her by hand a couple meals a day and i would sometimes make her wait or make her work and she learned to trust people eventually but with other dogs she just full on attacks if another dog gets near her while she eats or when there is a treat near or even at the mention of food. ugh what should i do? any suggestions? thanks

I am new to the forum & just saw the link in your signature to this thread. Just wanted to say: Awesome thread here! I am a +R/force-free trainer also.