The behaviorist, D, came over for our first lesson earlier this evening. It went very well. Oscar, of course, was on his best behavior so we looked like liars when we told her about a lot of his issues. However, she did get to see him in the throes of his six o'clock psychosis (over-excitement about getting out of the crate, going outside and having dinner) so she knew what we were talking about. She brought us a "high tech tool" to help us keep his attention - a plastic milk jug with rocks in it. We're to use it to interrupt the cycle when we see him ramping up and also to curb any barking issues. It works really well, but I'm worried because he's absolutely terrified of it. I'm afraid of traumatizing him and giving him some sort of nervous disorder. Fortunately, he learns incredibly fast and we haven't had to use it much. Phew!

She was really happy with the schedule we have him on and what we've done with him so far. She taught us a whole slew of techniques for teaching him commands using more praise and less treats. She also taught us an exercise for getting Oscar to stop reacting to Josie. We have a long way to go before the two of them are happily co-existing, but at least we now know what to do and the process has begun. We have to work on training with Oscar multiple times every day, which isn't a big deal because we already were doing that. As his trust of us grows, he'll get quicker to respond and more eager to please. And given how quickly he learns already, we have no doubt he'll be behaving perfectly in no time.

Because D came in the evening after it was dark outside, we didn't go on a walk with her to address any of those issues. We'll have her back in another week or two during the day time so we can get outside and learn how to better deal with bicycles and meet other people/dogs. She gave us some advice on what to do, but we'll definitely benefit from having her show us, too.

We are so glad D is such a good fit with us and our dog. YAY!!!