Citizen Canine

The Goal:

Take one difficult dog and have him pass the Good Citizenship test within one year. Can it be done? One vet I talked to said No way.

The obedience trainer I’m working with says it can be done in 6 months.

The dog:

T-Rex (formerly known as Biscuit, Wish, and even Cujo by a former foster home).

Answers to: Rex, Rexy, Rexford

The problem:

He is unruly, a.k.a. obstreperous. He growls at other people and other dogs. He has been an outside dog most of his life, tied up on a chain on a South Dakota Indian Reservation. And he’s big -- 105 pounds big. He is also 7 years old. Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Let’s find out!

While I’m at it…

Let’s make another goal to learn some new words since my vocabulary might suffer—as any new parent’s does—because I will be spending more time baby-talking and using small words like these: Sit, stay, come, down, No! etc.

First Word: Obstreperous – unruly. Rex was an obstreperous dog when I first got him.