Aggression

What Behavior Camp Did for Bruno

Before camp: Resource guarding at home and fights with his siblings.

Breed: Bull Terrier
Age at intake: 6 years
Program: Behavior Camp
Length of stay: Three weeks
Trainer: Sierra Luttropp

Before

Where Bruno Started

Resource guarding at home and fights with his siblings

Rob's six-year-old Bull Terrier had started guarding what he decided was his, and the fights with his siblings had passed the point the family could manage on their own.

A house with a guarding dog in it is a house where everyone moves carefully. Meals, doorways, a dropped chew: every ordinary moment carried the risk of the next fight.

Rob did not come to us for a list of tricks. He came for a household that felt safe again.

The program

Bruno's Behavior Camp

Bruno moved in for three weeks of Behavior Camp. Living on campus meant our team could work the exact moments that set him off, under control, several times a day, instead of waiting for them to happen at home.

Sierra and the team built the plan around the guarding itself: clear structure, a calm default state, and identical handling from every person who touched him. Once Bruno could hold that state, the work moved to the sibling dynamic that had been producing the fights.

Episode by episode

Watch Bruno's Journey

Filmed during the stay, in order. Nothing here is staged after the fact.

See every Training Journey

After

Where Bruno Ended Up

Bruno went home able to settle himself instead of escalating, and easier to live with around his siblings. The small daily moments stopped feeling like a countdown.

Before pickup, Rob came back in and worked Bruno himself, so the handling that produced the change went home with the dog rather than staying at the school.

Published December 30, 2024

The trainer