🧠 Training Priorities for Hank

We identified a few key areas where we’ll be focusing our training:

• Overstimulation & Regulation: Hank has shown improvement from the peak of adolescence, but still gets dysregulated around other dogs—especially when they're close or reactive—and when seeing prey animals outdoors (e.g., squirrels, burrowing critters).

• Coexisting with Maddie & Morty: With summer visits approaching, helping Hank stay calm around your extended family’s dogs is a top priority. Since Maddie and Morty have limited social energy, we’ll work on helping Hank learn calm cohabitation skills.

• Environmental Sensitivity: While Hank generally adapts to new environments, he shows fear around certain sounds (vacuum, ironing board squeak), and had a fearful reaction to Mike’s friend Tony. We discussed planning a positive, low-stress introduction with Tony moving forward.

• Item Stealing for Attention: Though not an ingestion risk, Hank does occasionally steal household items to initiate interaction. Our goal will be reducing this behavior by setting up better options and reactions.

🎯 Skills Introduced

We introduced some foundational training strategies to start working on these areas:

• “Look at That” Cue
  Helps Hank disengage and self-regulate around dogs, people, and wildlife. We’ll start with easier distractions and gradually build toward using this skill with Morty, Maggie, and squirrels in the yard.

• Three-Part Protocol for Item Stealing

  1. Prevention: Identify tricky times and preemptively offer engaging chews or food puzzles (e.g., Toppls, collagen sticks, bully sticks). These not only redirect attention but also meet Hank’s natural needs to chew and settle.

  2. Management: If Hank steals a low-stakes item, the best response is zero attention. Walk away, shut a door if needed, and re-enter a few moments later. Then calmly retrieve the item and call Hank to you for reinforcement.

  3. Training: Begin teaching a “Trade” cue starting with low-value items like his toys. This will help Hank learn a more appropriate way to interact when he wants something from you.

📦 Recommended Training Plan

To support Hank’s progress while giving you flexibility and structure, I recommend:

🧙‍♂️ Cast Guidance: Ongoing Coaching for the Committed Trainer
💰 $65/month | 💻 Virtual | 🧠 Flexible Support
Includes:

• Access to my full training resource library (The Spellbook, recorded workshops, and webinars)

• Weekly office hours for Q&A

• One virtual skill check each month

• Up to 5 minutes/week of video review with personalized feedback

• 10% off additional classes & workshops

This option allows us to troubleshoot together as challenges arise and keep things moving forward with Hank’s training.

We can also layer in individual in-person sessions ($145/session) as needed—especially useful when coordinating with the extended family for real-life integration practice with Maggie and Morty.

Please let me know what questions you have, or if this training plan feels like the right fit for your goals with Hank. I’m really looking forward to working with your whole family and supporting you through this stage of Hank’s development!