Good news! We spent this morning with a dog behaviorist in our home to help with Rusty. He spent 3 hours working with all of us - me, my son, Zeus and of course, Rusty. We tackled the doorbell issue and the vacuum cleaner issue, which left the fly swatter a non issue (it no longer phased him) by the time we got to it

Both Rusty and Zeus were retrained to not lunge at the door when the doorbell rang or there was a knock. Rusty is still a bit nervous with the vacuum cleaner, but trusts me much more to make sure he doesn't get hurt by it. I am so very proud of all of my boys! (Bryce was the official doorbell ringer). The trainer commented that he was easier to work with than he had thought and he had even anticipated getting bit a few times, which never happened. He will be back on Thursday to do some outside work introducing one of his pups on Rusty's turf, and to work with Rusty on going into his crate on his own. He will also work with my son on how to behave around strange dogs, since he was bit by a dog at the park and is a bit afraid right now.

All-in-all, I was very pleased with the progress we made in just the first session! I will continue to work with him daily so that we both get the reinforcment we need. I know one session isn't the be-all-end-all and I'm willing to do the work. Rusty was pretty exhausted when we got done with the work and went and layed down at Bryce's feet. Bryce was so happy he gave the trainer a big hug and thank you! Rusty is gonna be a fantastic pet and I'm glad we stuck with it!

Signed one proud Mamma!