Ken’s Comments:
Many of my clients who go on to become students and regulars on the group walks are like family to me. Some were family before my life as a dog trainer even began. Such is the case with Heather. I knew Heather as a teenager. When she got in touch with me saying she and Ed had just adopted a dog and asked for help, I was overjoyed.
I remember walking into their house and meeting Champ. He was…high strung. :) He ha multiple issues going on but in general he was just a poorly socialized dog that had limitted interaction with others and thus had some poor social skills. We immediately set to work, set up a plan to deal with the pulling on the walks, building his confidence and working on the issues. Champ handled this like a pro. He wanted to please, he just needed to be shown how.
Champ became a regular on the dog walks, and in daycare. He completed Level One, Two and Three successfully. He has been on the Santa Claus parade for the last number of years running and attended and sat in the booth at the Pet Expo. He is an all around great dog with a lovely personality.
Here is his story from Heather:
We adopted Champ in August 2010 when he was 3.5 years old, and he was a little crazy! I have no idea about his first 3.5 years, except we were told his family dropped him off to relocate, and when we met him he had 4 days to live, as the shelter had no space to keep him (I think they stopped doing this since then). At the time, he was recovering from a skin condition that we were told was possibly mange, and his nails were so long that his entire paw was sore so we couldn't even touch his paws.
After a couple of days at home, we noticed that most of what we'd been told about Champ was inaccurate (as an example, we were told he loved the car, yet in our experience he hated it and would get carsick after less than 5 minutes). Champ also pulled a ridiculous amount on leash, and lunged at every dog he saw as a result of fear and leash aggression. He was crazy! Thankfully, I already knew Ken, so I contacted him about a one on one, and noticed a change immediately. We also signed up for level 1 obedience at Topsailstar (eventually also completing levels 2 and 3), joined the walks and doggy daycare, and after a LOT of hard work, and practice he was like a different dog - even making a return trip to Corner Brook without getting sick after just a couple of months of positive reinforcement for car rides. By the end of level 3, Champ was wonderful on group walks - until the birth of my twins. Once they came along, I let some of his behaviour slide thinking "Oh, he's just excited to be walking with me again" or "The stroller's throwing him off", etc, and by the time it became his new habit, I didn't have the energy to deal with it properly. So he regularly jumps and barks on group walks (oddly enough he's worse when Ken takes him than he is with me, lol) which I know makes him annoying, but at home he's great! He loves hanging out next to the kids when they're snacking, and he has been very accepting of them and his new dog sister Angel (a senior rescue). I often get compliments on his behaviour now when we're walking or even when we have visitors.