Bo and Melanie

Aug. 25th  2008

When I found Bo he was in bad shape. But, even though he was obviously starving and totally exhausted, he was a very happy dog. He was micro chipped so I was able to get a history on him. He was only 11 months old, had been in 3 shelters, 1 foster home, and had 2 different families. His last know residence was with the second family. I checked all the normal places to see if anyone had lost their dog, but no one had. I could not imagine why someone would dump such a sweet, handsome, young dog.  

I found out rather quickly why he was abandoned once he starting building up his strength. He became a different dog, or mostly likely, back to the dog he was before he was dumped. The change was subtle at first. He would climb on the couch with me trying to “cuddle”. He would push past me whenever I tried to leave the house. He was always out front ahead of me on walks. Having been around dogs all my life and working with them for several years I thought I had a dog that was somewhat dominant. I did some research and staring using the techniques of the famous trainers on TV. Those methods worked great for the minor issues but not the bigger ones that kept cropping up. He ate my couch cushions. He ate the trim on the stairs and around the bathroom door. He ate a nice big hole in the wall. Then he started lunging at me whenever I reprimanded him. He got overexcited when we played and he would “attack” me when we were out in the yard and a neighbor would come up to my fence to talk to me. I was so embarrassed not only because I couldn’t handle my dog but because I literally covered in bruises from the bites. My vet suggested using Prozac to calm him down and maybe he would be more receptive to training. She also told me to really think about euthanasia because dogs like him usually do not get better. The Prozac seemed to make him worse and very anxious so I weaned him off that. I consulted a highly recommended local trainer and she was not very positive of what she thought the outcome would be. Not one to give up on any animal, I bought more books and did more research. He started to improve nicely. Then during a visit to my parent’s house, without provocation, he bit me then my Dad when he stepped in. The next day he attacked me on a walk, got off his leash, and ran like a wild dog in and out of the woods charging at me – for 2 hours! I had never seen anything like it in my life and I was, for the first time ever, afraid of a dog.

     I had enough! I called the vet and made the euthanasia appointment for the following Monday.  In the meantime, I searched for trainer that would be willing to help us and came across Dawn’s website. I gave her a call and she set me up with a consultation appointment immediately. At the consultation, Dawn explained that her preferred method of training involved the use of the electronic collar. I will admit I was very hesitant to try it because I had just heard horror stories from the other local trainer I had consulted with of bad dogs getting worse and nice dogs getting nasty using these collars. Once Dawn explained to me how to train properly with the collar and about adjusting the levels correctly depending on what you are doing and how long you have been doing it I figured I would give this dog one last shot. And, after accidentally “stimming” myself on the highest level when I was setting the collar up, I realized it wasn’t even close to being as bad as people made it out to be. I had a couple of sessions with Dawn on proper usage of the collar as well as what words to use, how to use them and when to reward. It was so easy to do! And Bo actually enjoyed doing it! I knew dogs loved to learn and obviously this way of learning was no different. 

     Bo is such an awesome dog now! Everyone from family to neighbors has commented on what a different dog he is and they have even called him “sweet”. I never, ever thought the day would come when I would hear that. And now we have so much fun together. I can let him off his leash out in the woods to explore without him running off. Bo now has tons of friends, too. Using the collar I was able to control his attempt at dominance over every dog he encountered and now he plays with all the dogs in our neighborhood. Even more surprising is that I was able to help him understand how to be gentle with the neighborhood cat using the collar and now they are the best of friends! Once you understand Dawn’s training you will find new ways to incorporate the collar use in to all kinds of everyday situations.

   Thanks Dawn for taking a chance on us! 

-Melanie & Bo