August 17, 2008

Most people know the saying, “You can't teach old dog new tricks.” However, I‘ve learned that the old dog has not found the right teacher until then. But let me introduce the student first. My dog Eddy is ten years old and a happy mutt (German shepherd, terrier, and maybe some collie but who knows). In 1998, I found abandoned Eddy as a little puppy (7 or 8 weeks old) in the streets of Spain . After multiple showers to get rid of the fleas, many doctor appointments to make sure that he is completely healthy; Eddy was ready to go to his very first dog school.

Eddy was a quick learner from the beginning. Inside the house, Eddy has always been a good dog, for example he never chewed on my mom's slippers nor on any other furniture pieces, also he was house trained after just one week (I am still not sure if it happened so quickly because Eddy is such a smart dog or if it was because we went outside every 30 minutes with him, yes, even at night).

He knew and understood the most commands very well.....there was just one problem, Eddy decided to take action into his own paws and only followed commands if :

a) There was a treat involved and/or
b) Nothing else interesting was going on around him.

Walking Eddy was often an adventure despite constant leash usage. You could never be quite sure if he would start to run and pull us when spotting a squirrel or any critter. In those cases heel and stay were foreign words for him, even though he went through three different dog schools and I tried to train him in our backyard as well. Maybe I should have said those commands in Spanish.

The last school before Dogzies we went to was in 2003 when Eddy was almost six years old but there was no success. After all the schooling with not much progress, we reluctantly accepted the constant leash pulling and the pulling/barking at other animals or any moving objects. Whenever we walked Eddy (at least twice a day) we would walk not on the normal walkway but rather through bushes and trees just to prevent another barking/pulling outbreak. Luckily, Kelowna doesn't seem to have any ticks.

Then, last year in spring it happened. As usual, my parents were walking Eddy in the morning through the Mission Creek Park . They met two women in the park and started talking about Eddy and his initial barking behavior (as soon as Eddy takes one sniff at moving objects he looses interest). After five to ten minutes of chatting, my father saw a female runner approaching the merry group of five (including Eddy). He pulled the leash tight so Eddy was standing right next to him. My mom on the other hand, didn't see the lady approach. The runner must have decided that the group was standing in her way and wasn't willing to run three meters around them. She went the quick way and ran in between my parents/Eddy and the two women they had talked to. My mom let out a big gasped as the lady started entering the group as she was so close that my mom felt something brushing against her arm. Eddy did what he was used to do. He greeted the new person by barking and jumping up on her. My mom shouted to the still running lady if she was alright but she just waving goodbye and kept on running.

Approximately 7 days later my parents had a surprise visitor. One of the local Bylaw Enforcement – Dog Control officer came to our house to inform us that a Lady had filed a complaint against Eddy of being an aggressive dog. We were absolutely shocked, Eddy is a lot of things but for sure not aggressive. After the officer had met Eddy he advised my parents to dispute this claim which they immediately did. Additionally, they went to Eddy's veterinarian who also gave them a testimonial of Eddy that he is not an aggressive dog but he recommended giving it another try to correct Eddy's barking/jumping behavior. And this is how we learned about Dogzies and in particular about Wayne .

Going with Eddy to Wayne was the best thing that could have happened to my dog (and to us). After just six weeks of training two times a week, Eddy was a transformed dog. We are able to walk with him anywhere without having to jump into the bushes anymore in fear that eddy will bark at something. Also he listens to heel and stay now. Of course, we had our initial fears and doubts when we started the training. Especially, the first time when Wayne took us downtown to the Dolphins and let Eddy sit and stay in the middle of the peers and we had to keep on going a good 50 meters ahead so that we didn't even see Eddy anymore. We learned very quickly that it was not only our nervousness that had caused Eddy's behavior but also our inconsistency in setting rules. It is amazing to me to see how much Eddy has become the excellent, well behaved dog outside as he was all along inside the house. Eddy's schooling was absolutely worth every single penny.

I can recommend Wayne 's training and school in full confidence to any dog owner whether it is for an older dog or a puppy. For now we are still awaiting the court day to dispute the claim of Eddy being an aggressive dog. I hope the judge can meet Eddy and see the big fuzz ball we all love so much.

Kathrin J. Schmidt