We were all out of options when my husband came across the name 'Bark Busters'. Our one year old Jack Russell mix had begun showing (what we thought were) food aggression signs when he was about four months old. We already were in puppy training classes and then begun intermediate classes for him. While he could be trained pretty well when a treat was involved, we could not get a grip on his food aggression. We started out with him as a five week old puppy and always had our hand in his bowl, we even would touch his mouth while he was eating and he never minded it. As the time went on and after the training classes our dog began to be unpredictable. He could be so loving one minute and you could rub him everywhere and the next thing you know he just turns on you with no warning and growls and shows teeth and then bites (sometimes pretty hard). Two trainers later and now he is a year old, he finally did the unthinkable, he charged both my me and my husband in the same night. My bite was not so bad, more like a scratch with a big bruise. My husband however was not so lucky. He should have had stitches but he was so shaken up by the whole event that he just couldn't bring himself to leave the house. The next day we called our current trainer and also our vet and explained the situation and both agreed that maybe our dog has a screw loose or some kind of mental problem. It was suggested to us to go to the ASPCA and have them do a series of tests on him to see if he could go into a new home. One of the tests would be to have him eat at his bowl and then put a fake arm near him as if to come near his food bowl. I must say, he would have failed test. He really would not have done well if you got near him while he was eating. If he failed the tests they gave him they would have to put him down because he would not be suitable to live with people. My husband scoured the Internet one last time to see if there was anyone out there that could help us save our beautiful puppy. He came across the Bark Busters site and gave them a call. He first spoke with a person in general just to share our story and then he was put in touch with Anne George. Anne heard our cries for help and then offered to come give us a FREE assessment of our dog. We took it not thinking too much that she could really save our dog but that she may just be able to give him a new home with someone who could deal with his temperament. She came to our house the next day and she immediately noticed that he was 'in fear'. He responded to her with no problem. He was never told to do something in dog language. It was already a move in the right direction. My highlight of the first visit was when she gave our dog a small bully stick. I told her it was not a good idea, that he would not be ok with others around and that we would have to leave the room or he would growl, show teeth and then attack us. She told me that she needed to see how he would respond, good, bad or ugly. She gave him the bully stick he went to a corner and then she asked him to leave it. HE DID. I was in tears and then at that moment I knew we did not have to put our dog down. We made our real appointment with Anne to get the whole training session and we are so glad that we did. Our dog Hunter is so much better. He needed to gain trust back in us and us in him. It is long journey that our family is happy to be on. I recommend this program to anyone with any kind of dog problems. Just stay vigilant with the training and you will be impressed with how your dog will learn to see you as a leader instead of as a lower dog that he has to put in it's place.
We were all out of options when my husband came across the name 'Bark Busters'. Our one year old Jack Russell mix had begun showing (what we thought were) food aggression signs when he was about four months old. We already were in puppy training classes and then begun intermediate classes for him. While he could be trained pretty well when a treat was involved, we could not get a grip on his food aggression. We started out with him as a five week old puppy and always had our hand in his bowl, we even would touch his mouth while he was eating and he never minded it. As the time went on and after the training classes our dog began to be unpredictable. He could be so loving one minute and you could rub him everywhere and the next thing you know he just turns on you with no warning and growls and shows teeth and then bites (sometimes pretty hard). Two trainers later and now he is a year old, he finally did the unthinkable, he charged both my me and my husband in the same night. My bite was not so bad, more like a scratch with a big bruise. My husband however was not so lucky. He should have had stitches but he was so shaken up by the whole event that he just couldn't bring himself to leave the house. The next day we called our current trainer and also our vet and explained the situation and both agreed that maybe our dog has a screw loose or some kind of mental problem. It was suggested to us to go to the ASPCA and have them do a series of tests on him to see if he could go into a new home. One of the tests would be to have him eat at his bowl and then put a fake arm near him as if to come near his food bowl. I must say, he would have failed test. He really would not have done well if you got near him while he was eating. If he failed the tests they gave him they would have to put him down because he would not be suitable to live with people. My husband scoured the Internet one last time to see if there was anyone out there that could help us save our beautiful puppy. He came across the Bark Busters site and gave them a call. He first spoke with a person in general just to share our story and then he was put in touch with Anne George. Anne heard our cries for help and then offered to come give us a FREE assessment of our dog. We took it not thinking too much that she could really save our dog but that she may just be able to give him a new home with someone who could deal with his temperament. She came to our house the next day and she immediately noticed that he was 'in fear'. He responded to her with no problem. He was never told to do something in dog language. It was already a move in the right direction. My highlight of the first visit was when she gave our dog a small bully stick. I told her it was not a good idea, that he would not be ok with others around and that we would have to leave the room or he would growl, show teeth and then attack us. She told me that she needed to see how he would respond, good, bad or ugly. She gave him the bully stick he went to a corner and then she asked him to leave it. HE DID. I was in tears and then at that moment I knew we did not have to put our dog down. We made our real appointment with Anne to get the whole training session and we are so glad that we did. Our dog Hunter is so much better. He needed to gain trust back in us and us in him. It is long journey that our family is happy to be on. I recommend this program to anyone with any kind of dog problems. Just stay vigilant with the training and you will be impressed with how your dog will learn to see you as a leader instead of as a lower dog that he has to put in it's place.
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