To Lisa Farlin and the excellent staff at Canine Academy
It is four weeks since Barley came home from Off Leash Training and I wanted to take a little time to let you know how pleased we are with the outcome.
As you know, Barley is a sweet dog but we were unable to achieve the outcomes we desired with the levels of training we had gone through. He was able to get away with quite a bit as the corrections didn’t phase him.
The biggest problem for us at home was his jumping on people who came over to our house. And eventually he was jumping on Wayne as he tried to get out the door in the morning for work. It forced us to put him in his crate or other rooms by himself. During his day training stays he was giving the girls a hard time and unfortunately starting to nip at them. Having a dog who could potentially bite someone was not an option for us. Our yard is unfenced and we could not go out in the yard without him leashed.
After Off Leash Training the dog who came home with us is still our sweet, silly, loving Barley. He did not forget us! He is so attentive and well behaved. Our expectations of what our dog would be like when he came home are blown away! We now have a dog and a gentleman in our house. He has not once jumped on us or any guest in our home. We have the tools to correct him should he need it, but I must say it is very seldom. Our family and friends are truly amazed at the changes in Barley. We tried for quite a long time to manage Barley on our own but were limited and thus unsuccessful.
We enjoy Barley so much more now. There are no ‘bad times’ with him or plans we change because of his potentially bad behavior. He is confident in what is expected of him and we are confident taking into challenging new situations.
Finally, I would like to say that I worry less for his safety. I know he will listen to me and that in the off chance that he doesn’t, I have the tools to correct him. I know he will not dash off after a squirrel or deer on a walk or jump and run at a startling noise. He will ‘leave’ or ‘drop’ anything he should not have (including a piece of chicken fat that fell on the floor in the kitchen yesterday).
So, I sign off with much thanks from the Richards family for transforming our dog into the dog we always hoped we would have!
Joan and Wayne Richards.....and Barley too of course.