Out of the Dog House

Charlie, a 10 month old Jack Russell, has caused owners Emma and Richard Wane a good deal of stress over the past few months.

His arrival at the family home in Speldhurst, Kent as a pup was warmly welcomed by Emma and her three boys, Alex, James and Anthony. However Dad, Richard, was less than enthusiastic at the introduction of this whirling dervish to his home.

‘Richard is not a doggie person and it was only because I was so keen to have a dog and also that he knew how much it would mean to the boys that he agreed’ admits Emma.

Having witnessed Charlie race around the house, jump up continuously, go crazy when people arrived at the house, dive under beds and refuse to come out, destroy household items including shredding a couple of rugs and some cookery books, decline to come back when let off the lead and generally cause a fair bit of mayhem, Richard’s feelings towards Charlie were decidedly frosty.

‘There is no doubt that Charlie caused a lot of stress in our house’ confides Emma. ‘It annoyed Richard intensely that Charlie was forever jumping up and there certainly were times when we both felt that we’d had enough of this creature’.

Emma however was determined to make things good and in her bid to tame Charlie, she called in Tina Edwards from home dog training company Bark Busters.

Tina had no sooner arrived on the doorstep, than she began to put Charlie through his paces and soon had him behaving like the perfect pooch.

‘It was amazing, after one three hour session I had so much more control of Charlie. I could make him stay in the kitchen with the door left open, even when the doorbell rang. I could control his jumping up and boisterous behaviour and what is more I could see that he was actually listening to me and taking notice. It really was fantastic’ says Emma.

That was back in October and since then Emma and Charlie have been making excellent progress.

‘His recall is improving all the time and his general behaviour is very good now. I always knew he had it in him to behave well and that it was me who was at fault not him. The problem for me was that he didn’t come with an instruction manual and I simply didn’t know how to communicate with him in a way that he understood, but Tina changed all of that’.

Tina is delighted at Charlie’s progress and explains that like many young dogs and indeed some older one’s too, Charlie just needed to know his boundaries and understand who was boss.

‘Terriers can be a challenge sometimes’ Tina explains, ‘but Charlie is a delightful young dog and once Emma and Richard learnt how to communicate in a way that he understood, he was eager to please his new style leaders. He responded really quickly; in one session he learned that he was not allowed upstairs, was not to greet visitors until given permission and that jumping up and using his teeth to play were not acceptable. We also worked on recall and walking on the lead. Emma and Richard have obviously worked hard at practicing the techniques that I demonstrated and Charlie has shown fantastic progress as a result’.

So for anybody out there planning on getting a family dog for Christmas, here are some golden rules to help you stay in control.

• Be calm and patient when teaching a young or old dog, new tricks
• Dogs don’t speak our languages and no amount of shouting will make them understand us
• Learn to communicate in a way that the dog understands and will obey
• Give yourself the time to train your new family member
• Decide on your house rules, show your dog clearly what you require of him and stick to those rules.
• Dogs aren’t naughty – most of the time they just don’t understand what we’re on about
• Be consistent - Dogs learn by association
• Use lots of praise when your dog stops being naughty and remember hands are for stroking and patting only
• Take the time to learn your dog’s language - It’s easy, fun and gets instant results

Bark Busters, the world’s largest, most trusted dog training company, started in Australia in 1989 and came to the United Kingdom in 1999. Since inception, over 400,000 dogs have been trained worldwide. With more than 230 offices in eight countries, Bark Busters is continuing its mission to build a global network of dog behavioural therapists to enhance responsible dog ownership and reduce the possibility of maltreatment, abandonment, and euthanasia of companion dogs. Bark Busters is the only international dog training company that offers a lifetime guarantee. Therapists will provide future sessions free of charge if problem behaviours recur, or if any new problems develop. For more information, call 0808 100 4071 or visit www.barkbusters.co.uk, where dog owners can complete a Dog Behavioural Quiz to rate their dogs’ behaviour.