Spoilt Spaniel Has Lessons in Good Behaviour

Lavished with love and showered with gifts including ‘necklaces’ from designer labels such as Burberry and Aquascutum, three toy boxes filled to the brim and no less than 50 pink balls to choose from, Tess had plenty to entertain her at home.  Taken to all the best places including the Champs-Elysee and Michelin star restaurants, one would hope that Tess would know how to behave like a lady.

Sadly this proved far from the truth.  Tess repaid her doting owners by incessantly barking and demanding attention. 

‘For the past three years Tess has been very demanding.  If someone came to the house she would bark incessantly unless she was being fussed.  If I sat down she would bring her ball and roll it to me and then bark until I threw it for her, or drop her micro sticks on my knee and back off barking waiting for me to play.  She would regularly steal your slipper and run off with it in the hope that you would chase her. If I went in to the garden with a friend she would bark and bark and it was a really piercing noise.  When we had friends over for a barbecue there was nothing for it but to shut her indoors because she was just impossible. Even when we took her out she was no better.  She pulled madly on the lead and we couldn’t stop to talk to anybody because she would bark so loudly that you couldn’t hold a conversation.  It really was extremely embarrassing’ says Wendy. 

Steve often worked from home and had conference calls with colleagues, which were something of a challenge with Tess barking constantly in the background.  ‘It was very embarrassing for Steve to be talking to his boss with Tess going mad beside him’ admits Wendy. 

Wendy and Steve took Tess on holiday to a villa in France, but there was no lounging on the sunbeds because of the incessant barking and splashing as Tess threw herself in to the pool.  ‘She really did make our lives miserable’ admits Wendy.

When the couple recently moved in to rented accommodation while searching for a property to buy, they found the problems with barking just escalated and realised that professional help was needed.  ‘I had begun to worry about what sort of property we would be able to buy with all this barking and was worried about an apartment or any property with close neighbours.  Tess’s behaviour really had gone far beyond a joke’ says Wendy. 

It was a therapist from aptly named ‘Bark Busters’ who came to the rescue.  Kim Lummis, a behavioural therapist for Home Dog Training Company Bark Busters in the Hampshire area, soon had Tess behaving beautifully and more to the point, quiet.

‘The difference in Tess is unbelievable; I never thought anybody could have such an effect on her.  She is now quiet and well-behaved, which is absolutely amazing.  The change in her behaviour thanks to Bark Busters really has made a huge difference to our lives’ says Wendy.

Kim showed Wendy and Steve how to communicate with Tess in a way that she understood and in so doing allowed Tess to relax and become a much happier dog. 

‘There is no doubt that Tess was ruling Wendy and Steve’s life.  When I first arrived and just observed how Tess behaved, she barked for a full forty-five minutes – enough to test the nerves of the most patient of owners’.

‘Within the first session there was an enormous difference in Tess’s behaviour and the best bit was that by the end of it we could stop her barking’ says Wendy.

Kim explains that ‘Tess is clearly a very loved dog, but actually what she needed were some rules and boundaries so that she understood who was boss.  She had trained Wendy and Steve extremely well, with a full range of attention-seeking behaviours.  However when the tables were turned she responded very well, and by the end of the first session all three of the Goodalls were looking considerably more relaxed!’

The couple can now have friends round, take Tess out for walks and even to the pub with them without any bad behaviour or barking.  ‘We feel that we could take her anywhere now, whereas in the past it was a nightmare and like having a naughty child in tow.  She really is such a good girl now and we are so proud of her’ says a triumphant Wendy.

Wendy admits that it was she and Steve who needed training.  ‘Let’s face it, it was us who needed to be trained, not Tess.  We had a beautiful dog that we had allowed to become a nightmare.  But now she is beautiful and obedient thanks to Kim.  I can’t stop telling people about Bark Busters and what a difference they have made to our lives’.

For more information about Bark Busters take a look at www.barkbusters.co.uk

To contact a Bark Buster Therapist call Freephone 0808 100 4071

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.