I had "My Girl Jack" for just about 16 years at the time of her passing. I never really was fully on board as a dog owner with her concerning dog training and some other aspects of dog ownership responsibilities. The guy I got Jack from didn't want her or her sister, so he told me if he couldn't find a home for them that he was going to drown them in his pond in a burlap bag.
This "Guy" was my brother, who in later years said to me..."Dave, you know I just said that so you would take Jack right?...I could never actually do something like that...."
Jack was a great pet but she didn't really live to her full potential as a dog because I never really knew anything about connecting with her on certain levels. To be honest, when I got Jack I was in the middle of a 20 year crisis of my own so Jack never really saw the best in me until her later years. Even then I knew nothing about dog training or how to really connect with a dog on deeper levels. She was simply showered with love, treats, people food and road trips from Florida all the way up to Maine. She did have a good life after I began to make strides at changing my own life.
Kinzer on the other hand....This boy started his life out on the wrong foot all together. Kinzer was tossed from one unhealthy home to another, being caged and fed with no structure or exercise by people who knew nothing about dogs at all. Kinzer was the dominant force in all of the 4 homes he lived in until finding his way to me.
I may not have mentioned this before...but...About 3 days after I had to take "My Girl Jack" to the vet to have her put to sleep at the age of 16 years and 1 week old, I received a phone call from my great friend "Trey", who had received a call from a friend of his who lives about 10 miles west of me. Trey's friend was calling him from the emergency room of a local hospital. Kinzer had just attacked and bit her daughter. While the bite was one of a superficial nature, (barely breaking the skin) it was a dog attack and a bite nonetheless and she was asking Trey to take Kinzer and have him put to sleep. Trey lives about 150 miles away from where Kinzer was living at the time, so he called me and asked me if I could do it.
Trey and I talked in depth about Kinzer's past and his current status as an untrained "pack leader dog" who was bullying his way around this girl's house, putting her and her daughters at risk of being seriously mauled or worse.
Trey and I had just spent Christmas eve at this girl's house not but a week before Kinzer bit her daughter. While I was there on Christmas eve, I observed Kinzer pushing his way through the house, forcing himself on anyone who would pet him. Trey was the only one there that Kinzer steered clear of. I walked into the living room and sat on the couch (away from everyone else) and worked with Kinzer for about 10 minutes. I was telling him to "sit" and commanding him to "lay down".
Kinzer did sit and he did lay down when I commanded him to, though he didn't sit for long or lay down for more than a second before forcing his nose up under my hand as if to say..."You'll pet me now, and like it!!!" I could tell that he wanted to please me right away as I tried to give him basic commands. He was just too far into his bullying, alpha dog role to sit for me for more than a second.
What I didn't realize (that night) until about right now, was that my friend Trey was the actual pack leader in that house that night.
Upon receiving the call about putting Kinzer down, my reply was..."I can't kill another dog this week." At this time... Upon coming home from work each night to a now empty house not having that companionship that I had upon coming home for the previous 16 years, I was feeling very lonely. A huge and very important part of my life and overall psyche was missing, so I said..."I won't take Kinzer to the gallows but I will take him back to my house and give a wholehearted attempt at rehabilitating him.
The first stage of this rehabilitation would be to just let Kinzer settle in here and interact with him in a passive way as to let him relax and feel at home. This took about a month. During this first month, I spent every minute of my free time walking Kinzer and digging in as deep as I could into researching dog behaviors and dog training.
It's kind of like coming to this forum seeking general detailing advice. You get all sorts of advice from all sorts of people with all sorts of experience levels. It gets downright overwhelming sorting through all the replies and reading the various theories that the various people offer. I was totally confused and overwhelmed as to what direction to go in and who's training methods to follow.
Trey was checking in with a weekly phone call to see how things were going with Kinzer and I. Each time Trey would call, I would tell him what kind of ill behavior Kinzer was displaying and Trey would tell me of a few basic exercises to practice to break Kinzer of that particular behavior. A lot of these exercises involve the exertion of force but the emphasis of what Trey was providing was on the exercise of the dog during walks.
My friend Josh worked it out with his grandparents as to get me the use of their 173 acre property which consists of fields, trails, woods, and a 70 foot wide river running along the border of the property. What a perfect place to run Kinzer!!! An absolute God send!!!
Another absolute God send was in the way of a PM I received from forum member Bill Stapleton. (Hoytman) Bill wanted to discuss one of the threads I started some time ago, so I called him on the phone. About an hour into the phone call, Bill (having not even seen my threads about Kinzer) revealed to me that he has experience in training labrador retrievers. We talked on the phone until my cell phone battery died and cut us off.
Bill has been spending a huge amount of his time providing me with not only great articles on dog training and dog behavior in general, but he's also providing an absolute ton of insight into these training methods and a ton of insight into dog psychology in general.
I'm very proud to say that with Bill's spot on guidance and insight, Kinzer's and my own potential have been unlocked and within just a week of following Bill's suggestions and really studying the guidance he's providing and the videos he's been suggesting, Kinzer and I are connecting on a level that I never knew could exist. It's just amazing to me how Kinzer has changed in the past week.
My friend Trey and I talked last night about all these changes that I'm seeing in not just Kinzer but in myself as well, and he said.."see I told you about that."
Trey has been a dog trainer for a lot of years and claims to have trained over 100 dogs and yes, everything Bill is teaching me Trey has mentioned. But Bill is really going way above and beyond in providing the insight and food for thought for me to chew on while interacting with Kinzer on a daily basis.
The way Bill puts things over the phone and the way he writes things in his PMs to me on the dog/owner relationsip subject, is in a way that is really understandable and in a way that when I do what he suggests, I see the results in Kinzer's behavior both on leash and off leash during our outside time.
Last night while talking to Trey he said..."Keep working with Kinzer using the help that Bill and I are providing, and in a matter of about 5 to 6 months you'll see Kinzer go from being a good dog to being an awesome dog!!! I have no doubts about that!!
Bill, If you are reading this....I need you to know how grateful I am for the time, effort and guidance you are giving Kinzer and I. It's not just changing the dog in a great way, but it's providing me with a happiness about my life that I've never felt before. I am forever indebted for what you are doing for us, and if there's anything you ever need that I can provide, please don't be shy...just ask.
Thanks for reading...TD
