Alpha Boarding Kennels Testimonials - Con and Diane
Dear Greg and Amy,
I would like to sincerely thank you both for the work done on our 4 year old, male Japanese Akita - "Puppy". We had some real issues with him because he just didn't like other dogs. It was becoming increasingly difficult to walk him because if he came off the lead for whatever reason he would simply attack whatever was in his path. This became a real issue and because we didn't know how to deal with it, he needed some real attention, some proper training.
It was at that point we contacted you guys and I must say that right from the beginning Greg, you were so very helpful, accommodating and supportive. We had a lot of mixed feelings sending Puppy away for 10 days as he'd never been away from us before. We had all sorts of reservations and crazy thoughts as to how he would be treated, but this was our last hope and we made an effort for Puppy's sake.
While Puppy was away we lost a lot of sleep. Although, it was very comforting to know that we could call for progress reports. The feedback from you guys showed us that you had a genuine interest in helping Puppy becoming a better dog. You spent extra time with him and only brought him back home when you were convinced that he had completely accepted the new training techniques.
Seeing him for the first time after this training left me speechless. I just couldn't believe how obedient Puppy now was (even around our other two dogs who were running around the whole time). He was sitting, and dropping and staying and doing all these things that we just thought that he'd never do. We'd tried on numerous occasions but he was just so stubborn.
The real test was walking him on the street for the first time. On went the halter and up went the roller door. Do you believe that he didn't move? Normally he pounce out the door, run down the street and attack any & all dogs along the way. But this time was different; he stayed there until "we" said it was ok to move. He walked by our side the whole journey. Admittedly he tried to get the halter off a few times and he quickly learnt that it was pointless and gave up soon after. We walked for about 30 minutes - the whole time with our mouthes opened!!
We now walk Puppy every day. Something we never believed was possible. What used to be a huge chore is now such a rewarding experience. I'm sure his aggression towards other dogs hasn't magically disappeared, but he now listens to "us", when a dog approaches he doesn't even look at it. I'm sure given half the chance off lead he would swallow it whole, but we need to be realistic, he's a dog and somethings you can't breed out. He is now under our control so it doesn't matter he wants to do because he knows he just can't do as he feels (be aggressive), we give the orders and he obeys until released. We've continue the training techniques you showed us, and it's simple, once a fortnight we spend an hour practicing "step-aways" with him and it just reinforces the "pattern" reward method of training. In fact, he loves the training, but not as much as we love the results!
Puppy's attitude is now something special. Never in our wildest dreams did we believe this was achievable. We could never have achieved this without you guys. You have really changed our lives and we thank you for it.
Kind Regards,
Con and Diane Shalevski
PS. Best of luck with your new book. Please let us know when you publish it as we'd love to purchase a copy!
