Cedar Rapids Weather
"Dog Whisperer" Teaches All Dogs New Tricks
IOWA CITY - For the most part Guinness is a great dog…until he's around other dogs.
His owner, Doug Alberhasky, says, "He was attacked when he was a pup and he just goes ballistic if he sees another dog. He will try to lunge at the dog, growling, just very negative behavior." The Alberhasky's have tried everything, and Jeff Fick from “Bark Busters” is their last hope. Think of him as a Dog Whisperer of sorts, but his training methods don't involve an overly unique connection to dogs. He just simply knows how to read them. Jeff says, "They're not built to deal with the adult-human world." But dog owners tend to forget that. He adds, "Dogs are great decision-makers and they're great in the wild but they don't know what a 50mph car is and they don't know the pizza guy isn't someone trying to break in the house." Jeff says it's the owner’s job to teach them right from wrong in a way they understand. In the wild, dogs are part of a pack and there's always a pack leader. Dog owners are supposed to be that leader, but too often they let their dogs assume that role without even realizing it. Jeff has an example. He says, "It's a lot easier to open the door, let the dog go out, go out behind it and close the door. You've just told the dog the pack's on the move and they are in the lead." So really, Jeff isn't training Guinness, he's training the Alberhasky's to train Guinness. Doug says, "He has to train us, and as long as we're focused on it, I think it'll work." Jeff says he's got a reason to be confident because no dog is untrainable. It's been a few weeks since Jeff met with the Alberhasky's. They say Guinness is showing a lot of progress. They're convinced they'll be able to do more activities with Guinness in the near future. More Good Stuff |
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