"Dog Whisperer" Teaches All Dogs New Tricks

Tools

"Dog Whisperer" Teaches All Dogs New Tricks

By Erin Leach

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.
View comments

The following comments do not necessarily represent the views of KCRG-TV9. Users have agreed to these terms and in doing so accept full responsibility for their comments. Moderation is limited.

Add a comment

Name:

Comment: 500 Characters Left

By submitting a comment to this web site, I affirm that I have read, understand, agree to and shall abide by the following rules and regulations as a term and condition of all comments which I may post. As terms and conditions of using this KCRG web site, I agree that I am fully responsible for the contents of all statements which I make. To the best of my knowledge, all such statements are true, fair, and accurate. I shall not post any statements which attack a person’s integrity or moral character, expose a person to public hatred, contempt or ridicule, deprive a person of the benefits of public confidence and social dealings, or injure a person in the maintenance of that person’s business. I shall not knowingly post content that violates the copyright, trademark, patent or other intellectual property right of a third person. I shall not post content that is false, liable, defamatory, obscene, abusive, that violates a person’s right to privacy, that otherwise violates any applicable local, state, national or international law or that is otherwise inappropriate. I acknowledge that if I post a comment which violates this policy that an offended person to whom comments are directed may have a right through judicial process to determine my identity and make a claim against me for damages. I agree that I shall indemnify KCRG, its employees, agents, representatives and affiliates from any and all expenses KCRG may incur as a result of comments I post which violate this policy, claims and/or damages, including but not limited to reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. KCRG is not responsible for the contents posted or anything arising out of the use of the contents or other interaction and has no obligation or duty to monitor or control any posting but does reserve the right to screen, refuse to post, remove, or edit user generated comment.

I have read and agree to the terms

Hide comments
Athlete of the Week
This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.
More On Demand

What's On KCRG

7:00
Dancing with the Stars
9:01
Boston Legal
10:00
KCRG-TV9 News at 10
10:35
Two and a Half Men