Review:
A little about our dog Niko. He is a male Great Pyrenees now 2 years old. He is an intact very, very dominant dog. We got him from a breeder at 10 weeks. Socialized him, trained him, and gave him love, discipline and exercise. At 6 months he started going after younger dogs. Our first experience, a Newfie, four months old in the off leash park. I was stunned. I put Niko on leash, and calmly brought him over to the dog and corrected any aggression. He was "fine" after that for a while. We didn't realize he was just being dominant the way other dogs in the off leash park taught him. He was attacked by several dogs as a puppy and learned bad "doggie etiquette" as I say. At 11 months we contacted a well know, respected and highly sought after trainer in Toronto. She came to the house, assured us that she could train our dog. She used food to gain his attention... er I mean TRIED. Three months and NOTHING. She never did acknowledge that she didn't have a clue as to what to do with him though we saw the look of bewilderment on her face. My dog doesn't work for anything, food, toys, affection, nothing as we found out at 4 months of age. Enough of that.
Next phase: we were told about a gentleman that trains dogs using other dogs. He was recommended and apparently he knew what to do with Pyrs. At the end of our ropes, at 15 months we were ready to try anything. Six months, twice a week with physical corrects. Anyhow, at the end of the 6 months, he was NOT an off leash dog as we had been promised and though he was trained better than 95% of the dogs there, he is a Pyr, independent, dominant and would rather explore what's on the other side of the hill than worry about where we are. It's the breed and they never acknowledged it. We left.
Finally, this spring we met the angels of Bark Busters. $1,000 already spent on training, (and reading every book on dominance and doing what they said), and still no clue as to how to make him behave, not to pull us, to not go after other dogs. We literally stumbled over Bark Busters at the All About Pets show in April 2007. Monica and Cindy noticed Niko right away. Immediately they recognized his state of mind, dominant, a true alpha male. They started talking, but I was not open to the idea of any other trainers and spending more money. We took the behaviour rating test, got a C, and then later at home when we really sat and thought about it, he flunked, F! I researched BB very, very thoroughly. I even Googled 'bad bark busters' and found no hits. After emailing Monica several times, we hesitantly called Monica and set up an appointment. My gut was telling me to do this. Lifetime guarantee I thought, she'll be back every month!
Niko posed a challenge, and was very stubborn. We started the training. He was VERY reluctant to give up his position of #1 in the house. He rebelled subtly, sulked in his crate and tested me at every chance he got. In short, two months later, he was giving it up. We tried several different things with Monica as he was that stubborn. She had options that made sense and he finally gave it up.
We learned and were educated by Monica on what the responsibility of an alpha is in the pack. We now respect our dog’s dominant nature but we know how to handle him. He truly has a wonderful temperament. No one but Monica acknowledged his truly alpha nature, and showed us the limitations we have with him, being a Pyr, and intact. But also ways around them.
We now do obedience with Niko, Rally O. It is extremely rare to see Pyrs in obedience. Go ahead, Google it. He will be the first Great Pyrenees to get his Novice A Rally Obedience title in Canada and you're still wondering if you should call Monica???
Thanks again Monica!!!
Jana, Sam and Niko