Review:
We called Bark Busters Toronto for in home dog training when our shih-poo, Benson, was around 7 months old because he was constantly biting and growling at us when we tried to touch him, pick him up, put his leash on, get him out of his bed, take an object away, etc. We were extremely frustrated and didn’t know how to interact with him. We were always scared to touch him because we didn’t know if he was going to try to bite us or let us pick him up. We have a vet in the family and when he saw how Benson would snap at us when we tried to take a chew away, he told us we should pick him up, say “no” and then pin him to show him who the boss really is. We started doing that and the problem kept getting worse. It was clear to us that he was dominant and we didn’t know how to fix the problem.
Lisa at Bark Busters came in and taught us the necessary tricks so that we could establish dominance with Benson. We were doing everything incorrectly and the little tricks she taught us were so easy and have made the world of a difference. We let him dictate play time, where to go on a walk, and would always go to him when we wanted something. He knew he was the boss!
She taught us that physically pinning Benson was giving him the message that our touches usually lead to forced submission. We had to teach him how to make the right decision by getting him to choose to do things for us rather than us following his lead. For simple activities like making him come to us so we could put on his leash to challenging activities like cutting his nails, we now have a clear set of communications that Benson understands, making all of our interactions with him positive.