We adopted a rescue dog at the end of November 2012. He is a 7 year old Silky Terrier who we were told had been given up by his owner due to excessive barking (she lived in an apartment). In the four months that he was with the rescue, he lived in 6 foster homes and was adopted and returned twice. When he came to live with us, we could see that he had some trust issues. He was not comfortable getting too close or affectionate. He definitely kept a "wall" up. After a few weeks, he began to show signs of dominance and then aggression. He became extremely aggressive towards all other animals and people while on leash. Walking him was a nightmare and was absolutely miserable. Then he started showing aggression in our home. He started by growling at us, then it progressed to snapping. He started marking, urinating and defecating in our home, even though we knew he was housebroken. He would run the inside perimeter of our home constantly grunting, growling, barking as if "guarding" it. He wasn't sleeping well at night. He just seemed miserable and angry. We were not comfortable around him and did not trust him with our two kids. We felt helpless and hopeless. We had already bonded with him and the thought of not being able to keep him in our family was truly gut wrenching. We decided to look into experienced dog trainers.
We researched and made calls. We were shocked to find out the cost and that there was no guarantee. In fact, many we spoke to sounded doubtful. We were devastated. Thank goodness for our dog's amazing foster mom and for the rescue who led us to Emilio. My husband called Emilio who sounded positive, confident, and willing to help from the first call. He worked within our budget and even allowed us to make payments.
Emilio showed up to meet and assess our dog and situation. After just 5-10 minutes with our dog, we noticed a shift in our dog's behavior and attitude. I will be honest and say that it was a lot to take in as our dog needed behavior modification. This was not about trying to teach him simple commands or tricks. However, it was obvious Emilio knew what he was doing. We decided to proceed with setting up sessions.
We had 5 sessions with Emilio. He came to our home one time each week for over an hour each time to work with our dog and us. We did everything he told us to do. We did our homework. Our dog picked up the commands and instruction very quickly.
It has now been over a month since we finished our lessons/training with Emilio. We couldn't be more pleased with the outcome. Our dog behaves on leash and enjoys walks now. We could barely walk him for 5 minutes just outside our home a few months ago. Well, yesterday we took him to Lake Murray for the day, and he did amazing. There were bicyclists, runners, other dogs, etc and he did great! He doesn't mark in the house anymore. He doesn't run the perimeter. He sleeps like a rock at night now. He hasn't growled or snapped once. We can see a calmness and happiness about him now. The greatest thing? He has let his wall down and is now so affectionate with all of us.
We are truly grateful to Emilio.
Steve and Trish B, Santee CA
Santee
California