Wolfman K9 Obedience - References

Don’t take his word for it, see what Mike’s clients are saying about him.

31 March 2007 - Featured dog - Scooby

After recently just losing our 6 year old great Great Dane to gastric torsion and bloat, we had our eyes open for a new Great Dane to fill the void of a home we’ve never had dog-less. After ordering a Great Dane from a professional breeder, well known in Great Dane breeding, we received a phone call from a very close friend and neighbour. Through the grapevine, he heard that there was a dog in dire need of a home, not yet sure that it was a Great Dane. From gathering more details, we learned it was, and that Scooby was moved from various homes (6 to be exact) during his first 9 months. The excuses ranged, but the most popular was “he just got too big”. Well, he is a Great Dane….

We first got Scooby on Thanksgiving weekend 2005. Having no idea just how bad this dog was treated, we were shocked when he was brought to our home. Scooby was very underweight; you could almost classify him as emaciated. However, he was not shy, and quickly got into our recently passed Great Dane’s toys. After talking to the current owner that was dropping him off; a partner of what we assume was a backyard breeder, we learned that Scooby had to fight other Great Danes for food. This was evident because he was covered in scars and recent scrape wounds; not to mention his very low body weight. But even then you could tell he had a great spirit as he ran around the backyard with us and played with toys.

Scooby began to gain weight, and was doing well. He even accepted the new addition of another Great Dane, his “sister” as we call her; Aneres. They played wonderfully together; we had no idea of any coming issues that Scooby may have. One day, I was walking Scooby around the subdivision, like any other day that we had. A neighbour greeted us as we walked, and their dog had rushed out of the door of their house and towards me. Scooby reacted in which any dog protecting their owner would, and grabbed the dog by the neck and pinned it to the ground. The other dog had wounds, although non-life threatening. However, this incident had us highly concerned, even if it was just protection; we thought something needed to be done.

Of course, in a small town, news travels fast, and some were saying Scooby must be put down because he’s a horrible aggressive dog. We defended his actions as protection but he continued to show a newly developed aggression for every dog he saw. This concerned us so we enrolled him into a friend’s training program; but it was based on treats, and the training occurred in a local school gymnasium…Scooby still continued to show aggression and non-compliance; primarily in tugging on the leash, jumping and barking. The training method was not working. We started looking elsewhere, and our vet suggested Mike Martin. We were hesitant at first because we did not want to insult our friend by stopping her method of training, but we needed something that worked.

Scooby attended Mike’s program. The first time he showed aggression towards other dogs; in less than 20 minutes, he was able to walk around the yard without lunging at the other dogs. We decided to keep the visits to the program consistent so that Scooby would learn fast with repetition and also get the proper training and socialization that he needed. Each visit taught Scooby new things; but also taught ourselves new things; and each visit showed great improvement. That was Scooby almost a year ago…

Today Scooby is a totally different dog. Just the other day he was at Mike’s program running free leash with other dogs and playing. You wouldn’t know he was ever the dog he was before. We are so impressed with Mike’s method that we carry his cards with us, and if we hear anyone with any dog troubles, we let them know who can work it out. We’re very glad to have Mike, Josh and the rest of the team working with our dogs; we can’t thank them enough.

Meet Scooby in our gallery.
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