Wolfman K9 Obedience - References

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

17 June 2009 - Featured Dog - Strider

Strider came into my life May 2007. I had lost my lovely German Shepherd 3 months earlier but had no intention on getting a new dog anytime soon. I was at my Vet’s with my cat and I met a woman who was there with two adorable puppies. They were Anatolian/German Shepherd cross – I had no idea what an Anatolian Shepherd was but based on my experience I am drawn to shepherds. They had just been weaned and they had fallen off of a deck a few days earlier. There was nothing broken so they were sent home to recover, but they didn’t.

I stayed in touch with the “breeder” and the puppies were not getting better, if anything they were getting worse. It took a couple of weeks before it was sorted out that the issue was that the puppies were not getting calcium in their food. It was a human error, an oversight, but the result was that the puppies had basically leached the calcium out of their bones.

Once the diagnosis was made, and corrective feeding started, the puppies immediately started to get better, but the second puppy just wasn’t improving dramatically – he needed some TLC. So I went and picked him up and that was that – we bonded. That first weekend was rough – he couldn’t stand at all. I had to carry him out and hold him up so he could pee, and hold his bowl to him so he could eat. His front legs were bent and I wasn’t sure if he did survive if his legs would recover. I scheduled a vet appt to have x-rays and blood work done just to see if he had a fighting chance. The good news was that his front leg bones were not bent, but you could barely distinguish the difference between his muscle tissue and his bones – not a good sign. His legs appeared bowed because of that he had stretched his ligaments. The vet sent him home with lots of supplements, and instructions to put splints on his legs to help the ligaments recover. At this point he was about 11 weeks old, and had been calcium deficient for about a month – the same time as his body was trying to grow.

Once he started getting the nutrition and attention he craved he started to bounce back. There were little triumphs ever day – when he could stand up to pee, when he started chewing off his splints because they held him back. His boundless energy started to show up within two weeks he was walking and we couldn’t keep the splints on him. We decided to name him Strider – after Aragorn’s ranger name from The Lord of the Rings, and because nothing was going to hold him back. Health wise it still took a long time for his body to recover, but month by month, you could see the difference. My vet says that it is a miracle that he survived and he did it by sheer force of will and lots of love and care.

So we weathered his health challenges at that start of his life. Strider was developing into a curious, loving, playful dog. There were some early challenges where his first response to new people was to bark continuously, but at about 7 months of age he showed the first signs of aggression. Now my last dog was a German Shepherd, and I thought that I knew what I was doing – hah! My Shepherd was a lovely friendly dog. Turns out Anatolians, although there are a lot of similarities with the personality and appearance of Shepherds, are a much more dominant and protective dog. I was stuck and what I knew to do was not working – if anything it was making it worse. Someone recommended Bark Busters. I calld the local franchise owner and he came out and spent about 3 hours with us. I liked what he had to say, but he had a hard time getting Strider to do what he wanted him to – left me with his recommendation and a prescription of lots of practise – at a price tag of $500.

This was important to me – I absolutely loved Strider but I will always have children and people in my life and I can’t keep a dog that I can’t trust. So practise I did, but Strider literally figured out pretty quickly that there was no Bite in Bark Busters. It wasn’t that he was nasty, he wanted to please but it turns out he was very nervous and was so busy paying attention to everything else it was a battle to get him to pay attention to me.

This takes us to Christmas 2007, and I am at my wits end. I got the all clear to get him neutered to see if that would make any difference. He was so bad at the vet clinic that when they gave him the pre-shot to calm him down we had to wait in an exam room off the side, and even then he wouldn’t settle down. As I was picking him up after the procedure I asked about posting a notice in the clinic to find a farm home for Strider. I had decided that I just couldn’t keep him and I didn’t know what else to do. The tech asked me if I had tried the Wolfman – I said no, but I had heard about him. I just didn’t know how to reach him. She gave me his phone number and I called the next day.

Karen answered the phone, told me how Mike’s program works and I set up to come for a look see. I pull into the parking lot and it was full of dogs and people. Strider was going crazy in the back seat, barking and growling back and forth. I’m stressed because Strider was being uncontrollable, and there was lots to deal with. Mike came over to the car, took Strider from me and literally within two minutes had transformed my dog. He got Strider’s attention and as soon as Strider did what Mike asked him, Mike gave Strider loving touch.

Mike’s process of giving dogs simple consistent commands, strong negative reinforcement when they act out and loving touch when the dog does what he is asked transformed my dog. Mike still had to train me what to do, and regular practice on the dog field and at puppy parties was part of it, but that first day was the pivot point. Strider and I haven’t looked back since.

I now have a wonderful, joyful dog. He is very obedient. He has boundless energy. Thanks to training at Mike’s and boarding with Mike & Karen or at the Wolves Den when I am traveling he is also very well socialized. Strider is fantastic with my young nieces. I still have to manage him when he meets people for the first time, but now I know how to introduce him and he has relaxed so that rather than being protective he wants to play. Strider has just turned two and he is an absolute joy in my life. We had to overcome two huge obstacles – one his health, and two his fear and aggression. Thank you Mike and Karen – I wouldn’t have this lovely boy in my life without you.

Patti Mara