Harry's Story by Wendy Pfeiffer

     
Harry is our first dog. The only experience we had of living with a dog was when my brother’s ten year old black Labrador would come and stay with us. We loved having him and I enjoyed the walks and the company. So, thinking ahead to when my two children have flown the nest and the company and enjoyment a dog would bring, I decided that a dog of our own would be a good idea. We waited almost a year as I wanted to make sure it was not just a whim and that both the children, then aged twelve and sixteen and myself, all knew what we were taking on. After all, a ‘family’ dog should mean family responsibility and not just mine!
Harry arrived in our lives in July 2006. Having previously read numerous books and spent a considerable amount of time talking to our vet and the breeder, we thought we were well prepared to deal with anything this totally adorable bundle of fluff could throw at us……how wrong could we be! 

Time went by quickly and this precious little fur ball soon grew into a gangly boisterous puppy and with him came yet more mess, more mishaps, more sleepless nights etc. So we read yet more books and watched all of Caesar the Dog Whisperer programmes on the television! We learnt all about not treating him as a human – after all he is a dog. We learnt all about his place in the ‘pack’. We learnt all about ignoring him when we came in to the room and not giving him lots of fuss when we left. In fact, in theory we learnt a lot and thought we were doing quite well.
Harry has never been aggressive to either other dogs or people, but on one occasion when we had let him off lead, Harry excitedly charged across the field to a small child about the same height as Harry, who understandably completely freaked out. We watched helplessly as our recalls were totally ignored and although the child was physically unhurt he was very scared and I spent the whole of that day and night waiting in fear for the furious parents to come banging on my door demanding this ‘vicious animal’ be put down.
From then on, when we let Harry off lead, we only took him to desolate areas and usually very early in the morning or late at night, hoping that we would not meet anybody. However, one day when we thought we were alone, a man and two children suddenly appeared and Harry again darted off at speed towards them. I then noticed that the man was carrying a cricket bat and my stomach lurched at the thought that in a panic to protect his children from this large unknown dog racing towards them, he might use it on Harry. Luckily, this family were obviously ‘doggy people’ and they were not fazed by Harry bounding up to them. But for me, the damage had been done and I         decided from that moment that I would never risk letting him off lead again.                  

 
In addition to this problem, Harry used to pull furiously on the lead and I dreaded meeting anyone out with another dog, as alone I stood no chance of holding back a large excited 34kg fully grown dog pulling to go and meet another of his kind. When Harry was six months old he pulled me over when we were out walking and I ended up in hospital for three days with a concussion and knee injury. So I changed the collar and lead to one which I felt gave me more control. It helped, but did not completely stop him pulling especially if he saw another dog.

Through all these times we never once felt angry or upset with Harry and not once did we feel like giving up on him – we all totally loved him and so, we read yet more books, watched yet more television programmes and tried our very best to put into practice everything we were learning about. When Harry was almost a year we discovered a dog club and joined. It was great. We learnt even more and Harry could at last socialise with other dogs whilst we were all kind of kept an eye on. However the classes were quite large and although we enjoyed them and Harry was certainly under better control during the classes, I was still not achieving what we wanted and what Harry needed.

I used to watch enviously the owners who could let their dogs off lead and recall them and Harry watched even more enviously at the dogs running free. I would still take him out at 5am to avoid meeting any other dogs and I would only go out with him during the day if one of the children were with me to help hold him and we still never let him off lead.
Having read Jan Fennell’s book, the Dog Listener, I looked on the internet to see if there were any of her trainers in this area. I did find a couple but the charges were astronomical and what would happen if I needed more than one or two sessions?
So I plodded on with my walks at dawn with only the waking birds for company. Harry would trot along on his lead, seemingly quite content but I knew he needed proper off lead exercise and I felt really despondent and a complete failure.

One day in May this year I popped into my vet and saw a leaflet from a local dog trainer who offered one to one consultations. I took the leaflet home and was very impressed with what I read. I had nothing to loose so I decided to give this guy a call.
That was my first contact with Kevin!

We had a one to one with Kevin which lasted almost two hours and was very reasonably priced. I had recently had a birthday and had been given some money so I was able to book another three meetings. We all came on leaps and bounds during those first few weeks. We had finally found someone that was willing to take the time, had the most amazing amount of patience and that ability to teach not only Harry but more importantly us, what we had been doing wrong for the last two years and how to put it right. After four weeks we went on to join one of Kevin’s group classes which lasts ninety minutes. As he only has, at the most six dogs in any one class, the owners are all given the time and attention needed to address each of our individual problems. All of the owners are there because we all want the same thing – the best for our dogs and together we are all lucky enough to be learning from the very best! Kevin advised us about what sort of lead to get and now Harry walks beautifully to heel. We have learnt so much but I know we still have lots to learn. It does not always come easy and the whole family have to be totally committed to putting into practice what we learn – all the time. It is hard work.

In one of my many books on dog training, I once read that someone can be a good dog trainer but that does not necessarily make them a good instructor. What was also surprising to me was to learn that someone can be an excellent dog trainer but that does not necessarily mean that they love dogs. Very rarely do you find someone who combines all three qualities as Kevin does. He loves dogs, is an excellent trainer and without doubt a fantastic instructor. You feel completely relaxed and know that you can ask him what sometimes may seem the silliest of questions. He is more than generous with his time and never minds an email or phone call in-between training sessions if we need to ask something or just need a bit of confidence building.
I do lack self belief particularly at times when I am attempting something new and especially when I go somewhere new to let Harry off lead. But again I have only to ask Kevin to do that first walk with us and he is there, saying and doing all the right things that then gives me the confidence to go it alone the next time.
It hasn’t always been plain sailing and the times when Harry would do exactly what Kevin said but then would ignore me were sometimes frustrating to say the least – Kevin always makes it look so easy, but as a family we have remained committed and with lots of hard work, we are getting there.

 
Finances
Can you afford the cost of training? – The question is, can you afford not to! Some people who read this will be in a position not to have to think about where they are going to find the money, but those for whom money is a little tight, especially in today’s climate, I guess you may have to juggle things around to find the money each week and sometimes change your priorities. As a parent I have always managed, somehow to find the money to provide my children with what they need (not necessarily what they say they want!) even if it has sometimes meant taking on extra work and Harry deserves nothing less.
Do I have any regrets? Only one and that is that I did not know about Kevin when Harry was a puppy. It is much easier to teach a puppy and owner the right way to do things before they have learnt the wrong way. So when you are calculating the finances involved with having a dog – don’t forget to include the cost of a good trainer too. 

Three months after our first meeting with Kevin
I have just returned home. Harry and I have been out for well over an hour. Harry has been off lead the whole time and today came to me on every recall. Yesterday we went to a park well known to other dog owners and where there can sometimes be up to twenty dogs off lead. Harry ran off to meet the other dogs and did all the doggy things that dogs do when they meet each other and returned to me, if not on every recall, about 90% of them. Yes, I did have a bit of a panic on those missed 10%, but not nearly as much as I would have three months ago.
The pleasure I got today from seeing this big brown eyed, golden haired, handsome boy freely running around, frolicking in among the long grass is…..indescribable.

 

After two years of keeping Harry confined to walking on a lead, Harry now has the freedom of running free and doing all the wonderful natural doggy type things that we were holding him back from. Not because we did not love him or have the time for him, but simply because we did not know the right way to give him that freedom.
We will be forever grateful to Kevin for quite simply, changing our lives.

From Wendy, Rachael, Alex and Harry in Sittingbourne.