Happy Dachshunds- young and old!
The Newlins are one Dachshund loving clan. Over the years we’ve owned five of the long skinny pups, and each of our dogs left a lasting mark upon the hearts of our family.
Our first and longest held dog was Nicholas, named for his Christmas arrival as a gift to our daughters, Catherine and Liz. Nicholas was their “little boy in a brown furry suit.” He became a big part of their lives and was a very loving and devoted pet. Nicholas remained with our family for an amazing 18 years, and while he was adored, he typified the meaning of “high maintenance.” Nicholas had our hearts but drove the family to distraction by running away, never becoming house broken and being aggressive with other animals.
When Nicholas was about sixteen-years-old, we heard about Chris Tucker and his unique approach to dog training. We consulted with Chris and together determined that the time and expense required to change his behavior – so late in his life – wouldn’t be worth the limited amount of time we could enjoy his new behavior. Instead, we decided that the best opportunity with our elder pet was to design a plan that would help us to better manage Nicholas’ behavior during his remaining time.
Several years later, when Nicholas passed away, we purchased two new puppies, Charlie and Laney, and remembered Dogs on Cue’s training service. Chris Tucker and our family began to define a regimen for working together. I was impressed with Chris’ unique ability to build relationships not just with the animals, but with people too. The training was not about Chris’ ability that couldn’t be duplicated; instead, it was about his ability to transfer his knowledge to us, his clients.
About a month into training the new puppies, an unthinkable tragedy occurred when the two puppies chewed on an Azalea branch in the backyard, were poisoned and died. Our family was traumatized and devastated by the event. Chris was very upset about losing the puppies, too, and especially concerned for us, his broken-hearted customers. Some people like dogs. Some people, though, are dog lovers, and need them as companions. Chris encouraged our family to adopt two new puppies from the Dachshund Rescue of Houston http://www.dachshundrescueofhouston.org/index.html right away.
Even with natural reservations about bringing two new pets into our home after a tragedy, we brought Henry and Lexi home to become the newest members of the family. Not being sure where they came from, what their histories were or even the strength of their relationship with one another, we felt it was important to set the standard with the two new puppies right away.
Chris stepped right in to diagnose Henry’s and Lexi’s personalities and behaviors, and to design a training strategy. Henry was a little on the aggressive side, while Lexi was quite submissive and had a severe case of separation anxiety. We found that we had two diverse strategies to employ with Chris. First, we had to establish guidelines with Henry; and then we had build Lexi’s confidence and independence.
I am a Senior Partner with SRI Group in Houston with an engineering background and a need to examine what works and why. It is important to me that I emphasize Chris’ understanding of my family as clients and our individual strengths and differences. This made all the difference in the world in our training experience. Chris defined a regime that we could live with and be happy with. It’s clear to me that it’s worth the investment. What Chris possesses is unique. It’s a gift. It’s fun to watch someone who loves what he does.
Chris was patient, loved sharing, got our family excited about what we were doing and could explain why what we were learning works so well. If you are going to make the emotional investment in your dogs, and you don’t follow through with establishing the behaviors you want and eliminating the ones you don’t like, then your experience with your pet will not be as enjoyable as it could be.
Our family has tried other commercially based training classes in the past, and while they were helpful, they were not as individualized as what Dogs on Cue has to offer. Chris has unique, behavior specific programs that are very effective. One unusual program is Dogs on Cue’s Barkathon where clientele get together socially with their dogs. Various clients host parties so that their dogs learn how to behave when they are socializing amongst friends, family members and business associates. Other methods include taking dogs to pet-friendly eateries where the dogs must behave while their owners enjoy lunch. Chris applies real world expectations and behaviors. People want and need their dogs to behave responsibly . . . in front of other people and in front of other dogs . . . not just to “sit” or “roll over”.
In addition, Chris’ strengths in positive reinforcement make you feel good. It’s 20% effective training strategy and 80% follow up. You can spend an extraordinary amount of effort using the wrong strategy and not get the right results. Chris motivates his clients to follow through and deploy his methodologies, and makes sure that their technique mirrors his own. He ensures that his clients walk away with a new set of skills, not just the experience of watching him perform tricks with their dogs.
Over the last few months, Henry and Lexi have become trustworthy companions. They behave. They don’t strain on the leash. They know who is boss. And while my girls and I think fondly of Nicholas and always will, we don’t have the problems of the new dogs running away, soiling the floors or being aggressive with other animals. They are loveable pets that don’t create aggravation, worry or concern. I wish he had known what I know now when Nicholas was a puppy. We’ve had a much different experience with Henry and Lexi than we had with Nicholas.
Jim Newlin
This entry was posted on Friday, September 4th, 2009 at 10:37 am and is filed under Blog, Testimonials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.