Rocky came to us from Maxfund when he was about 9 months old. He'd been brought to Denver following Hurricane Katrina and was thin, had bad diarrhea, and was generally in poor condition from spending so much time in the dirty water with very little, if anything to eat. Maxfund did a great job cleaning him up, getting him started on anti-biotics, and neutering him. However, he had to be re-homed quickly due to a risk of kennel cough, which was sweeping the shelters. They wanted him home as soon as possible to prevent him from getting the kennel cough on top of his other problems.

Rocky was challenging from the start! He barked incessantly. He barked in the early hours of every morning, he barked at people passing the house, and he barked aggressively and lunged at other dogs when out walking. He barked continuously in the car for long and short journeys. We had letters of complaint from neighbors as he barked continuously in the back yard (even if he was out for just a few minutes!) In addition to the barking, he pulled hard on his leash when on walks, and if off leash, he would simply run off - no amount of calling him had any effect at all. He would also growl and threaten to nip his new family members if we tried to move him from wherever he chose to lie in the house.
We enlisted the help of Kari at Wag & Train. Kari recognized what she termed the 'Katrina' effect; she also realized that Rocky was still young and was also going through adolescence. He was confused, anxious, untrained, and probably unsure how he was supposed to behave.

Armed with Kari's advice and guidance, and a great deal of patience, (which was extremely hard to find at times), and, of course, lots of bags of treats, Rocky made a miraculous turnaround. Although at times Rocky continued to try our patience, often ignoring the treat in favor of the bad behavior, he drove me close to tears on a number of occasions and he seemed to be spiraling out of control. We persevered for several months, during which we had regular re-assuring conversations, meetings, and emails with Kari. Then suddenly it all paid off! It happened almost overnight. We now have a much calmer, well-behaved dog who doesn't bark at the drop of a hat. He is much more sociable towards other dogs, and is generally very pleasurable to have around!

Many thanks to Kari for her patience and encouragement. We now have a fantastic family dog! He still doesn't always come when he's called - but we are working on that!

Beverley, John, and Lewis
Rocky and Foxy!