Testimonial

Jake’s story…

We adopted Jake via American Brittany Rescue on Friday January, 12, 2007. According to his write up on the
ABR website, Jake suffered from separation anxiety and was on daily medication for it. With the input of our
vet, it was determined the meds were not doing any good so we stopped them. Jake was an only dog and his
owners both worked during the day. My husband and I both worked also, but we have 2 other Brittanys to offer
him companionship (one of which is also a rescue Brittany we learned of in a shelter via ABR nearly 7 years
ago). No luck! They both played with him some and were there with him when we left each day for work, but
that didn’t help with his anxiety. We learned different “techniques” to desensitize him to separation, but they
had little if any effect on him. In March, I even quit my job in part to stay home with Jake as I couldn’t stand
leaving him to the horrible whining and moaning each morning. Well a month later and at wits end, my
husband made the statement “Jake has to go”. Our other Brittanys were becoming affected by his behavior
and to say the least, our household had been turned upside down.

I contacted the adoption coordinator for ABR that we had worked with to get Jake. She immediately suggested
LaBest and told me about their pet behavior specialist, Deb. She had worked with her before. I was willing to
try anything because deep down I knew Jake was a loving dog and had great potential. My husband on the
other hand, he thought Jake had finally affected me in a negative way and I had lost my mind. I went ahead
and made arrangements for Deb to visit our home, which is recommended so the dog isn’t out of their familiar
surroundings. Deb visited our home along with Betty from ABR and 2 other girls from LaBest. Good thing….
Jake really proved my point during the visit. First thing we worked on was treats. I just handed each one a
treat as I got them out of the package. Little did I know I wasn’t just giving him a treat, but I was really “feeding”
his anxiety. It was discovered Jake’s behavior was a result of low self esteem and fear of his dog crate. I
learned techniques to let my dogs outside, feed them, keep them back when opening the front door when a
visitor arrives, walking them on a leash and relaxing them. Simple things I thought, but little did I know. Jake is
a new dog!! His behavior started changing the very first day for the better. His self esteem has greatly
improved. All 3 dogs are now on the same level and no one feels less (or more) than the others. Even my
husband saw the difference when he got home that day and has jumped on board using the techniques
LaBest taught me. About a week later, my husband hugged Jake and said he couldn’t believe just a week ago
he had even thought of having Jake put to sleep. The fear we used to see in Jake’s eyes is no longer there.
He wouldn’t even LOOK at the crate when he would walk by it in the living room. Now he goes inside it to get
his treats!! Thanks LaBest & Deb for helping transform Jake into the boy I knew he could be.

P.S. We are in the process of selling our house and I was telling our agent, Tiffany, about the training a
couple of days after you were here. Thursday we were meeting with her and she told us she was at a friend’s
house this past weekend and her friend’s Rottweiler was really excited and acting up when the doorbell rang.
Tiffany said she used her arm to mark “wait” and the dog stopped and waited there until she said fine’. She
couldn’t believe it and neither did the dog’s owner!