"Both of my dogs suffer from lack of socialization, pulling on the leash, aggression toward other dogs, and to a lesser degree aggression toward people. Von Dubinhaus Shepherds have been very patient, knowledgeable, and dedicated to the training of my dogs. They go out of their way to suggest great ideas to help out with their behavior, and our dogs are making progress."
~ R.N.
Portland, OR
When we came to Paul at Von Dubinhaus we were desperate. We took in Rufus, a bull mastiff/pitbull cross, when he was six months old. We were his fifth home during that short time. He had been neglected, mistreated and in all likelihood abused. He suffered from demodectic mange so severe that our vet later confided that he could have been put down; it took 11 months and a multiplicity of treatments before the mange cleared. The first three months were fine from a behavioral standpoint, but then things changed. Rufus began to show aggression toward our other dog Brady, a 135 pound black lab mix. This escalated until we had dog fights regularly, especially if we let out guard down. Over the next couple of years his aggression ebbed and flowed. We tried trainers, books even watching the Dog Whisperer, but the best we could manage was temporary improvement.
When he was about 2, Rufus came up lame on one of his back legs, then on the other. We learned that he would require four major orthopedic surgeries (two on each back leg). He now has a total of four metal plates and 26 screws in his two back legs. The surgery required him to be isolated for most of the next eight months while he recovered. But by the time he was physically healthy, his aggression had escalated to become a serious problem. On the leash he was extremely strong and very difficult to control; he went after anything that moved and I could barely control him. Off the leash, he attacked other dogs, including Brady, and while he never attacked a person, he showed unacceptable aggression, including taking snaps at a few people. We realized that we needed to find a trainer who specialized in aggressive, large breed dogs. To make matters more urgent, as we sought a trainer we learned that my wife was pregnant.
This was our situation when we met Paul at Von Dubinhaus: a large aggressive dog who could not be around any people other than the two of us or any dogs including his brother, with a baby on the way in eight months. We feared we might have to give Rufus up. We began working with Paul, cautiously optimistic that we could make enough progress before the baby arrived. What happened was nothing short of amazing. On the leash Rufus became a different dog. He hardly pulls, and when he does he stops after one or two corrections. At home, we have not had a dog fight in months, and aggressive incidents have decreased dramatically (instead of more than one a day, they happen weeks or a month apart). And Rufus is so good with the baby that we have started calling him The Nanny.
We owe much of this change to Paul and his training efforts, and II would strongly recommend to anyone who needs dog training, whether for minor problems or an extreme case like Rufus. He worked tirelessly with both of our dogs, both at his location and in our home. He clearly cared a great deal about us and our dogs and he has done everything possible to help us. I also want to emphasize a couple of points. First of all, this was not a quick fix. While the change in behavior has been remarkable, it required appointments every week or two for several months and Rufus remains a work in progress. This meant dedication on our part and on Paul's. Second of all, Paul did not simply fix our dogs. He gave us the tools and techniques to effect this turnaround, but if we had not committed to following through on his methods we could have gone to training sessions for years without seeing any changes.
We purchased a German Shepherd puppy from a reputable breeder that had no signs of aggressiveness or behavior problems, but we quickly started seeing serious issues with her. Elsie was very frightened of other dogs, people, and even objects around the house. She would fear-bark and lunge at other dogs when she was just 10 weeks old. We took her to puppy training classes where she responded well. She was quick to learn and wanted to please. However, she would not tolerate other dogs around her and occasionally tried to attack the other dogs if they approached too close to her. She was also very frightened of other people and even the trainer could not handle her.
Her behavior with people became more and more dangerous, including growling at children, ignoring commands and chasing dogs or cats, and biting family members when playing. We had to isolate her more and more from these situations, eventually getting to the point where we couldn't walk her outside of own yard and needed to lock her in a room when anyone came over to visit or the kids had friends over. It was a constant worry to us that she would hurt someone or another dog. We reached a point where the liablity over keeping an animal like this became too great. We decided that we would look into Shepherd Rescue options, and if nothing could be done to curb her behavior we would need to have her put-down or adopted.
We contacted Paul and he agreed to evaluate her. Frankly we were surprised anyone would have agreed to work with her, but he said he thought she could be helped and recovered. For several months now we've worked with Paul training Elsie at his location and at our house. She's made huge improvements. Her aggressive behavior with other people is under control and the kids can have friends over without the sense of constant fear. She can go on walks and not engage other dogs or attempt to break from our control. She is slowly being socialized into Paul's Shepherd pack, and is making big steps with her fears of other dogs.
We loved our puppy and it would have been heart-breaking to have to remove her from our family. If you have a dog that is too aggressive and forces you to rearrange your life around keeping other people and animals safe we would strongly recommend contacting Paul.