It all started with Buster
Back in 2018 I was stuck in a rut, I had severe social anxiety that deeply impacted my ability to leave the house alone or interact with strangers; I had no ambitions, and no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I saw an ex-schoolmate was volunteering at my local animal shelter and was calling out for more volunteers. I’d always had a love for animals so I thought I’d go and give it a shot. After my first week I was sold, I ended up volunteering 4 days per week, up to 12 hours each day.
2 months after I started volunteering, Buster was admitted at 18 months old. He came in from a Kalgoorlie rescue and was covered in red dirt and filth, we chucked him in the bath and got him comfy in his kennel. He was dog friendly, and loved people a little too much, as most of the volunteers were elderly and unfortunately Buster’s main form of communication was mouthing and would often break their skin. We bonded very quickly and he became ‘mine’.
The shelter did not do him good at all. He regressed a lot; he became people selective, reactive to people and dogs, and after a couple or fights in the kennels he became dog aggressive as well. After a year he had become almost unadoptable.
In this time I was watching every time the dog trainer came in to work the shelter dogs, I’d ask questions, learn as much as I could from him in order to help Buster. I wanted my boy to get adopted so bad I made it my mission to make him adoptable. His obedience became amazing, he learned sit, down, paw, bed, spin, and how to walk nicely on lead. Unfortunately this didn’t help his adoptability.
In the summer of 2019 I made the decision to turn my life around so I can adopt him myself. While training him I had learned I love training dogs; learning about how their minds work and how to change their emotional and physical responses to stimuli is just so cool to me. I got a paying job in order to save up for my formal training, got my driving license, and moved out of my parents house in the space of 6 months.
While I knew what I was getting myself into, I had no idea just how bad Buster’s behaviour really was. In his first 6 months with me had bitten 2 family members, and a roommate’s friend. We couldn’t walk anywhere without him getting overstimulated and he struggled with anything to do with being outside the house. As with most aggressive dogs, when he was with his people he was an angel and the most loving dog you’ve ever met. Furthering my education was put on the backburner when I started reaching out for help for him.
Our story: Buster, the rebellious canine
The first trainer I reached out to was someone I worked closely with in the past and knew Buster, I was severely let down when I was told ‘there’s nothing I can do for him’. The second trainer I reached out to was the wonderful Lauren (Lorri) at Holistic Hound Dog Training. She completely changed mine and Buster’s lives; I always knew Buster needed an e-collar but didn’t know where to start, Lorri made it so easy and was so supportive, even when we stumbled and crumbled (a solid handful of times) she was there to pick us up and throw us back on track. I started to shadow her and we even used Buster as a helper dog for her clients. He exceeded both of our expectations and is now a helper dog for my business and we still use him as a helper at Lorri’s group classes!
After Buster improved so much, and I learned a lot from Lorri, I finally pursued my dog training qualification through the National Dog Training Federation (NDTF). I learned a lot about dog behaviour, body language, puppy raising, socialisation/desensitisation/habituation, different training methods and how they’re effective, etc. Buster learned how to turn on a light and skateboard (he can still do it and it’s a really fun party trick).
I started casually taking on clients and doing one off sessions, I loved it then and I still love it now. Buster has become a great helper dog with clients and I often bring him to evaluations, soon to be succeeded by Sparrow, his new little sister!
Training dogs is genuinely such a fulfilling job.
Watching dogs learn and change, their guardians learning with them and working with them and seeing the difference in their own dogs is such a great feeling. Knowing first-hand the relief a person can feel when their dog becomes what they knew they could be, I feel it all over again when I see clients succeeding.
