The Greatest Dog Trainer - EVER!

We’re only part way through our training with Yashar, and I can honestly say I’ve never been more impressed with not just a dog trainer, but a person for that matter. He has been a lifesaver. Let me tell you a little bit about Cooper…

Cooper has been a member of our family for 6 years now. He has always been a challenge for us. We thought we were adopting a lab/terrier mix. Turns out he’s more like a cattle dog/sharpei mix. Yikes. Needless to say, he has a very strong personality - one that has cost us a few vet bills and also landed him in doggy jail. We thought we were smart dog owners, and the smart thing to do was hire the best. 4 years ago we hired the Dog Whisperer himself, Cesar Milan, to come and help us out with Cooper. He told us to be the pack leaders, exercise-discipline-affection, and so on. By the end of our session, Cooper was doing great. Then reality hit, and the next day we had the same old Cooper. I think Cesar gave us a lot of great information, but we never really understood the psychology behind it. It’s one thing to be told to be the pack leader, it’s another to actually understand how dogs think and use that in training. Not to mention, the plan was very unrealistic for us. With 2 children, I hardly have the time to run Cooper for an hour a day, then work with him to boot. We then went to UC Davis and worked with a trainer there. This time it was more about training with a Gentle Leader harness and again, a plan that just wasn’t going to happen in reality. The harness just seemed to cause more stress for the dog, and we sort of gave up. So, for the last few years we have just accepted Cooper for who he was, knew his limitations, and jokingly referred to him as "misunderstood". He was a great family dog, but would never be a dog park dog.

Back in March, we lost our dog of 17 years who most certainly was our baby. Of course, we wasted no time at all in getting Cooper a "friend". Well, they did just fine together, until he realized Zoey wasn’t leaving. Then the battle began. After about a week, it was pretty clear we didn’t have a whole lot of control over the situation, and something needed to be done. Neither dog would back down when they got into a fight, and on top of everything, we were dealing with a puppy that needed training as well. I made a call to a well known trainer that I hear advertise on the radio all the time who also happens to be local. I’m really not sure if he was willing to help train my dogs or not. I couldn’t get past the fact that he made to feel like the lowest form of life for having a dog in my house like Cooper, and that the best solution was to have him put to sleep. Once I unwrapped myself from the ball I was curled up in on the couch and dried the tears, I decided to give it one last try. This time I would just call around, and before it went anywhere, I would let the person know from the get-go that my dog was aggressive, and if that was going to be a problem, forget it. I saw an ad in the phonebook for dog training that specifically said "aggression", and that’s how I found Yashar. He really saved us. More than that, he saved Cooper. (Well, we wouldn’t have put him down, but he saved us all, none the less!)

The first thing he accomplished was calming me down, and told me not to let this person’s scare tactics get to me. (Apparently, I’m not the only one who’s had that experience) We spent a lot of time on the phone. He assured me that most any dog can be trained, regardless of the issues, and that Cooper didn’t sound all that bad. All he asked I do was take a deep breath, and not stress out! We would tackle all of this when he came to the house, and custom design a plan that would work for our family.

We’ve had two appointments with Yashar. I saw results after the first. We’re learning that training isn’t so much something you go and do for a period of time each day. It’s more about establishing ground rules that you live by on a daily basis. In fact, he’s really not training our dogs - he’s training us. We now understand how to be the pack leaders, and he’s helped us see why it’s so important to our dogs that we are. Yashar is so great about explaining not just what to do, but how and why. And the "why" for me is huge. I need to understand the thinking behind something before I can get it! And it’s working. It is so nice to hear one person after another say to us, "Wow, Cooper sure has mellowed out. He’s sure turning into quite a nice boy". That’s a far cry from, "That dog needs to be destroyed".

It’s obvious that there is no "cookie-cutter" training. It is different for each individual and each animal. We look forward to continuing to work with him, and see the results from our work with our dogs. We will recommend him to anyone that is having trouble with their dog. Thank you, Yashar - you are awesome!

~ Karalee Huntley

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