Riku, male Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier, came to our place when he was 3.5 months old. He was very challenging from the beginning. He chewed and broke so many things at home and started barking excessively whenever he heard some noises. He became more and more “wild” as he got older. He started showing aggressive behavior when he was 5 months old. During our walk, he suddenly jumped up on me and started growling and nipping as if he was demanding something such as cookies, and it became a daily routine. It was very difficult to control him when that happened,  and  I was always very nervous when walking him. He also became very aggressive towards some of the dogs in the neighborhood and sometimes growled and barked at people including children, too. By the time he became one year old, he often became extremely aggressive towards my husband, especially at night, and it was very difficult to calm him down when it happened. We thought that we might not be able to keep him at our home any longer but wanted to try some kind of training before making the final decision. That’s when we got to know Atlantic K9 Training and contacted them.

When I talked with Kathleen for the first time and asked about 2 weeks Bootcamp Training, she listened to my story and recommended me to bring Riku to their facility in order to observe and assess his behavior. During the initial observation session, Kathleen showed us how to control some of his bad behaviors, and it worked when I followed her advice during the session. Luckily, Riku was admitted to the Bootcamp Training! After completing the Bootcamp, Jenny gave us training tips and instructed us how to continue Riku’s training. She also listened to my story and gave me good advice when I called her to consult about Riku. Riku’s behavior has significantly improved after the Bootcamp, and I became able to communicate with him better, and he became much more obedient. Now, I can enjoy pleasant walks with him. He is a happy dog most of the time. Once in a while he still gets aggressive towards my husband, but he can be controlled easily. Of course, Riku still has some issues such as jumping up on people to say “hi,” trying to steal food, and barking at noises, and the training is going on. We recently had a very good training session with Jenny and will have another session with her again soon. Riku also stayed at Atlantic K9 for boarding a couple of times. All the Atlantic K9 staff we met are very friendly and nice, and it’s good to know that he is in good hands with training sessions and a lot of play time while we are away!