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Zero
Dewey
Abby
Kenai
Zero
Before Christmas of 2005, life with my very affectionate,
but very unruly American Bulldog Zero was chaotic to say the least.
While the love between my dog and I was never in doubt, our ability
to live with each other was in question. She was a 70 lb. ball
of muscle and energy, and it was difficult to find a way to exercise
her enough to keep her calm at home. Visitors were routinely knocked
over upon entering my house, and she wasn’t exactly a welcomed
guest at family functions. Things had gotten to the point that
I was considering finding a new home for her. We’d tried
some obedience training before, but with little effect.
Enter John Speiser. I’d read an article
about John and Dogheart in the Ann Arbor News in the fall of 2005,
and decided that before I found a new home for Zero, we’d
give training one more try. After my first meeting with John,
I knew that life with my dog would never be the same. Only three
meetings after our initial consultation, Zero was a different
dog. Much of our time was spent on directional work, so that Zero
would eventually become a reliable off-leash dog. The goal was
to turn this headstrong dog into a reliable off-leash companion,
so that exercising her would be easier. While that goal was certainly
met, there were other results as well. She became a much more
manageable dog at home, and her demeanor, while still adventurous,
has mellowed some.
Now, over a year later, Zero is definitely here
to stay. She has become a great hiking companion and camping partner.
She’s easy to exercise, and she’s good with our houseguests.
Family events wouldn’t be the same without her, and my parents
love having her visit. They often joke that since her behavior
has improved so much, I should consider changing her name to Plus
One. With John’s help, Zero and I have forged a relationship
based on respect and positive leadership. As we’ve continued
working with John, the range of activities Zero and I can do together
has really opened up and allowed me to have a much more meaningful
relationship with my dog.
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Beth Sherman,
Ann Arbor, MI
I would like to thank John and his staff for helping us with
our second dog, Dewey. Our first dog was extremely easy going
and had very low requirements for training and exercise. When
we adopted our second dog it was quite a shock. By the time we
contacted Dogheart, Dewey was counter-surfing, riffling through
the garbage can on a daily basis, dragging us around the neighborhood,
and worst of all, had begun leaping and growling at other dogs
while on leash. When I found myself dreading taking him outdoors,
I knew it was time for help.
From our first meeting, John was able to listen
closely to our concerns, provide some very concrete solutions,
and most of all offer us some understanding of our dog’s
behaviors. This provided a much-needed ray of hope that, with
our help, Dewey could become a more enjoyable member of the family.
John designed a training program that required
us to invest more time in our dogs but that easily fit into our
already busy life. There were no outlandish requirements. He simply
taught us how to understand our dogs’ needs and respond
proactively to them. Both of our dogs are calmer and happier guys.
Dewey remains high-spirited but readily responds to simple strategies
that John suggested. I can honestly say that a few months ago,
I didn’t like Dewey very much, but thanks to Dogheart, I
now love him.
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Sharon and Jack Kalbfleisch
We have a standard poodle, Abby, who has adopted Dogheart and
John and Liz as her home away from home. She always greets them
with great enthusiasm and sometimes we think she enjoys training
camp at Dogheart at least as much as home. John has also been
very helpful in training Abby and his strong consistent and loving
approach has worked wonders. We recommend Dogheart and its owners
with the greatest of enthusiasm. As you can see from the picture,
Abby shares in this.
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KENAI
Jeannine LaPrad and David Dickinson
Our three year old Bernese mountain dog, Kenai, has brought
much love and joy to our lives. As a rescued dog, he's had his
share of health and personality issues for us to work out with
him. John and Liz have been amazing with their guidance and insight
into both Kenai's behavior and ours, helping all three of us reach
a happy and comfortable relationship. We appreciate deeply the
values that contribute to their approach in working with and creating
a supportive community for dogs and humans together.
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Izzy
Smokey
Nike
Izzy
Owner: Teymour El Tahry
John “Dogheart” Spieser saved my dog Izzy's life.
In January of 2005 I called an ad in the yellow pages. The company
was Bark Busters. They offered a one time consultation where they
would, in theory, teach you to teach your dog and after that they
would help you if they needed it. Their program cost $500.00 for
what came out to be two hours of work. Their methods included
yelling “bah” at your dog and throwing chains at the
dog’s feet to correct them.
Before Bark Busters, Izzy was rambunctious and very puppy like.
Within hours of Bark Busters Izzy was showing her teeth at anyone
who came near her and finally she bit me a few weeks later.
I took her to the Animal Behavior Institute to have her assessed
by a “specialist” in the field of aggressive animals.
His recommendation was to euthanize her and that he would help
me pick out a better dog. Distraught, my friend Sandy recommended
John to me. John then saved Izzy’s life!
I found Izzy in Cairo in July of 2004. She was abandoned by
her mother and was not in the best of shape. Since she was a wild
street dog, she was very weary of humans. Her instincts were all
based on survival. She was not socialized with humans, let alone
other dogs. As a result, she had very strong instincts to protect
herself and to protect her territory from people and other dogs.
John recognized this right away.
From the first time I met with John, Izzy started to become more
attentive to me and my commands. Rather than using words such
as “bah” and throwing chains, John taught me about
gentle dominance and properly exercising my dog, to have her regain
trust in me. Within a few weeks, I was taking Izzy off the leash
in lower stress areas. As weeks went by, Izzy was able to play
well with other groups of dogs. Izzy, who often fought with dogs
when scared, became the life of the party. She made friends and
was no longer spooked by other dogs.
Recently, I moved to Chicago, where I am gone for extended periods
of the day. Prior to moving, it was inconceivable to leave Izzy
out of her cage when gone, even for a minute. Now I am gone for
periods of up to 8 hours and I come home with full confidence
that she has not destroyed my apartment. While Izzy has a while
to go, she still barks more than I’d like (but way less
than before), she has come a long way from the over protective
man eating wolf that I had. I am glad to say I did not have to
euthanize my dog and I owe it to John.
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SMOKEY
Owner: Renee Wiczorek
Smokey
is a 2 1⁄2 year old Shar-pei mix with lots of energy. From
the time he was a puppy, he had socialization issues with other
dogs and people. Smokey would growl, snap and jump. We tried all
sorts of things like Halti collars and harnesses, but this seemed
to only compound the problem. We became afraid to allow Smokey
to interact with other dogs or strangers. Our biggest fear was
that if we couldn’t change this behavior, we would find
ourselves in an unfortunate and harmful situation.
With a recommendation from a friend, we contacted John. After
spending some time with us and Smokey, John felt that both the
problem and the solution were clear. John began with a 30 foot
leash to give Smokey more freedom while we worked on his verbal
commands. After Smokey mastered his basic commands and actively
looked to us for direction, John introduced “strangers”
and other dogs to work on socialization. As skeptical as we were,
we ultimately progressed to off leash training which further enforced
Smokey’s reliability.
Today, Smokey is very reliable off leash and freely interacts
with other dogs, often several at a time. We believe his new found
“freedom” makes him a more relaxed and healthy dog.
Seeing Smokey run free knowing that we have verbal control makes
us happy, confident owners.
John trained us as much as he trained Smokey. Not only is Smokey
a better dog, but we are better owners.
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NIKE
Owners: James and Maria Coward
Our dog Nike, a stray of mixed breed, was adopted from the
Huron Valley Human Society in September 2003. We began working
with John Spieser in March 2004, at which time we had no control
over this dog. Our goals in working with John included (1) cessation
of eating harmful materials: e.g., dead animals and feces, (2)
controlled walking on a leash and (3) off leash control.
Over a period of three months, we have worked with John during
several training sessions to accomplish these goals. Each was
addressed using a series of prescribed devices and techniques
(prong collar mediated on-leash corrections, line training to
teach specific commands and judicious use of an electric collar)
integrated into a well formulated training schedule.
The result is that after working with John, we have made tremendous
progress in achieving our goals. Because of this, Nike is now
able to be with family and friends at home and in new settings.
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