story and photo by Leah O’Donnell
Healthy Planet Lifestyles Editor
It turns out there is a better way to live than revolving each day around your dog. After adopting a rescue dog this summer, I quickly discovered my family was facing some challenges with our new four legged family member, Maverick.
Our household was now turned upside down by a Great Dane mix that weighs around 85 pounds. Many of the things we tolerated, were “tolerable” to us, such as the need to kennel Maverick during every meal to keep him from putting his face on our dining room table or making sure no socks and dare I say, underwear were left out as he would swallow them in one gulp.
What made our family finally decide that we needed help was Maverick’s aggression toward our guests, especially men. The more comfortable our new best friend became in our home, the more he thought this was “his” house and that no one should be allowed to enter it, but us. This was the one thing that we just could not tolerate.
The many other issues (meals, eating everything, the inability to “sit” to get his leash on due to over excitement, and some other inconvenient behaviors) were nothing compared to the fact that we could not answer our door without ensuring our dog was locked up in the kennel. Getting him in the kennel with someone at the door was even becoming quite a challenge. This has all changed thanks to two sessions with K-9 Pack Leader extraordinaire, Bob Laut.
When I contacted K-9 Pack Leader business owner and dog behavior expert, Bob Laut, he spent a significant amount of time with me on the phone discussing my concerns and what I hoped to achieve from his services. Bob explained the importance of my entire family being involved and willing to participate in changing Maverick’s behavior. I set up a time for Bob to come and meet with my family, including our newest four-legged member. I had my reservations, as Bob was an exact representation of who our dog would not allow in our home. Bob did not share in my concerns about meeting our dog, but did give me a few instructions of what to do before he arrived. I spent the week prior to his visit talking with my family about how exited I was that Bob was going to help us change our dog’s behavior.
The “training day” arrived. Within twenty minutes of Bob Lauts arrival, my family changed what we expected of our dog and what we should be doing to have the respect from him that we deserve. Bob took the “leader” role in our house, and our dog Maverick knew it, respected it, and for the first time in months, was out of his kennel with a man in our house (see the photo of them together). It was remarkable.
Bob gave us instructions on how to have Maverick understand that we are the “leaders” of the house, it is “our” house, and when we instruct him on what he should do, he will be corrected if he does not follow the instructions. By the end of our two hour session with Bob, we had a changed dog (and more importantly – a changed family). We now had the tools we needed to continue our dog’s transformation to being in the proper place in the pack. It turns out, our dog wants us to be the leaders and he wants to please us by doing what we ask.
It has been over a month since we learned how to properly lead and train our dog. Bob met with us for our initial session and one follow up session, to check our progress. We now have a dog who sits and stays while we answer the front door, waits until we tell him “free” before he goes outside, sits and stays in a different room while we eat meals, stays at the pace we do on his walks, will leave food, treats, socks, and anything else when we tell him to “leave it,” and he now follows our instructions because he wants to please us and not because he gets a treat. K-9 Pack Leader – Bob Laut – has changed our family, our dog, and our life for the better.
Bob Laut has been working with dogs since he was just seven years old. His family bred military dogs and he has continued to work with dogs throughout his life. In 2009, after a near death motorcycle accident with injuries that kept him from going back to his previous career, Bob decided to do training and rehabilitation for dogs full time. He is certified in kennel management, service dog training, drug detection, felony apprehension, personal protection, organization and group obedience.
K-9 Pack Leader offers in-home training, with the average session time being an initial visit and one additional shadow visit. Bob Laut works with many area rescue groups and is supportive of local charities and fundraisers. He is in the process of creating a state of the art facility that offers boarding, grooming, and dog day care, which should be open by summer. This facility will be called Mid Town Mutts and will be able to accommodate dogs that other places are not able to handle.
He will also be running a program called Camp Good Dog, which is a two-week boot camp for dogs that need the one on one extended time for training. K-9 Pack Leader can assist you with behavioral problems such as pulling on the leash, food aggression, marking in the house, digging holes, begging at the table, people and dog aggression, basic obedience, and much more.
K-9 Pack Leader’s Bob Laut will be at The Healthy Planet’s Natural Living Expo on March 10. Be sure to stop by to speak with Bob and see rehabilitated dogs first hand. You can also visit www.K9PackLeader.com or give Bob Laut a call today at 314-660-5316 to learn more. He will change your life!