I was raised around dogs—Dobermans, to be a bit more precise. My father was very good at training the first one. The second one was younger, and he was mine—I trained him mostly. We spent a lot of time together, although the older dog helped train the younger. I worked with two dog trainers who worked with specific breeds when I was younger as well. I learned some great techniques and tricks. Then, I got older. I got my own place. I had kids and they wanted a dog. Truth be told, so did I.

Nonetheless, I got a dog. Somehow, not even sure exactly how, a second dog soon followed. All of a sudden, I was running into problems I had never had with the dogs I worked with earlier in my life. They were making a mess on the floor. They were chewing on things. They were jumping. They just weren’t listening. Desperate, I went to a dog trainer. The books, articles, and magazines my wife and I had invested in really proved worthless to us. Even after only one or two sessions with the trainer, I noticed an immediate change with my dogs. The trainer kept me there for the training, so he could explain everything to me. Each of the dogs, it turns out, requires different techniques to train.

They have their own personality and they are different breeds which have their own unique quirks. I knew dogs had personality, but I never knew it was like this. I would think "no" with the right tone and body language would have the same effect across all dogs and breeds. The pet trainer was a great idea. My dogs are model family pets now…mostly. Without the trainer I honestly don’t know how long I could have kept these additions to my family. And, that is what they are. They are members of my family. But, they were costing me too much money with their destructive behaviors and cleaning up after them constantly took a severe amount of time.

Without a pet trainer, I would have been in a terrible spot. What is worse is I had learned how to train dogs—just not these dogs. It took a real trainer to show me how to train them. One of the things that amazes me most about our four-legged friends is how happy they are since they have undergone the training. They do not like getting yelled at any more than anyone else. They actually like to make us happy, and do not even need a thanks or a pat on the head. They can sense the emotion and revel in it.