Wesley & Rex - The Story & the Magic!
Just a note to let you know how grateful I am to Wesley Jenson for
saving Rex! I was literally a week away from returning Rex to his
breeder. He is a beautiful, black, 75 pound, 9 month old, German
Shepherd puppy. He was also thought to be an "alpha" dog
when he had his "Puppy Manners" classes last Spring. Rex
was absolutely fearless, very dominant, and difficult. He was also
very loving at times. Rex has a "dog bite" against
him already - he scratched a neighbor's child after he got out of
our fenced yard. That was my wake-up call. He was simply too much
dog for me and I was at my wits end! I love Rex dearly but (BUT!)
he was NOT an asset to my tiny family and I was terrified that he
would get into more trouble. I had to get control and I could not
seem to! I contacted Mid-Atlantic German Shepherd Rescue (MAGSR)
for any referrals for a new home for Rex. I was referred to
their premier trainer Wesley Jenson! Wesley contacted me and in
discussing via emails the various options for Rex, Wesley suggested
that I bring him to one of his classes for a free evaluation. After
a couple of weeks, I finally agreed. We drove the 1-1/2 hours
to Elkridge and when Rex and I walked up toward Wesley Rex instantly
liked him and started to drag me toward him! The greeting was warm.
A few minutes later, two large Tso Inus puppies (at least 100 pounds
each!) appeared for the class. Rex turned out NOT to be an "alpha"
dog - he was actually submissive to them! Then Wesley worked
his magic!! A new collar, a few jerks, and literally a couple of
minutes later, my difficult 75 lb puppy was sitting quietly beside
me. My mouth was hanging open! Rex was like a new, well-behaved
dog! His "Puppy Manners" class seemed to come back to
him and he did pretty well with the commands. I have a lot
of work to do and new hand signals to practice. However, I learned
more about Rex in that two-hour class than during the past several
months that I have owned him! He is still stubborn but at least
now I know how to deal with it. He is a protective dog, who may
not be alpha, but can hold his own when confronted by another aggressive
dog. And the most important thing of all - Rex wants to please.
He responds well to discipline and is very smart. Working with him
every day is now a pleasure!
So,
Wesley literally saved Rex and me! Wesley claims he does nothing
special, "It is not magic!" but I respectfully disagree.
It IS magic when a tired, frustrated, and sad owner appears at one
of Wesley's classes and literally minutes later has a well-mannered,
polite dog on her leash! Sure, there is skill involved. But there
is also MAGIC! Wesley has found his calling and he deserves the
title "Miracle Worker"!
I recommend Wesley most highly!!! Even if you do not have a difficult
dog, we can all use that kind of MAGIC!! THANK YOU, WESLEY! God
bless you and take care.
Gail Talmadge & Rex
Hagerstown, Maryland
About 10 months ago I adopted an 11 week old spirited puppy. I had
gotten all of the "right" books, bought all the right
supplies. I was ready to "play trainer". After all, it's
a harmless little puppy, right? Day 1-she leaped over the
pen barrier we had set up for her and proceeded to do her puppy
thing. Ok, I thought, I just need to read more, get more "stuff"
and proceed with my "training". All the while, my girls
were telling me that their new friends down the street had 6 German
Shepherds and their dad was a trainer! Go talk to him, they said,
he's really good! Why? I thought, I have all the books, I can do
it myself. It just takes time and patience. At about day 10, a few
more pulled carpet strands, holey socks and chewed furniture legs
later, I was coming home one day and saw 3 beautiful shepherds sitting
quietly and attentively at the corner of our street. No leash and
it appeared to be, no owner as well. Kids were riding bikes, other
dogs were barking, still those shepherds did not move! I looked
around and saw Wes all the way at the end of his street standing
there watching. And with one wave of his hand the shepherds went
full stride down the street and sat right in front of him. He gave
them lots praise and treats and the shepherds happily trotted off.
Amazing! I thought, now THAT's what I want from my dog! Manners!
3o minutes later we were signed up! Today, Shadow is a well behaved,
happy dog. She graduated from puppy class and is now training with
older dogs in Wes' class. I receive numerous compliments on her
manners, something I'm sure wouldn't have happened if I hadn't gone
to Wes. He has a firm gentleness about him that dogs and people
respond to. He instills confidence in the dogs AND, more importantly,
the owners and their ability to train them. His instruction is clear
and he makes sure everyone has the tools to be successful.
And the absolute best part is we're all having fun! I HIGHLY recommend
him for any type of training you need. If you want someone professional,
attentive to your needs, and who will work with you to ensure your
success and have a blast doing it, he's your man!
Glenda and family - Elkridge, MD (Shadow (R) and her new MAGSR brother,
Samson (L), both students of Wesley's!)
Wesley
is a lifesaver! When I took my one year old puppy to Wesley I wanted
him to help us
learn how to teach the dog that biting was not acceptable.
I also wanted him to help with making the dog obedient. Wesley has
made a wonderful difference in our dog. He not only has stopped
biting but he now does very well with sit, stay, down and heel!
Wesley is the best thing in the world for a dog!!!!!
Jean - Reisterstown, MD
Gigi, while not an MAGSR dog,
was close to our hearts and often got to go on walks with our
volunteers who visited her since she stayed in the same kennel as
the MAGSR dogs. She was extremely
dog aggressive to the point that she could not see another dog without
completely loosing her mind. She was so bad that no one would
ever even meet her and she languished in the kennel for many, many
months. This is what patience, time and Wesley did for her:
We
are the family that adopted Gigi recently. After working with
Wes, she is now a carefree and happy young girl living in our home
with our other dog! She is such a wonderful dog, we all love
her very much.. Wes is a great trainer and has been teaching us
how to train our dogs. (We have a golden lab as well) They
get along so good you'd never know she ever had any issues!
:-) We thank the Eylers for introducing us to Gigi , I know it was
hard for them to let her go but we promise to take good care of
her! She brings me much joy, she has became my best friend. She
follows me everywhere I go!!! Thanks for posting the story and keep
up the good work, every dog needs a good home and you guys do an
excellent job.
-The Youngs
Elkridge, MD
We
became Lucky's foster parents on 6/15/03 and adopted him on 6/23/03.
He was about 7 months old and seemed to get along with our other
dog but we were not sure at first, which is why we chose foster-to-adopt.
We came across several issues with Lucky but thanks to Wesley he
is now the happy, cheerful dog he should be instead of the dominant,
aggressive dog he was trying to become!
Two
examples:
Toward
the end of the first week we had Lucky, we went to a big Park to
try Lucky's skills with other dogs around. We had been going to
a secluded park until we knew more about him. We got 1/4 of the
way around the lake, and had to turn around. Lucky was barking,
growling, and lunging after every runner, biker, dog, and even the
fishermen on the lake. Three classes later with Wesley, and we are able to walk
him on a European leash draped over our shoulder with no hands on
the leash at all. We can hear people whose dogs are walking them
ask their pets why they can't behave more like Lucky!
I
am the dominant one in the household and Lucky would listen to me
more than anyone, well only me really. The first thing that Wesley said
was that my husband should be the one with Lucky during training
sessions. Lucky needed to learn that he was not in charge - we were!
This evening we had Lucky off leash in our backyard (we do not have
a fenced yard), Jon called him and he came running. At first Wesley's
methods may seem harsh but he is constantly saying that we should
be praising our dog when he does something good and that you should
run out of treats during a training session. It works!
Jon,
Jaime, Balboa, and Lucky - Ellicott City, MD with Balboa (L)
and Lucky (R).
We
adopted Jeannie and Harry when they were 7 weeks old. They grew
very quickly and so we took them to obedience classes (3 times!)
to try and get them under control. We struggled for almost a year.
By this time, Harry is 112 lbs and Jeannie is 68lbs. Way too big
to not behave well. They were actually becoming a danger to us as
they would not walk well on the lead and pulled us all over the
place! Jeannie was also aggressive with other dogs and people she
met outside. Deb and I were seriously discussing the sad possibility
of having to give
them both back to MAGSR. Denise
(of MAGSR) told me
of Wesley. I called him and he asked us to come and see him right
then. We did. Within 20 minutes, he had Jeannie walking at heel!!!!
We have now attended 3 classes - we have BEAUTIFULLY well mannered
dogs. They walk at heel - they don't bark at other dogs or strangers,
they LISTEN to every word. It truly is nothing short of a miracle!
He is The Dog Whisperer! He literally saved their lives and their
home. We are going to continue for another several weeks because
it's fun and it works. Hope this is enough of an endorsement - the
man is worth 100 times what he charges!
Glenys, Deb, Jeannie, and Harry - White Marsh, MD
My
fiancée and I had researched dogs and decided to adopt a German
Shepherd. We were taken with their nobility, their intelligence,
and their energy. Both of us had had family dogs before, but we
had never been responsible for the training and providing.
When we first met our Tasha, she ran right up to us and started
licking our faces. “What a loveable dog she is,” we thought. Well,
what no one really saw at the time were several latent dominance
issues, and a healthy dose of borderline dog aggression. At
MAGSR’s suggestion, the three of us went to our first training with
Wesley a week later, with neither MAGSR nor us realizing that these
issues were there. During the course of the two-hour session, our
dog fought both of us for control, got angry when corrected, and
saw herself as higher on the totem than my fiancée. We couldn’t
socialize her with any of the other dogs in the class, because she
was snappy, loud, and generally uncontrollable. As if none of that
was bad enough, she bit Wesley on the hand at the end of class!
It’s been three months now since that first session, and we’ve been
going to training on a pretty regular basis since then. We have
seen a huge improvement in her behavior because of it. For starters,
Tasha now knows that both my fiancée and myself are in charge. She
walks at our side, at a (mostly) perfect heel, at all times. She
comes when called, stays when told, and is an absolute pleasure
to run with in the mornings. We walk her off-leash almost all the
time. And she gets to the dog park at least twice a week. Most importantly,
she has calmed down significantly, and has learned that good behavior
results in good rewards. Tasha is still far from the ‘perfect
dog’. She still needs some commands reinforced, and she is still
jumpy around the neighborhood dogs, but those things will improve
with time and training. But we would never have made it this far
if it weren’t for Wesley. In all truthfulness, if it weren’t for
him and the training methods he taught us, we seriously doubt if
we would have been able to handle her dominance issues. We
unconditionally recommend Wesley as a dog trainer, and applaud MAGSR’s
decision to make him their trainer of choice. While he is particularly
gifted at working with dogs with social/attitude problems, his methods
work for dogs of all sizes and dispositions. And the results, when
compared to many more popular training alternatives, are astounding.
Warren, Ann, and Tasha - Odenton, MD
