Oh if I had only known sooner!! Thanks, Sean, for sharing this interview and helping to call attention to this book. We have personally experienced “the church” and it’s resulted in us having to surrender our dog … in fact, we say goodbye to her in just two days. My heart is breaking and I don’t know how I’m going to make it through.

We adopted a 15 month old GSD rescue 9 months ago. Within 3 weeks of joining our family she began to get all barky, lungey, scary looking when we would have people come over. Like we-could-not-hold-her-back scary. You know what I’m saying. She was beyond bad and terrified anyone who saw her in this state. We brought her to the humane society for an evaluation. They determined she had anxiety and immense fear, and referred us to a veterinarian behaviorist (at $450 an hour).

The behaviorist put her on very strong medication and then worked with us on management skills. 8 months, 4 expensive office visits, too many meds to count (trazadone, Clonidine, Amitriptyline, etc…yikes!) , 2 “indoctrinated” private trainers and several thousand dollars later, we still have not received one ounce of instruction on WHAT to do to STOP her from reacting. All we can do is keep her isolated and shove treats in her mouth. I won’t go in to detail but this has affected our jobs, our family relationships, friendships, and even our marriage and finances. We’re at our wits end, exhausted, stressed beyond belief, and simply can’t carry on.

We are surrendering her back to the rescue, but first we are going to place her in a 2 month board-and-train with a GSD Breeder / Handler that is affiliated with the rescue. (We were actually going to board our dog with this breeder/handler several months ago but the doc said “no” because she trains police dogs as part of her services … we thought it would be an excellent training program but Doc said no way. Hmph.) Anyway, we talked with the trainer about having her rejoin our home after the training program but ultimately decided that it would be best for HER to be rehomed where she could start fresh with her newly learned skills. Our friends and family will always be terrified of her regardless of any assurances we could offer, and it would be very easy for her (and us) to slip back in to old behavior patterns once she gets back in to familiar surroundings. We know our limitations. Had we gone down this path 8 months ago we would have the stamina to carry it through.

So now … because of the “church”, I – a dog loving PETA member who always puts animals first – has to go against every fiber in my being and surrender an otherwise loving, delightful dog who touched my heart.

Please, Sean, bring Eric back from time to time and share your conversations … and continue to do the good work that you do. Love the podcasts, stories, and down-to-earth advice.

(By the way: When I told the vet behaviorist that I found your podcasts several months ago and was enjoying them she checked you out. For whatever reason she decided you didn’t meet her criteria and told me to stop listening. I didn’t …I just didn’t tell her! Keep up the great work)