In a conversational interview, a dog owner recounts life with Jethro, a highly reactive dog, before and after attending a five‑day boot‑camp. Pre‑boot camp, Jethro barked, lunged, and reacted to other dogs at any distance, despite attempts with multiple trainers and various techniques, which only worsened his behavior. The owner describes early mornings of solo walks and constant frustration. After the intensive boot‑camp, Jethro is described as calm, happy, and reliably off‑lead, able to accompany the owner to pubs, cafés, and cars. The owner highlights a dramatic improvement in recall, even when Jethro is distracted by a hare, demonstrating that the dog will return on command in any situation. The owner also notes the broader impact: newfound confidence, a sense of safety, lifelong friendships formed with other camp participants, and a belief that the transformation, once thought impossible in five days, is now undeniable. The testimonial ends with a strong recommendation, stating they would pay double and repeat the boot‑camp for any dog.
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Tell me what life was like before boot camp for you and Jethro. He was just obnoxious. Okay. He would bounce and bark every time he saw another dog, be it 2 seconds away or 2 miles away. He would react and shout. We tried a couple of trainers and we tried the cheese spread and all the rest of it, but he was just getting worse, not better. So yeah, we were sneaking out at 5 o'clock in the morning for walks. We were doing solo walks, things like that. So tell me what life is like now then with Jethro. He's very rarely on the lead. He's happier. Yeah, he's just— he comes with us. He can come into the pub, he can come to the cafe, he can come in the car. His life has altered completely. He's calmer, he's happier, he's more content because he's doing all his off-lead running. Yeah, he is just a totally different dog. It's like we brought one dog here and took a totally different one home. Did you believe it could have been done in 5 days before you came? Absolutely not. Without a shadow of a doubt, it is, it is totally life-changing for you and for the dog. Just remember when you're walking afterwards to take your lead, because we've done— we've got so slack now that we got halfway around the walk the other day and we're like, did you bring a lead? No. Did you bring a lead? No. How nice is it to get to that point though? How nice is it to be that chilled and that confident in your recall? Yeah. That you know that he's not going to get into trouble. Yeah. And that's, that's what it's all about. His absolute kryptonite is hares. Yeah. Yesterday we were running through a field, he was loose, he was Quite a way away, yeah, and we both went, "There's a hare over there." Yeah. At the same time he looked at it, the hare set off, and he looked straight at me. Oh nice! And I said, "No, we're going this way." Yeah. And he came to me. That is the icing on the cake. Oh lovely! Is that I know that if I can call him off a hare, I can get him out of any situation. Yeah. That is going to cause him trouble. He's safe. That's the main thing. Yeah. Absolutely safe and happy. Yeah. Yeah. That's what you make here. Safe and happy dogs. Yeah. and very happy owners. Yeah, and everybody's life has been changed. Only somebody that's been to camp knows what it would have been like beforehand. Of course. Yeah, and we've all sort of stood and looked at each other today and looked around the field and gone, can you imagine this if nobody had been to camp? Yeah, we've made friends on camp that I would imagine we'll talk to for the rest of our lives. It's just perfect. It's the disbelief that it could actually happen in 5 days. Yeah, the only thing that convinced me, to be honest, was, um, friends of ours came before us. Okay. And their dog was Carnage. And they brought him into the pub. Yeah. And I said, what have you done? And they said, we did boot camp. And just seeing the total change in that other dog. Yeah. Made me think, do you know what? Yeah. If I don't do it, he's not going to have a life. Yeah. Pay double and, and I'd do it again tomorrow for any dog.
