Rocko's Story: Twice on the Shelter's List, Now the Family Dog

Where Rocko started

Rocko is a Doberman and Rottweiler mix. His family adopted him at two years old from the shelter, where he had already been one of the longest residents and had come off the euthanasia list once and gone back on it.

He was calm in the kennel. He was not calm at home. His owner described what followed: barking constantly in the crate, becoming "very possessive of me, and dog aggressive." Her toddler was in tears from the noise. She had owned several dogs before and wrote that she had "never experienced a dog like that this."

She was, in her own words, ready to take him back to the shelter, "where I knew he would be put down." That is the moment she called us instead.

The training journey

Jesse told her Rocko could be helped, and was straight with her about the condition: it would take work from the family, not just from us. She brought him in first thing the next morning.

What she says she learned is the part most people are not expecting. "Jesse taught me that all of the things I knew about dogs were wrong. I was the one who needed to change, more than Rocko."

That is not a criticism of her. Almost everything the average owner has absorbed about dogs comes from television, and most of it makes a possessive dog worse. Changing the handler is usually the shortest route to changing the dog, and it is why our lesson programs teach the person as much as the animal.

What actually changed

• He walks on a loose leash. After four lessons in total.
• The barking stopped. No more crate noise, no more 4am wake-ups.
• He made a dog friend. From dog aggressive, in the same household's words.
• He is a pleasure to be around. Her summary, not ours.

★★★★★

“We rescued our 2 year old Doberman/Rottweiler mix from the shelter. He had already escaped the list to be put down once, and was on the list again. […] When we brought him home, it became apparent that I was out of my league. He barked constantly when in the crate and became very possessive of me, and dog aggressive. […] My toddler was in tears at the loud barking and I thought my only option was to take him back to the shelter, where I knew he would be put down. I was beside myself, then I reached out to Jesse. […] Four lessons (total) with Jesse later, and Rocko is walking loose leash, he doesn’t bark in the kennel or wake me up at 4am. He just made a new dog friend and is an all around pleasure to be around.”

Jordan Scrimshire, Google review, September 2023

What it changed for the family

Her closing thought is the one worth reading twice. She got to rescue Rocko, skip the puppy phase, and still end up with a well behaved dog.

An adult rescue is a genuinely good option for a lot of households. You skip the chewing, the house training and the sleepless months. What you take on instead is whatever the dog learned before you met him, and that is a training problem, which is the kind of problem that has an answer.

Why Rocko's story matters to us

Kern County shelters are full, and the dogs who do not get out are usually the ones with a behavior label attached. Off Leash K9 Training Bakersfield sees a steady stream of adopters who took one home, got in over their head, and now feel they have no options.

Sometimes there really are none, and we will say so. Often there are, and four lessons is a very short distance between a dog going back and a dog staying.

If you have adopted a dog and it is not going the way you hoped, our lesson programs start with Basic Obedience, which is the format Rocko's family used. For a dog whose problem is serious enough to need full-time work, there is the 3 Week Board and Train for Aggression. Pricing for both is on our plans and pricing page.